Legends of the Mother Goddess
I am pleased to share with all you that the Italian translation of my book Legends of the Mother Goddess (and Other Myths of Goddesses and Women from the Peoples of China) has now been published and is available for purchase. As many of you already know, this book was pioneering in the field of mythology and gender studies in the West, as it was the first to bring together in a single volume more than 40 myths and legends from China’s ethnic minorities in which the protagonists were female deities.
Although a book on this subject cannot become tremendously popular, it has reached a market of specialized readers who have shown great interest in matriarchy in China—a topic to which I dedicated another of my books (Matriarchy in China: Mothers, Queens, Goddesses, and Shamans)—as well as in Chinese mythology. For this reason, whenever I have been in contact with translators of other languages, this has been one of the most sought-after works. In fact, there are already translations into Portuguese and Greek.
I believe this Italian edition stands out thanks to the care and dedication of the translator, Angelica Deluigi. We have also added a few additional myths to the original version to make the book more engaging, and it includes an insightful afterword by Maria Omodeo.
The book can be obtained at this link, and above you will also find the Amazon links to the original Legends of the Mother Goddess and Matriarchy in China. However, these books are not only available on Amazon but also in all bookstores in Spain—just request them and you will have them within a couple of days. I hope this news is of interest to you, and of course, I would be delighted if you shared it with Italian-speaking readers who might be interested.
About me: I have spent 30 years in China, much of the time traveling and studying this country’s culture. My most popular research focuses on Chinese characters (Chinese Characters: An Easy Learning Method Based on Their Etymology and Evolution), Matriarchy in China (there is a book with this title), and minority cultures (The Naxi of Southwest China). In my travels, I have specialized in Yunnan, Tibet, the Silk Road, and other lesser-known places. Feel free to write to me if you’re planning a trip to China. The agency I collaborate with offers excellent service at an unbeatable price. You’ll find my email below.
Last posts
DRAMATIC ART IN CHINA AT THE END OF THE DYNASTIC REGIME
oyaaDuring a break in my studies, the afternoon of Christmas Eve I was looking through a cabinet in which I have some somewhat old books bought on various occasions at flea markets in Beijing and Shanghai. After running into Lewis Morgan's "Ancient Society" and taking...
The value of the Taotejing, the sacred book of the Taoists
In Peter Goullart The Monastery of the Jade Mountain. Unlike the Bible and the Koran. the Taoteking does not refer to the historical processes which led men, or rather a particular tribe among men, to the idea of One God. Neither does it describe in detail how this...
The path to Nirvana in the Kunming Dharani Pillar
The path to Nirvana in the Kunming Dharani Pillar The main courtyard of the Kunming Municipal Museum houses one of the most original art-works from the time of the Dali Kingdom (937-1253 CE) in Yunnan. It is called the Dharani Pillar of the Dizang Temple. It is a...
Legends of the Mother Goddess: Intro
From Leyendas de la Diosa Madre. Pedro Ceinos Arcones. Miraguano, 2007. Anyone who approaches the literature of the minorities of Southern China will discover numerous works where the leading role is played by a female goddess or deity. Whether dedicated to the...
Buddha as a true man: a different tale
In the fourth chapter of India in the Chinese Imagination: Myth, Religion, and Thought (edited by John Kieschnick and Meir Shahar, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), Nobuyoshi Yamabe contributes an article (Indian Myth Transformed in a Chinese Apocryphal Text:...
Yu garden in Shanghai: Archetype of Chinese garden
Pedro Ceinos Arcones. Yu garden in Shanghai: Archetype of Chinese garden. Dancing Dragons Books. 2019. (Excerpts from the book) The Yu Garden is Shanghai's main monument and the one that best summarizes the city's history over the past few centuries. A private garden...









