Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t11.5

v2.c15.s2.t11.5

**Main Opinions** In 1944, Su Xuelin published *Three Myths in Tian Wen* on the monthly *Shuowen*, suggesting that it contains stories of Samudra manthan. Of course, in her opinion, concepts, such as colossal turtle carrying a mountain, a viper devouring an elephant, and immortal herbs (called as Amrita in India and as Ganlu in China), were all derived from India. From myths in *Tian Wen* and gods in *Jiu Ge* (*Nine Songs*), she concluded that Qu Yuan’s works all had been under the influence of the culture in the Western Regions and so all appeared exotic. His works were grand, imaginative and with form and contents all different from those before and after him. So without foreign culture, there would be no such works. Why? She explained, Qu Yuan had gone to the kingdom of Qi on diplomatic mission a number of times, and had the chance to meet foreigners and got to know about foreign culture. He thus acquired a good knowledge of foreign astronomy, geography and mythology, and poetically incorporated many novelties from them into ‘*Tian Wen*’.