Chinese folklore

[4] The Great Race is a folk story that describes the creation of the Chinese zodiac calendar that includes twelves animals each representing a specific year in a twelve-year cycle.

In some versions of this tale, Chang'e took the pill for in avarice and she transformed into a three-legged Ch'an Chu and eventually flew to the moon.

Hou Yi loved his wife so much that God allowed him to reunite annually with Chang'e at moment of the full moon on the 15th of August in Chinese lunar calendar, which is the celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival.

"[3] The Folksong Studies Movement became a key contributor to establishing Chinese folklore as a modern academic discipline.

;[7] The May Fourth Movement in 1919 sparked patriotic students and scholars to collect and record historical folklore in both rural and urban areas.

Folklore collections in the May Fourth Movement had a broad territorial sweep, including not only the ethnic Han, who form the majority, but also the minority areas.

[9] Some folklore enthusiasts also hoped to improve the condition of the Chinese people and believed it necessary to understand their ideas, beliefs, and customs.

[3] Some claimed that folksongs played a significant part in the integration of folklore culture in the early twentieth century of China, as well as a functional tool to convey the spirit of socialism and communism after the Liberation period.

One tradition holds that Confucius himself collected these songs, while another says that an emperor compiled them as a means to gauge the mood of the people and the effectiveness of his rule.

After Confucian ideas became further entrenched in Chinese culture (after about 100 BCE), Confucius's endorsement led many scholars to study the lyrics of the Classic of Poetry and interpret them as political allegories and commentaries.

One of the most striking examples is a silk funerary banner (circa 168 BC) that contains a number of stories from early China.

Folk songs, which were originally accompanied by dance and other styles of performing arts, provided inspiration for courtly poetry.