[4] There are many instances of her in literature across China which detail her in creation stories, and today, she remains a figure important to Chinese culture.

These characters all have their right side constructed by the word wa (Chinese: 咼), which can be translated as 'spiral' or 'helix' as noun, and as 'spin' or 'rotate' when as verb, to describe the 'helical movement'.

Thereupon, Nüwa smelted together five-colored stones in order to patch up the azure sky, cut off the legs of the great turtle to set them up as the four pillars, killed the black dragon to provide relief for Ji Province, and piled up reeds and cinders to stop the surging waters.

The azure sky was patched; the four pillars were set up; the surging waters were drained; the province of Ji was tranquil; crafty vermin died off; blameless people [preserved their] lives.

[11][a] The catastrophes were supposedly caused by the battle between the deities Gonggong and Zhuanxu (an event that was mentioned earlier in the Huainanzi),[b] the five-colored stones symbolize the five Chinese elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water), the black dragon was the essence of water and thus cause of the floods, Ji Province serves metonymically for the central regions (the Sinitic world).

[14] Following this, the Huainanzi tells about how the sage-rulers Nüwa and Fuxi set order over the realm by following the Way (道) and its potency (德).

[11] The Classic of Mountains and Seas, dated between the Warring States period and the Han dynasty, describes Nüwa's intestines as being scattered into ten spirits.

[15][non-primary source needed] In Liezi (c. 475 – 221 BC), Chapter 5 "Questions of Tang" (卷第五 湯問篇), author Lie Yukou describes Nüwa repairing the original imperfect heaven using five-colored stones, and cutting the legs off a tortoise to use as struts to hold up the sky.

[16] In Songs of Chu (c. 340 – 278 BC), Chapter 3 "Asking Heaven" (Chinese: 问天), author Qu Yuan writes that Nüwa molded figures from the yellow earth, giving them life and the ability to bear children.

[17] In Shuowen Jiezi (c. 58 – 147 AD), China's earliest dictionary, under the entry for Nüwa author Xu Shen describes her as being both the sister and the wife of Fuxi.

Nüwa and Fuxi were pictured as having snake-like tails interlocked in an Eastern Han dynasty mural in the Wuliang Temple in Jiaxiang county, Shandong province.

[citation needed] In Duyi Zhi (獨異志; c. 846 – 874 AD), Volume 3, author Li Rong gives this description.

So the brother at once went with his sister up Mount K'un-lun and made this prayer: "Oh Heaven, if Thou wouldst send us two forth as man and wife, then make all the misty vapor gather.

[2] In Yuchuan Ziji (玉川子集 c. 618 – 907 AD), Chapter 3 ("與馬異結交詩" 也稱 "女媧本是伏羲婦"), author Lu Tong describes Nüwa as the wife of Fuxi.

In Siku Quanshu, Sima Zhen (679–732) provides commentary on the prologue chapter to Sima Qian's Shiji, "Supplemental to the Historic Record: History of the Three August Ones", wherein it is found that the Three August Ones are Nüwa, Fuxi, and Shennong; Fuxi and Nüwa have the same last name, Feng (Chinese: 風; Hmong: Faj).

[21] The iconography of Fuxi and Nüwa vary in physical appearance depending on the time period and also shows regional differences.

[22] In Chinese tomb murals and iconography, Fuxi and Nüwa generally have snake-like bodies and human face or head.

[22][24] Fuxi and Nüwa holding the sun and the moon appears as early as the late Western Han dynasty.

In the Gansu murals dating to the Wei and Western Jin period, one of the most typical features of Fuxi is the "mountain-hat" (Chinese: 山字形; pinyin: Shanzixing) which looks like a three-peaked cap while Nüwa is depicted wearing various hairstyles characteristic of Han women.

Upon seeing her statue, Zhou was completely overcome with lust at the sight of the beautiful ancient goddess Nüwa.

In her rage, Nüwa personally ascended to the palace in an attempt to kill the king, but was suddenly struck back by two large beams of red light.

With these words, Nüwa brought destined chaos to the Shang dynasty, "The luck Cheng Tang won six hundred years ago is dimming.

Pangu then died after standing up, and his body turned into rivers, mountains, plants, animals, and everything else in the world, among which is a powerful being known as Huaxu (華胥).

The nobility believed that they were more important than the mass-produced majority of humanity, because Nüwa took time to create them, and they had been directly touched by her hand.

The prayer is as follows, "Oh Heaven, if Thou wouldst send us forth as man and wife, then make all the misty vapor gather.

A wildfire burnt the forests and led the wild animals to run amok and attack the innocent peoples, while the water which was coming out from the earth's crack didn't seem to be slowing down.

After the job was done, Nüwa drove away the wild animals, extinguished the fire, and controlled the flood with a huge amount of ashes from the burning reeds and the world became as peaceful as it was before.

The variation between sources stems from China being generally divided before the Qin and Han dynasties, and the version with Fuxi, Shennong, and Nüwa was used to emphasize rule and structure.

Defeated by a woman, the chief felt ashamed to be alive and banged his head on the heavenly bamboo to kill himself and for revenge.