Valice Press
Valice Press

Free companion

Myths and Legends of China: Volume One, The Gods

Free material for Werner's Myths and Legends of China: the celestial ministries on one sheet, the twenty-five figures with the chapters they appear in, four ways into the book, and what the marks in the names mean.

The Valice edition is built and validated but not yet on sale — the rights gate is signed by a person, not a script, and that signature is outstanding. Everything on this page is free and works today regardless.

Reading material

Free, no sign-up, reprint as often as you like.

  • The ministries of heaven

    PDF · US Letter · 1 page

    The Chinese gods hold posts. Thunder, the waters, fire, epidemics, medicine, exorcism, smallpox and time are ministries with presidents and staff. Werner catalogues them in a chapter this edition does not print, so the register was rebuilt from the chapters it does — nine ministries, the officers he names, and the chapter to read.

    Open PDF

  • Who is who

    PDF · US Letter · 2 pages

    Twenty-five figures — P'an Ku, Shên I the archer, Lei Kung the Duke of Thunder, the Eight Immortals — each with the chapters they appear in and how often. Every reference was produced by searching the text, so nothing points at a chapter that does not contain the name.

    Open PDF

  • Four ways in

    PDF · US Letter · 1 page

    Where to start depending on why you picked the book up, with Werner's own chapter numbers so it works with any edition of the 1922 text, and how long each of the eight chapters runs.

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  • The names

    PDF · US Letter · 1 page

    Wade-Giles has two marks that do most of the work and almost nobody is told what they are for. Once you know that t' and t are different consonants, several hundred names stop being noise.

    Open PDF

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About this material

E. T. C. Werner died in 1954, so his 1922 text is in the public domain in the United States and, since 1 January 2025, in the UK, the EU and Türkiye (source: Project Gutenberg #15250). The register, the glossary, the reading paths and the note on the names are Valice Press's own writing. The 1922 colour plates are not reproduced anywhere here: no source names their artist, so they cannot be cleared.

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