Nüwa is a Chinese creator and repairer whose myths survive in several early texts. One major episode describes a damaged cosmos after a catastrophe involving fire, flood, or conflict. Nüwa restores stability, but the cause and exact sequence vary among sources.
Repairing the sky
The Huainanzi says the four pillars break, the heavens fail to cover the earth, fire and flood spread, and violent creatures threaten people. Nüwa melts stones of five colors to mend the sky, cuts a great turtle’s legs to support it, kills a black dragon, and uses reed ashes to stop the waters.
Different causes
Later accounts connect the disaster with the water god Gonggong striking Mount Buzhou after defeat. That cause is not stated in every early version. Joining all passages into one continuous plot is a modern editorial choice, not a single preserved ancient narrative.
Creator, ancestor, and partner
Other traditions say Nüwa creates humans from earth or repairs social order. Art often pairs her with Fuxi as serpent-bodied ancestral figures holding tools. Their marriage and division of inventions change across texts, so Nüwa should not be given one fixed role or genealogy.