CMNS-Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Maryland, College Park; Nearly all ancient cultures have lightning/thunder gods in their legends, and China is no exception. In fact, lightning and thunder have been a running theme throughout Chinese history, appearing as a salient force in ancient writing, texts, literature, and legends. Through the centuries, many legends and superstitions have grown around the lightning phenomenon. While such stories no longer have the same influence they once did, thanks to advances in our understanding of the atmosphere, their legacy remains. Throughout China's long history, there have been various lightning/thunder gods widely documented in literature. One of the very early thunder gods in China's written literature is recorded in an ancient book titled The Classic of Mountains and Seas (also known as Shan Hai Jing). Probably owing to the favor of dragons in Chinese culture, it was written that he came from a place called Lei Ze (Lei means thunder and Ze means lake or swamp in Chinese) and had the body of a dragon and the head of a human. When he tapped his stomach, thunder was generated. A more amusing story from the same literature is about a bird called Tuofei, which had the face of a human but only one foot. It is said that a person who wears its feather will not be hit by lightning.
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