Myth Monday - Chinese Origin for Discworld?

Fans of movies, books, or video games based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld know that the Great A'Tuin supports the 4 elephants that hold up the world. The Great A'Tuin is a giant turtle. It [I don't believe their quest to determine Great A'Tuin's gender yielded results] is not the only member of the order Testudines to support a mythological vision of the world. (On a tangential note, in case the word testudo is ringing bells, there is a well known Roman army testudo formation where shields held overhead like a turtle shell protect the soft underbelly of soldiers.)

In Chinese mythology, after the cosmic egg created the world [see Creations Myths - Asian], the world still needed people. A snake-bottomed creator goddess named Nügua (Nu Wa) formed humans out of the mud and then taught them various useful matters -- like how to reproduce themselves so she wouldn't have to spend all her divine life up to her elbows -- I'd say "knees," but she didn't have them -- in dirt. She had plenty of other things to do to keep herself busy.

A water god named Kon Kon or Gonggong smashed his head against Buzhou Mountain, which was one of the pillars that supported the heavens. To avert catastrophe, Nügua repaired the damage. She melted 5 stones of different colors to use as patches and then, to replace the support the pillar had provided, she cut off the legs of the celestial turtle and used them in each of the four corners.

From Huainanzi, c. 150 B.C., according to my references:

• "Divinity and Salvation: The Great Goddesses of China," by Lee Irwin; Asian Folklore Studies (1990), pp. 53-68
• "The Snake in Chinese Belief," by Denise Chao; Folklore(1979), pp. 193-203

Read more about Nügua (Nu Wa)

Also see related resources from other About.com Guides:

• Review: Hogfather - Sci-Fi / Fantasy
• About the Turtles - Buddhism
• Review: Wintersmith - Contemporary Literature
• Nvwa Mended the Firmament - Chinese Culture