Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
Nezha and the Dragon King
哪吒闹海
Nezha and the Dragon King (哪吒闹海, Nézhā nào hǎi) is a story from Creation of the Gods, the Chinese classic by Xu Zhonglin, retold in simple Mandarin as an 8-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
Retold from the classic novel Investiture of the Gods: seven-year-old Nezha washes his red silk sash in the sea, shakes the Dragon King's palace, and has to face the storm he started.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — An old storyteller who tells Nezha's tale plainly, the way it is told to children all over China.
- Nezha · 哪吒 — A seven-year-old boy born from a ball of light: brave, stubborn, and fiercely loyal to the people he loves.
- Li Jing · 李靖 — Nezha's father, the strict general of Chentang Pass, who wants a quiet town and a well-behaved son.
- Lady Yin · 殷夫人 — Nezha's gentle mother, who can never quite say no to her youngest son.
- Taiyi Zhenren · 太乙真人 — A jolly Taoist immortal from Qianyuan Mountain who names Nezha and becomes his teacher.
- The Sea Guard · 夜叉 — A blue-skinned yaksha who patrols the Eastern Sea for the Dragon King, axe in hand.
- Ao Bing · 敖丙 — The Dragon King's proud third son, who rides out of the sea to punish the boy who shook his father's palace.
- The Dragon King · 龙王 — The powerful, hot-tempered ruler of the Eastern Sea, who can raise storms and send the sea against the land.
8 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: A Strange Child
不一样的孩子
After more than three years of waiting, General Li Jing's third child arrives in a ball of light, and a laughing stranger comes to give the boy a name.
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Chapter 2: Playing in the Sea
在海里玩水
On a scorching summer day, seven-year-old Nezha runs off to play in the sea, and deep beneath the waves, somebody feels it.
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Chapter 3: The Sea Guard
夜叉来了
A blue-faced guard bursts out of the waves with a huge axe, demanding to know who turned the Dragon King's sea red. Nezha isn't the least bit scared.
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Chapter 4: The Third Prince
三太子敖丙
The Dragon King's proud third son rides a huge wave to the shore, and he expects the boy who hit the sea guard to come and beg forgiveness.
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Chapter 5: The Dragon King's Anger
龙王生气了
In a howling storm, the Dragon King pounds on Li Jing's gate with a terrible demand, and Nezha refuses to say he's sorry.
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Chapter 6: Nezha's Choice
一人做事一人当
The sea rises as high as the mountains, and the whole town is afraid. Up on the wall, seven-year-old Nezha makes a choice.
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Chapter 7: A Body of Lotus
莲花做的身体
High on Qianyuan Mountain, Nezha's spirit finds his teacher again, and a pond full of lotus flowers holds a surprise.
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Chapter 8: Wind and Fire Wheels
风火轮
Taiyi has two last gifts for his student. At dawn, Nezha flies out over the Eastern Sea to ask the Dragon King one question.
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Key words in Nezha and the Dragon King
Behind the story
Nezha's adventure comes from Investiture of the Gods (封神演义), a sixteenth-century novel full of gods, immortals and heroes. Chapters 12 to 14 tell how a seven-year-old boy stirred up the Eastern Sea, stood up to the Dragon King, and came back to life in a body made of lotus flowers.
In China the episode is known as 哪吒闹海, “Nezha Stirs Up the Sea,” and it is one of the best-loved stories of childhood, retold in picture books and cartoons. Nezha is loved as a stubborn, brave child who takes the blame for what he has done.
Did you know?
- The words Nezha calls out from the town wall, 一人做事一人当 (“I did it, so I'll answer for it”), are still an everyday Chinese saying.
- In Taiwan, Nezha is worshipped as the Third Prince (三太子). At temple festivals, dancers in giant, big-headed Nezha costumes, the “Electric Third Princes” (电音三太子), dance to electronic dance music.
- Nezha's name goes back to Nalakuvara, a son of the guardian god Vaisravana in Buddhist stories from India, long before Chinese storytellers made him their own.