Global Blake: Mei-Ying Sung

Mei-Ying Sung discusses the contrasts between Orc and a similar mythological & religious character Nezha in Chinese and Taiwanese culture.

Blake’s Orc is a mythological character usually seen as the embodiment of rebellion, which inspiring revolutions. This paper wishes to contrast Orc with a similar mythological & religious character Nezha in Chinese and Taiwanese culture. 


Nezha probably originated from ancient central Asia and became a Buddhist deity. In China he was later associated with a historical figure Li Jing, the general of the Tang Dynasty, becoming his son and called “The Lotus Third Prince”. In Buddhist sutras and folklores, Nezha committed suicide, carving up his own flesh and dismembering his bones "returning" these to his parents in repayment for the debt of his birth to save his family and the people. He was then resurrected from a lotus and turned into a protective god. Nezha was usually depicted as a youth riding on Wheels with wind and fire. In Taiwan, the temples celebrating Nezha grow in numbers, and even became a popular culture among young people in the millennium. 


Quite clearly, Blake’s Orc has no connection with Nezha whatsoever. However, the universal rebellious spirit of the youth shares amazing characters and still thrives everywhere in the world in our time.