Nvwa (nǚ wā 女娲) is the ancestor of mankind in the mythology of ancient China. As legend goes, she smelted the five-colored stones (wǔ sè shí 五色石) to mendthe firmament (sky tiān 天), cut off the feet of the great turtle to support the four pillars of the universe, controlled the flood, and drove away fierce beasts so as to let the people live in peace. Another legend says, she made persons with yellow clay, and married her brother, Emperor Fuxi (fú xī 伏羲), turning a relationship of brother and sister into a marriage, and multiplying mankind. Thus, later generations adored her as a goddess of marriage and reproduction, especially in charge of matters of copulation between men and women. Learners of cultural history regard her as a goddess that came into being in the era of worship of the female genital organ.

The popular story of "Nvwa Mended the Sky" (nǚ wā bǔ tiān 女娲补天) was noted in"Huainanzi" (huái nán zǐ 淮南子), written in Western Han (xī hàn 西汉) (206 B.C.-24). It says, "In remote antiquity, the four poles of the universe collapsed, the sky cracked open, the earth was no longer able to support everything, fire ran wild everywhere without ceasing, and flood overflowed out of control. Fierce beasts ate common people, and ferocious birds attacked the old and the weak. Hence, Nvwa smelted the five-colored stones to mend the sky, cut off the feet of the great turtle to support the four poles, killed the black dragon to help the earth, and gathered the ash of reed to stop the flood."

Source: foreignercn.com