中国近代社会关于“神话”概念的使用有着非常特殊的文化背景。我国明代就已经明确出现这个词汇,首次见于汤显祖的《虞初志》。我国近代社会民族主义思潮风起云涌，陈季同和梁启超、夏曾佑、蒋观云、刘师培、章太炎、孙毓修等学者积极关注民族命运，他们的神话传说研究结合历史文化与社会现实，分别从不同方面展开论述。他们主要围绕以“三皇五帝”为重要标志的民族文化传统进行重新述说，对在不同民族中流传的洪水神话进行比较研究，而且自觉将神话研究与民族文化建设等问题联系在一起，这是以古史重建即“新史学”为重要内容的文化选择与表达。

 In the modern times of China, the use of the concept of “myth” has a quite special cultural background. In Ming Dynasty, the word had appeared clearly, and it was first used in Tang Xianzus Records of Yu Chu. And in the modern times of China, the tread of thought of nationalism was widespread and fastchanging. Chen Jitong, Liang Qichao, Jiang Guanyun, Liu Shipei, Zhang Taiyan, Sun Yuxiu and some other scholars were concerned about the fate of the nation, their research of myth uniting historical culture and social reality together from different perspectives. They retold the national culture tradition with the “Three Wise Kings and Five August Emperors” as its important sign, including comparative researching about the myth of deluge in different nations. Furthermore, they initiatively united the research of myth and the construction of national culture together, and this is the cultural selection and expression which with the reconstruction of the old history, ie., “New History”, as its important content.