Reconfiguration and Dialogism: The Evolution of Chinese Mythology from Antiquity to Modernity according to Bakhtin's Theory

The subject of the study is the dynamic evolution of Chinese mythology, viewed through the prism of Bakhtin's theory. The authors of the article explore the mythology of China from the forms of primitive beliefs to modern film and television adaptations, revealing its cultural essence as "scenes of eternal dialogue." The key historical stages of the development of Chinese mythology are analyzed: the polyphonic narratives of the axial epoch, in which figures such as Dayu were reinterpreted by various philosophical schools.; dialogue and mutual construction of religious and secular discourses, as exemplified by the figure of Guan Yu, from the Wei, Jin, Tang and Song dynasties; ongoing dialogue between officials and people, sacred and secular, historical and modern, embodied in the literature of the Ming and Qing times about the "Dedication of the Gods"; visual narrative construction of the "chronotope", embodied in the modern digital game "Black Myth: Wukong". This study provides methodological support for the creative transformation of modern mythology, answers the question of national cultural identity in the context of globalization, and provides an important theoretical framework for exploring the possibility of multicultural identity. The research methodology is based on Bakhtin's "theory of dialogism", rethinks the evolutionary logic of Chinese mythology, and argues that this process is essentially a continuous negotiation between a variety of discourses: official narratives, folk interpretations, philosophical borrowings, and intercultural exchanges. The research expands the scope of carnival poetics and the concept of "chronotope" from literary criticism to mythological research. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the application of Bakhtin's key concepts to the process of the evolution of Chinese mythology as a cultural phenomenon rather than a literary text. This research approach translates the trajectory of literary analysis into the field of cross-cultural research and mythology. The authors of the article offer a new perspective on the study of Chinese mythology as a process of continuous discourse (historical and philosophical, folk and official, secular and religious, modern and traditional). The conclusion reached by the authors of the study is as follows: the essence of Chinese mythology lies in the transformational dynamics throughout the historical stage: cultural mythological archetypes continue to be transmitted through new forms of communication, including digital ones, responding to the global challenges of modernity and trends towards interdisciplinarity.