Legend of the White Snake
01 · Historical Records
The legend of the White Snake began in the Tang and Five Dynasties period, basically took shape in the Southern Song and by the Yuan at the latest had been made into zaju plays and huaben by men of letters. The imitation huaben The White Lady Is Forever Imprisoned under Leifeng Pagoda compiled by Feng Menglong in the Ming is the earliest relatively complete text of the legend. From the Ming and Qing down to the modern and contemporary period, oral literature and adaptations and stagings in every kind of popular art interpenetrated and fused, so that the White Snake legend finally became a classic subject for stories, ballads, baojuan, novels, romances, huaben, opera, tanci and also film, television, animation, dance and serial pictures. Its influence steadily grew until it spread throughout the country and became a household name, reaching as far as Japan, Korea, Vietnam, India and many other countries.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The legend of the White Snake is a brilliant pearl of Chinese folk literature; the figures it shapes—the White Lady, Xu Xian, Fahai and Xiaoqing—express the broad masses' longing for the liberation of human nature and are a precious spiritual and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. The many ancient traditional customs preserved in the legend make it one of China's oral heritages richest in folkloric information. Folk legends often show the phenomenon of “multiple origins”, and so does the White Snake legend; experts in folk literature hold that Zhenjiang and Hangzhou are important areas of its circulation. It circulates widely and is ranked with the Liang-Zhu legend, the Meng Jiangnü legend and the Cowherd and Weaver Girl legend as one of the four most widely circulated legends of the Han people. It has greatly enriched the treasure house of Chinese folk art; its story is extraordinary and its characters vivid and full, the White Lady being an important archetypal figure in the gallery of Chinese art. For Hangzhou, the legend's chief place of origin, the White Snake legend has formed an inseparable relation with the Broken Bridge, Leifeng Pagoda and West Lake and other natural and cultural landscapes, giving Hangzhou and West Lake a richer cultural connotation.
The White Lady Is Forever Imprisoned under Leifeng Pagoda
The imitation huaben compiled by Feng Menglong in the Ming, the earliest relatively complete text of the legend.
Meeting on the Broken Bridge
One of the classic episodes, attached to the Broken Bridge landscape of West Lake in Hangzhou and a core episode in the Hangzhou transmission.
Flooding Jinshan Temple
One of the classic episodes, attached to the Jinshan Temple landscape at Zhenjiang.
Stealing the Immortal Herb
One of the classic episodes of the White Snake legend.
The Fall of Leifeng Pagoda
One of the classic episodes, directly related to the Leifeng Pagoda landscape.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
In Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the legend of the White Snake has formed an inseparable relation with the Broken Bridge, Leifeng Pagoda and West Lake and other natural and cultural landscapes, giving Hangzhou and West Lake a richer cultural connotation; Hangzhou and Zhenjiang are both important areas of its circulation, and experts in folk literature hold that the two places together form the core area of the White Snake legend's circulation.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Legend of the White Snake.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The main social thought, belief and values and the deep ethnic psychology of different periods since the Southern Song reflected in the legend are of important historical value, and its content of folk custom is also extremely rich, of important reference value for understanding the ways of Jiangnan.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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