Liuyi Legend
01 · Historical Records
From the Tang the Liu Yi legend circulated widely among the people. Li Chaowei of the Tang wrote the classical tale The Story of Liu Yi, and Shang Zhongxian of the Yuan wrote the drama Liu Yi Sends the Letter. Thereafter the legend's content was continually enriched, current for more than a thousand years down to the present without decline, and a localised Liu Yi legend formed in the locality.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Liu Yi legend is widely current in the area around Liu Yi mountain in Zhuli town of Hanting district and also in parts of Yantai and Qingdao in eastern Shandong and of Dongying and Binzhou in north-western Shandong. Its main content: Liu Yi's fifth-generation ancestor Liu Minglun moved from Sichuan to live in Meihua village east of Wei in the ninth year of Emperor Yang of the Sui. Liu Yi's father Liu Xingfang accumulated virtue, daily ferrying people and relieving distress at the Yanxi river. Liu Xingfang was fated to have no son, but the gods, moved by his sincerity, granted him a noble son, Liu Yi, because of his virtue. As a youth Liu Yi's family was poor and he was clever and filial, studying hard, being recommended as filial and incorrupt, becoming a schoolmaster and marrying his first wife, Jin Niang. As a child, having borrowed money from his maternal grandmother because his family was poor and being treated badly by his aunt, there arose the story of rather starving than eating the cat's leftovers and rather freezing than warming at the lamp flame. As an adult Liu Yi travelled and studied the world, and on Shanyin ridge, caught in rain and lodging, married the Tiger Girl. Later going to Chang'an for the examination, he failed and on the way home met the Dragon Girl, for whom he sent a letter to the Bohai sea and married the Dragon Girl. When Emperor Taizong of the Tang campaigned against Koguryo and passed this place, because Liu Yi and the Dragon Girl had rendered meritorious service in escorting him, Taizong enfeoffed Liu Yi as the Prince of Tanghe and the Dragon Girl as the Lady of Shanguo. In his prime Liu Yi tired of officialdom, entered the mountains to cultivate the Dao and became an immortal, repeatedly manifesting miracles and benefiting all beings, answering prayers for rain. Hence many folk legends of Liu Yi's manifestations arose, such as the prayers for rain at the Heavenly Pool, the sea-eye pool washing, the folk worship, the recompense for telling of poverty, the storytelling series, the New Year's Eve vigil, the birthday festival and the Yellow River ferry, throughout eastern and northern Shandong. Because the people worshipped him greatly, temples were built for sacrifice; the Liu Yi mountain temple fair has continued for a thousand years with wide believers, its incense still flourishing and the people's belief most sincere.
Sending the Letter to the Bohai Sea
The core episode in which Liu Yi sends a letter for the Dragon Girl and later marries her.
The Story of Liu Yi
The classical tale written by Li Chaowei of the Tang.
The Liu Yi Mountain Temple Fair
The temple fair continuing for a thousand years with wide believers.
The Prayer for Rain at the Heavenly Pool
One of the folk legends of Liu Yi's manifestations.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Liu Yi legend is widely current in the area around Liu Yi mountain in Zhuli town of Hanting district, and also in parts of Yantai and Qingdao in eastern Shandong and of Dongying and Binzhou in north-western Shandong. Because the people worshipped him greatly, temples were built for sacrifice; the Liu Yi mountain temple fair has continued for a thousand years with wide believers, its incense still flourishing to this day.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Protecting and transmitting this folk cultural legend has relatively high historical and practical significance.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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