Guiguzi Legend
01 · Historical Records
At the birthplace of Guiguzi in Yanshi village there stands a Ming stele of the Holy Mother, on which such characters as the Ming state Henan Zhangde prefecture and Yanshi village are clearly legible.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The content of the Guiguzi legends is fairly rich, including the birth of Guiguzi, Guiguzi cutting firewood, Guiguzi recognising the heavenly book and his clever teaching of Sun Bin. The birth of Guiguzi tells that his mother Wang Xiuzhi, before marriage, became pregnant after eating a grain by the water jar in the garden, was driven from the house by her father and gave birth to Guiguzi in the straw hut south of Yanshi village. Guiguzi cutting firewood says that though cutting firewood far away on Yunmeng mountain he could answer his mother from afar and return to her side at midnight. Guiguzi recognising the heavenly book tells how a bamboo slip fell from the sky with the words heavenly book on it but not a single character inside from beginning to end; Guiguzi took it back to his cave and at night there appeared glittering tadpole characters, inscribing thirteen chapters on the arts of attack and defence and of flying pincers, and after reading them closely Guiguzi became an all-knowing genius of rare talent. These stories have been handed down orally in Linzhang county for thousands of years without decline. The Guiguzi shrine in Guzi village preserves a complete stele of the Guangxu period whose text recounts Guiguzi's life and great achievements. The Guzi village shrine, the southern hut of his birthplace in Yanshi village, the red cogongrass, the Hall of the Old Ancestor Wang Chan and the Hall of the Holy Mother Wang Lao, the ancient steles of the two villages and the temple fairs and folk sacrificial activities involved in the Guiguzi legends are the basis and witness of their transmission from generation to generation. The legends can encourage people to revere the ancestors and emulate the former worthies, enrich local culture and raise the sense of cultural identity.
The Birth of Guiguzi
Telling how Guiguzi's mother became pregnant after eating a grain and gave birth to him in the straw hut south of Yanshi village.
Guiguzi Recognises the Heavenly Book
Telling how the bamboo-slip heavenly book showed tadpole characters at night, inscribing thirteen chapters on attack, defence and flying pincers.
Cleverly Teaching Sun Bin
One of the representative contents of the Guiguzi legends.
The Guiguzi Shrine at Guzi Village
The shrine preserving a Guangxu-period stele recounting Guiguzi's life.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Guiguzi legends are a series of legends about Guiguzi's childhood and after his fame, current mainly in Guzi village of Linzhang county, Hebei, his native place, Yanshi village, his birthplace, several neighbouring villages and the eastern part of Ci county.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Guiguzi was naturally clever and broadly learned, leaving the rare book Guiguzi and cultivating a great many outstanding talents such as Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Sun Bin, Pang Juan and Wei Liao. Guiguzi is said to be the heavenly Xuanweizi reborn and to have received the protection of the Bodhisattva Guanyin, a typical conception legend. The tellers of the Guiguzi legends are concentrated in Yanshi and Guzi villages of Linzhang county, and the existing main transmitters still collect, collate and study the series of Guiguzi legends and actively transmit them. Linzhang county has edited and published such books as The Rare Talent of Ancient Ye, Guiguzi and Guiguzi, the Founder of China's First Ancient Military Academy and staged such mythological plays as The Birth of Guiguzi, widely praised. At the same time it has a striking regional character and is full of fantasy and marvellous colour, easy to tell and remember and suitable for old and young, enlightening and broadening, with a certain value for artistic appreciation and academic research.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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