Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl
01 · Historical Records
From the Western Han the Cowherd and Weaver Girl stars gradually evolved into a folk myth and legend. The Wei and Jin inherited the Han custom and instituted the seeking-skill activity, and in the Tang the Shizhao temple was built.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
In the pre-Qin period the two stars of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl appeared in ancient texts as a metaphorical association of star images, not yet forming a plot. In the third year of Yuanshou of Emperor Wu of the Han, 120 BCE, to train a navy the Kunming pool was dug east of the Feng river at Doumen in Chang'an, and stone statues of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl were set up on its eastern and western sides, the two gazing at each other across the pool, matching the celestial signs above and following the people's will below. From then on the folk activities themed on the Cowherd and Weaver Girl story became more active. After the Song the sacrifices to the Stone Granny, the Weaver Girl, and the Stone Grandfather, the Cowherd, are recorded one after another in the local gazetteers of Chang'an, not only preserving intact the love story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl but also producing local figures and forming local features, even becoming an auspicious symbol and being made into the Qinqiang opera The Meeting of the Milky Way, performed without decline. To this day the local people still widely tell this beautiful and moving love story, and two great temple fairs continue to be transmitted: the sacrifice on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, the wedding day of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and the sacrifice on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the day of their meeting on the magpie bridge; on these occasions people come from all directions to the fair in an endless stream. The legend has a long origin and a deep popular base and has wide cultural recognition in the Chinese cultural sphere worldwide and in Japan, Korea and South-East Asia. The legend and the related folk activities complement each other and have become part of the people's daily life. The ideas of love, marriage and family depicted in the legend lodge people's yearning for and pursuit of a happy life and have very important practical significance for building harmonious families and a harmonious society. The Cowherd and Weaver Girl legend is an eternal theme of literary creation.
The Stone Statues of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl at the Kunming Pool
The stone statues set up on the eastern and western sides of the pool when Emperor Wu of the Han dug the Kunming pool in 120 BCE.
The Shizhao Temple
A temple built in the Tang for sacrificing to the stone statue of the Weaver Girl.
The Sacrifice on the Wedding Day, the Seventeenth of the First Month
The temple-fair sacrifice on the Cowherd and Weaver Girl's wedding day transmitted among the people.
The Sacrifice on the Magpie-Bridge Meeting Day, the Seventh of the Seventh Month
The temple-fair sacrifice on the magpie-bridge meeting day transmitted among the people.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Doumen area of Chang'an district in Xi'an is an important area of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl legend and is said to be where the story took place; by the Kunming pool there still survive the stone statues of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl and the Shizhao temple and other relics.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl · Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Its great cultural value and positive social influence are shown in: first, the legend reflects the level of productive forces of agricultural society and the self-sufficient agricultural civilisation.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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