Liubowen Legend
01 · Historical Records
Liu Bowen is Liu Ji, 1311-1373, courtesy name Bowen and posthumous title Wencheng, a military strategist, statesman and poet of the late Yuan and early Ming and a native of Qingtian, Zhejiang. Around his life and deeds a great many legends have been handed down among the people for generations; from the mid-Ming onward, with the popularity of fiction, drama and narrative-singing, they spread widely and gradually developed into a rich body of Liu Bowen legends. The legends not only circulated widely in southern Zhejiang but spread through cultural exchange to Korea, Japan and other countries, showing the far-reaching influence of traditional Chinese culture. The Liu Bowen legends are known to every household in southern Zhejiang and are one of the most representative folk legends of the locality.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Liu Ji, 1311-1373, courtesy name Bowen and posthumous title Wencheng, was a military strategist, statesman and poet of the late Yuan and early Ming. The legends show either Liu Bowen's broad strategy and resourcefulness, or his benevolence and skill and his care for the people, or his integrity in office and strict enforcement of the law, reflecting the working people's longing for justice, friendship and a good life, their praise of goodness and wisdom and their hatred of evil. Through cultural exchange the legends even spread to Korea, Japan and other countries, fully displaying the deep foundation and far-reaching influence of traditional Chinese culture. In their long circulation they formed several thematic series, such as his precocious youth, his assistance to Zhu Yuanzhang, his marvellous foresight, his pleading for the people and his prophetic verses, their plots mostly attached to historical events and combining the colour of history with folk imagination. In the legends Liu Bowen is either resourceful or benevolent or strict in enforcing the law, reflecting the working people's longing for justice and a good life.
Liu Ji's Native Place in Qingtian
The area of relics and legends around Qingtian, Liu Ji's native place.
The Prophetic-Verse Legends of Liu Bowen
The story series of the Liu Bowen legends on the theme of prophetic verses.
The Liu Bowen Storytelling Tradition
The tradition of telling the Liu Bowen legends handed down in the Qingtian area.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Liu Bowen legends have a long origin and are known to every household and every woman and child in his native Qingtian and Wencheng in southern Zhejiang. Wencheng county is Liu Ji's native place and burial place, and the relics of the Liu Ji temple and the Liu Ji tomb there and the legends support one another, with a local tradition of sacrificing to Liu Ji and telling the Liu Bowen legends surviving to this day.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Liubowen Legend.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Collating and protecting the Liu Bowen legends can carry forward the moral and ethical values spontaneously recognised among the people and positively promote the building of a modern harmonious society. They lodge the people's esteem for integrity, wisdom and justice and are important material for studying Ming history, the folklore of southern Zhejiang and folk literature. The Liu Bowen legends are a product of the mutual blending of folk literature and historical events and have a distinctive regional character of southern Zhejiang.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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