Ancient Chinese Folklore

Butterfly Lovers

• Zhu Yingtai disguises herself as a man to enter an academic institution; unexpectedly, she falls in love with Liang Shiangbo.

• A tragic story• The spirits of the two lovers become

butterflies• They fly into the sky, together and

free

Madame White Snake

Madame White Snake

• Bai suzhen is a white snake demon who fell in love with a human, xu xian.

• Fa hai, a monk, sensed the true nature of bai and convinced xu xian to have her drink wine to reveal her demon form.

• In some versions, bai suzhen and her companion, the green snake Xiao qing, defeated fa hai and she was reunited with her husband and son.

Madame White Snake

• In other versions, however, wife and husband were not reunited: bai suzhen became an immortal –-no longer a demon- but she could no longer be with xu xian.

• In some, white snake was imprisoned for 1000 years; this version hints on reincarnation

• “demons falling in love with humans and becoming good because of human love interests is a popular theme in ancient folklores.

Chinese zodiac

Chinese zodiac

• One version of how the 12 zodiac signs came to be:

• 1st- rat: he and cat got a ride from the ox, but rat pushed cat into the water and jumped on the ground before the ox could finish the race.

• 2nd-ox• 3rd-tiger

Chinese zodiac

• 4th-rabbit: had hopped on stepping stones and rode a floating log to the shore

• 5th-dragon: came in late because he had to send down rain for people and animals; he was also responsible for blowing the wind to carry the log that rabbit was on to shore

• 6th-snake: frightened the horse and sneaked into sixth place

Chinese zodiac

• 7th-horse• 8th-goat• 9th-monkey the three of them

rode on• 10th-rooster a raft together• 11th-dog: took a bath in the clean water• 12th-boar: got hungry and stopped to

eat; had a short nap afterwards

The four dragons

• The four dragons wanted to help the people who needed rain for their crops

• They went to the jade emperor for help, but even after many days, there was no rain.

• The dragons decided to carry the water from the sea in their mouths and pour it down from the sky.

• This angered the jade emperor who had the dragons imprisoned.

The four dragons

• The four dragons were imprisoned under mountains, but they did not regret what they did.

• Still wanting to help the people, the four dragons became the four great rivers of china.

• Yellow dragon, long dragon, black dragon, and pearl dragon

The four dragons

The dragon princess

• A fisherman fell down a hole and found a dragon castle; however, he was not allowed to enter.

• Eventually, he found another way out. He told an official about the cave and the dragons.

• The official informed the emperor, who called for a wise man.

• The wise man advised the emperor in his desire to obtain treasure from the dragon.

The dragon princess

• A messenger was sent to the dragon princess with jade caskets and 400 roasted swallows

• The dragon princess, with the help of a 1000- year-old dragon who could transform into a human, gave the messengers a gift in return.

• The messengers delivered the gifts to the emperor.

• The gifts were pearls of different kinds

The dragon princess

• A wishing pearl, black dragon pearl, serpent-pearl, sea-crane pearl, and mussel-pearl

• Since the serpent-pearl and the sea-crane pearl were similar in appearance, the emperor asked the wise man to help him differentiate the pearls.

• The wise man told him to bring a serpent and a sea-crane. The serpent went to the serpent-pearl, while the sea-crane went to the sea-crane pearl.

The dragon princess

• This version tells us the advantage of being “wise. Throughout the course of the story, many people did not believe the wise man and thought that he was making things up.

• It was only when the messengers delivered the treasure to the emperor that the people realized that the wise man had been telling the truth.

The dragon princess

• Another version of the story of the dragon princess: the rescue of the dragon princess

• The legend of Liu Yi delivering a letter for the dragon princess

• A Young scholar Liu Yi was on his way to Beijing to take the annual imperial examination for a civil servant position.

• Moving along, he heard someone weeping.

The dragon princess

• He saw a young woman, surrounded by sheep.

• She was holding a whip in her hand.• He asked her why she had been crying• She told him that she was the third

daughter of the Dong Ting Lake dragon king and the third princess in the Dong Ting Lake palace. Her father had married her off to the youngest son, the last of 10 princes, of the Jinghe River dragon king.

The dragon princess

• Her husband was ruthless and cruel. She tried to change his wicked attitude, but he became annoyed and angry at her. Her parents sided with her husband and they banished her. They turned her into a shepherdess.

• They took away the magical instrument that could help her keep in touch with her family.

• The young woman asked the man if he could deliver a letter to her parents.

The dragon princess

• She was hesitant to press him for help, considering that he still had someplace to go, but Liu yi wanted to help.

• she tore off a piece of her dress and wrote with a small amount of blood from her finger.

• Father: Your third daughter is living in misery, belittled and treated badly. She might die at any moment because of the circumstances she has to live under. Please come and rescue your daughter as soon as possible.”

The dragon princess

• Liu yi went to the dong ting lake and stood by the sacred orange tree at the lakeside. He knocked 3x, clapped 3x and called 3x: dong ting jun, I have a message for you.

• The water of the lake separated and a crab-like creature asked him his purpose.

• He followed the creature into the lake.• He saw a beautiful palace with gardens.

The dragon princess

• The dragon king wept at the fate of his daughter, but he had to consider his friendship with the jinghe river dragons.

• But his court wanted to take action.• Qiantang jun, brother of the dragon

king was short-tempered but warm and loving. He decided to rescue his niece.

• In no time, he changed into a dragon and fought the jinghe river dragons.

The dragon princess

• The dragon princess was restored to her family.

• A banquet was prepared for liu yi, but he was humble and wanted no reward.

• When the dragon princess came to thank him, he was so astounded at her beauty.

• Qiantang jun told liu yi that the dragon princess wanted to marry him.

The dragon princess

• But liu yi said that he did not want the world to think that he helped her only because of her beauty.

• He left the palace without taking any of the gifts offered to him

• When he had arrived home, he told his mother all that had happened.

• After one year had passed, his mother declared her wish to see him get married.

The dragon princess

• His mother had chosen a match for him. The daughter was from the lu family.

• On the night of the wedding, liu yu was surprised to see that his bride looked exactly like the dragon princess.

• He told his bride the real story. She was deeply touched and revealed that she really was the dragon princess.

The dragon princess

• Liu Yi stands as an example for the old, traditional Chinese saying that a gentleman does not look for a reward when giving help or benefits to others. This saying provides a standard for those who do good deeds to live up to.

The monkey king

• sun wukong-awakened to

emptiness

The monkey king

• Also known as journey to the west• A novel written by wu cheng en• Sanzang or tripitaka, whose name

means 3 baskets, is a buddhist monk tasked to retrieve the sutra or religious scrolls from india.

• Buddha revealed to him that he needed companions to protect him in his journey

The monkey king

• Sandy or sha wujing is a sand demon• Pigsy or zhu bajie is a demon pig who eats people• Sun wukong is the monkey king, the strongest and most skilled monkey warrior in the entire realm.

The monkey king

• Although the story is about the journey of sanzang or xuanzang to retrieve the sutra, the novel actually focuses on sun wukong

The monkey king

• Sun wukong was born from the earth and lived in the mountain of fruits and flowers

• He was taught by a master scholar and warrior, from whom he obtained his nyo-bo or bo staff and from whom he learned to use clouds as means of transportation

• Sun wukong was very proud and rebellious

The monkey king

• He disrupted a banquet of the gods and ate their fruits and drank their wine

• The heavenly army tried to burn him, but because he had drank from their cups, he had become immortal. The attempt had only made his eyes look like gold coins

• To try to contain his naughty behavior, buddha struck a deal with him

The monkey king

• If he could travel a specific distance in only one leap, he will become the great sage of heaven

• Monkey agreed and leapt. He landed on a pillar and peed on it.

• When he looked up he saw buddha and realized that he was still in buddha’s palm.

The monkey king

• Because he lost the deal, monkey was imprisoned in the five-fingers mountain until sanzang came to free him.

• Sun wukong then became his bodyguard and friend.

Let’s think...• Compare and contrast european and asian

dragons• Describe the protagonists of butterfly lovers,

white snake, and rescue of the dragon princess• Why do you think there are many stories about

human-animal transformations in chinese stories?

• What makes sun wukong an interesting and unique protagonist?

• How different are these folktales from our own philippine folklore?

© 2013 Jee Ann Guibone