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The Legend of the White Snake is one of China’s four great folktales, the others being Lady Meng Jiang, Butterfly Lovers, and <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/the-weaving-maiden-and-the-herd-boy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl</a>. Early versions of this tale can be traced to the Southern Song story collection Records of Three Pagodas of West Lake (《西湖三塔记》) and the Yuan zaju play The White Snake (《白蛇记》). By the Ming dynasty, Feng Menglong (冯梦龙)’s Stories to Caution the World—specifically the tale Madam White Forever Imprisoned Beneath Leifeng Pagoda (《警世通言·白娘子永镇雷峰塔》)—refined the narrative. During the Qing dynasty, it gained widespread popularity through operas and folk performances, becoming a beloved classic.
The story recounts how Bai Suzhen (白素贞), a white snake spirit who has cultivated her powers for a thousand years, and Xiaoqing (小青), a green snake spirit, transform into humans to experience the mortal world. While visiting West Lake in Hangzhou, Bai Suzhen encounters a scholar named Xu Xian (许仙). The two fall in love at first sight, and get married soon afterwards. Xiaoqing, leading five little spirits, manages to steal money from a corrupted governor’s bank so that Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian can open a local pharmacy. However, abbot Fa Hai (法海) discovers Bai Suzhen’s true identity as a spirit and, believing that humans and spirits cannot coexist, repeatedly intervenes.
On the Duanwu Festival (端午节), Fa Hai tricks Xu Xian into persuading Bai Suzhen <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/duanwu-festival-and-combating-the-five-poisons-in-chinese-seasonal-customs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to drink realgar wine</a>, which forces her to reveal her snake form. Terrified, Xu collapses and dies. Bai Suzhen risks her life to steal an immortal herb, reviving Xu Xian, though their lives are fraught with tension from that point onward.
Fa Hai lures Xu Xian to Jinshan Temple and traps him there. Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing lead an army of undersea creatures to attack the monastery with storms and floods, but they are defeated by Fa Hai’s superior Buddhist magic, aided by heavenly warriors. Bai Suzhen retreats to Hangzhou and, at Duanqiao, she unexpectedly reunites with Xu Xian, who manages to escape from the temple during the sea battle. The couple reminisce about their first meeting at Duanqiao and eventually reconcile.
Bai Suzhen later gives birth to a son, Xu Shilin (许仕林). Seizing an opportunity, Fa Hai captures Bai Suzhen using a magical alms bowl and imprisons her beneath Leifeng Pagoda (雷峰塔), separating her from her family.
Years later, Xu Shilin achieves the highest honours in the imperial civil service examinations and returns to Hangzhou in glory. He visits Leifeng Pagoda to honour his mother. His filial piety and Bai Suzhen’s enduring loyalty move the heavens, causing the pagoda to collapse. Bai Suzhen is finally freed and reunites with her son.
This tale, blending fantasy with human emotion, reflects themes of love, sacrifice, and the struggle against fate, securing its place as a cherished masterpiece in Chinese culture.
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Story scene description by <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/rachel-ma/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel Ma</a>
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Other Figural Stories:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/heavenly-master-zhang-quelling-the-five-poisons/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heavenly Master Zhang Quelling the Five Poisons</a> 张天师降五毒
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/story-of-the-white-hare/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Story of the White Hare</a> 白兔记

Legend of the White Snake

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Bo Yi (or Boyi, 伯夷) and Shu Qi (or Shuqi, 叔齐) were sons of the ruler of Guzhu (孤竹), a vassal state of the Shang dynasty (商朝, 16th-11th cent. BCE). As the king was getting old, he wanted Shu Qi, his youngest son, to inherit his throne. However, when the father died, Shu Qi asked Bo Yi to take over the throne because he thought Bo Yi was the eldest brother and rightly deserved the position. Bo Yi declined the offer, saying that their father’s wishes should not be altered and then he left the country. Shu Qi followed and left the country, too. With their absence, another brother of theirs was enthroned.
While wandering along the coast of the North Sea, the two brothers heard that another vassal of Shang, the Zhou state, was an ideal place for a peaceful and quiet retired life and they set off to go there. When they arrived, the old ruler, Count of the Zhou had just passed away and his son enthroned himself as King Wu (武王) and posthumously gave his father the title of King Wen (文王). King Wu believed that he was the next person to have the mandate from Heaven to rule the Shang territories, instead of just being the Count of Zhou under the Shang.
With the veteran strategist the Grand Duke <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/jiang-ziya-was-discovered-angling-by-baron-of-zhou-by-the-wei-river/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jiang Ziya</a> (姜子牙, or Jiang Taigong 姜太公), King Wu was launching a military campaign to overthrow the Shang house, when the two brothers appeared in the middle of the road. They tried to stop King Wu’s army and admonished him, ‘Can it be called observing filial piety when one launches a military campaign before one has properly buried one’s diseased father? Can it be called a gentleman’s proper behaviour when a subject is to assassinate his lord?’ King Wu’s entourage then tried to kill the two but Grand Duke Jiang stopped them, saying, ‘They are righteous people.’ Then Mr Jiang helped the two move out of the way and the army marched on.
The story scene depicted on the famille verte Kangxi vase in the previous Jie Rui Tang Collection was first unveiled by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>. He has since published two more articles discussing the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/interesting-findings/bo-yi-and-shu-qi-stopping-the-zhou-army-analysis-of-traditional-chinese-figures-and-story-scenes-in-assisting-dating-of-antiques/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">figural composition</a> in such theme and <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/has-jiang-ziyas-mount-got-anything-to-do-with-the-pere-davids-deer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jiang Ziya’s riding</a> painted on the antique porcelain vases.
References:
<ol>
<li>倪亦斌：《武王子牙举旗伐商 伯夷叔齐叩马阻兵》，《读者欣赏》，兰州：读者出版传媒股份有限公司，2016-07，60–65 页</li>
<li>Jeffrey P. Stamen and Cynthia Volk with Yibin Ni (2017), A Culture Revealed: Kangxi-Era Chinese Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection 文采卓然：潔蕊堂藏康熙盛世瓷, Jieruitang Publishing, Bruges, pp. 22–25.</li>
</ol>

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