Mid-Autumn Moon-Magic — A Chinese Folk Tale, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), A Petition to Stop CCP Censorship of Freedom to Report Truthfully in the Press Worldwide, Teachers Denied Freedom of Speech and Religion, The Architecture of Hui Schools in Inner Mongolia ‘Hanified’, Buddhist Statues Removed from Temples and Tourist Sites, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=kCjYYkhBtX8, Unusual Features of the SARS-CoV-2 Genome Suggesting Sophisticated Laboratory Modification Rather Than Natural Evolution and Delineation of Its Probable Synthetic Route. by Aladdin. Refresh and try again. Fan Xiliang was forced into service to build the Great Wall, too. The moon was split into 3 bright colors. Not able to become immortal, the tortoise dies with hatred and later reincarnate into a monk Fahai (法海, Fǎ hǎi), who still remembers to take revenge on the white snake. Bai Suzhen thinks that the wine cannot hurt her because she’s already immortal; however, she feels so sick after drinking the wine that forces her to reveal her true form as a huge white snake. The story is actually one of the tales of Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, beginning with one of the Eight Immortals (八仙, Bāxiān) Lu Dong-bin (吕洞宾, Lǚdòngbīn), who disguises himself as an ordinary man selling tangyuan (汤圆, Tāngyuán) made of immortality pills. A Chinese Folk Tale: Hoangti was the emperor of China. The green snake can turn into human shape like the white snake does; to thank her, the green snake decides to stay with the white snake and regards her as an elder sister. One could say that, but it doesn’t mean the end of China … on the contrary. To rescue her beloved husband, Bai Suzhen brings her sister Xiaoqing to fight Fahai together.

Then he swallowed the rest of the cake and ran off, leaving the little boy waiting for the new moon. . (Chinese people believe that the realgar wine can repel snakes or other venomous animals.) In part 2, you will know the famous and classic Chinese folktales that together, they are called “China’s Four Great Folktales.”. Without further ado, let’s hear the stories! The Tang dynasty reigned 618-906 A.D. “The Spreading Halls of Crystal Cold”: The goddess of the ice also has her habitation in the moon. A kid named Xu Xian (许仙, Xǔxiān) buys some from Lu Dong-bin, but the boy doesn’t know they are actually elixir. The tale of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai has many adaptation on stage plays, television programs, films, and exhibitions. After they finish their study and return to their hometowns, Liang Shanbo finally knows that his best friend is a girl when he visits her to her hometown. Their grandmother overhears them and tells them the story of when she was younger and met the Chinese Moon Lady who granted anyone their secret wish. In English, there’s “Romeo and Juliet”; in Chinese, there’s…. He couldn’t reach her, but he saw her pet, Jade Rabbit, sitting on the porch looking up at her, and he tossed the rabbit up to her so that she wouldn’t be all alone wherever she was going. In Chinese folklore is permitted to make moon magic and “call the moon.”. The Moon Lady by Amy Tan is a story of three little girls who are wishing for the storm outside to go away for different reasons. The tortoise tries to eat the elixir tangyuan that Xu Xian just threw up, but the white snake gets it first, and thus the white snake gains 500-year magical powers. Xu Xian manages to escape and meet his wife for she’s giving birth to their son Xu Mengjiao.

Houyi was very angry when he returned home and discovered that Chang’e had taken the elixir and abandoned him on Earth to live alone. There’s a very famous and common love story behind this Chinese Valentine’s Day about Niu Lang and Zhi Nu. One day, the Weaver Girl and her other sisters get the permission from the Queen Mother and descend to the earth as a “vacation”; they are all taking bath in the lotus garden. The Queen-Mother is Si Wang Mu (comp. Lu Dong-bin then helps Xu Xian to vomit the tangyuan into the lake nearby. When she finally arrived there, however, somebody told her that her husband died from exhaustion and unacclimatized.

At this time in the lake, there are a white snake spirit and a tortoise spirit, both of whom have been practicing magical powers for centuries in order to transform into human shape and become immortal. It was not a happy life, and one day Houyi was killed by one of his own students who was known to be jealous of the warrior’s skill and bravery. Start by marking “The Moon Lady” as Want to Read: Error rating book. The Tang dynasty reigned 618-906 A.D. “The Spreading Halls of Crystal Cold”: The goddess of the ice also has her habitation in the moon. The couple run their business and have a happy life. The family finally reunites. What do people do during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival? So she took the box out from its hiding place and opened it up and took out the pill. Published: 1921 Your email address will not be published. Suddenly her body became very light and drifted up into the sky. She then threw herself into the ocean with her husband’s body.

Finally gave up. Beside the tree stood a mortar made of white marble, in which a jasper rabbit ground up herbs. Zhu Yingtai gradually falls in love with Liang Shanbo; however, Liang doesn’t know that Zhu is actually a girl. Learn Chinese Online | TutorMandarin 2017, 2nd Floor, No. The love story is set in the Eastern Jin Dynasty when in the society only males can receive the education. Houyi was very grateful to the Queen, but he knew that he could not give the elixir to Chang’e because he could not bear to be parted from her side. However, the viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at IMD. Employers and recruiters experiencing problems please call, Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a second-generation Chinese American from California who now divides her time between Michigan and the Big Island of Hawaii. Amy Tan (Chinese: 譚恩美; pinyin: Tán Ēnměi; born February 19, 1952) is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships and what it means to grow up as a first generation Asian American. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. And the Weaver Girl, or 织女 (Zhīnǚ), a fairy who lives in Heaven and is so good at weaving that she weaves the rainbows and clouds, she’s also the seventh granddaughter of the Queen Mother. There they saw a great castle on which was inscribed: “The Spreading Halls of Crystal Cold.” Beside it stood a cassia tree which blossomed and gave forth a fragrance filling all the air.

Bai Suzhen meets the grown-up Xu Xian eighteen years later and marries him to pay her gratitude. One of the Chinese classics we read repeatedly during my childhood. Shortly after the couple got married, Qin Shi Huang ordered labor recruitments to build the Great Wall of China.

Zhu Yingtai’s parents have already arranged her marriage to Ma WenCai, a son from a rich family. Editor: Dr. R. Wilhelm By Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, AAV Contributing Editor. Learn how your comment data is processed. She smiled and said to the emperor: “You are a prince of the mundane world of dust. One day, the white snake (白蛇, Báishé) in human shape, who is a beautiful lady, saves a green snake (青蛇, Qīng shé) from a human who is going to kill the green snake. The Mid-autumn Festival takes place on Friday 13 September. In 1993, Tan's adaptation of her most popular fiction work, The Joy Luck Club, became a commercially successful film. Publisher: Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, Donate Bitcoin 1LQH9v9GihyQgwqAF9RnBiszhzKi9z2CyX. 180, Section 1, Keelung Rd, Xinyi District, Taipei City, 110, (Part 1), some of the Chinese myths have a comparative “Western version,” how the universe and men were created, scary fairy tales, and love stories. Welcome back. She is currently an acting editor for IMDiversity.com’s, , where she writes most frequently on culture, family, arts, and lifestyles topics. Xu Xian is still in love with Bai Suzhen even though she’s not a real human. Only years later did I find out it was originally a chapter in. LOVE this book!! This was a cute short story.

However, the revengeful Fahai is planning to break up the relationship of the couple, so he comes to Xu Xian and tells him to make his wife drink. I didn’t mean to swallow it. Not able to become immortal, the tortoise dies with hatred and later reincarnate into a monk.

Bai Suzhen thinks that the wine cannot hurt her because she’s already immortal; however, she feels so sick after drinking the wine that forces her to reveal her true form as a huge white snake.

The couple were both immortals who lived in the heavens, and both were well known for their brave acts of courage against many dangerous enemies. As mentioned in previous article Famous Chinese Myths You Must Know (Part 1), some of the Chinese myths have a comparative “Western version,” how the universe and men were created, scary fairy tales, and love stories. with No. could have stared at the rich illustrations all day. He also occurs in connection with the myths regarding the moon, for one tale recounts how he saved the moon during an eclipse by means of his arrows. This restlessness soon turned to sadness, which then turned to anger at her banishment from the heavens. The silver stories of the castle towered one above the other, and its walls and columns were all formed of liquid crystal. The rain-toad Tschan, who has three legs, is also placed on the moon. And Hou I shot nine of them down from the sky.