The Legend of the White Snake

The legend of "White Snake" has a long history and is well-known to every household. It matured and became popular in the Qing Dynasty and is a model of Chinese folk collective creation. One theory is that it originated from the Tang legend "The White Snake", another theory originated from "The Three Pagodas of the West Lake", and Feng Menglong's "The Legend of the West Lake" in the Ming Dynasty. The story of "The White Snake will forever guard the Leifeng Pagoda" ("Warning Words") has been initially finalized. "The Legend of White Snake" expresses the people's praise and yearning for the free love between men and women and their hatred for the unreasonable restraint of feudal forces. It is included in the "first batch of national intangible cultural heritage".

Date of occurrence: Northern Song Dynasty (about 1000 years ago).

Place of occurrence: Zhejiang/Henan

Core story: Meeting on a broken bridge, borrowing an umbrella from a canopy boat, White Snake stealing Ganoderma lucidum and fairy grass, flooding Jinshan Mountain, Leifeng Pagoda, Xu Xian’s son Shilin sacrifices to the Pagoda, Fahai escapes into the belly of a crab to escape death.

Story outline:

In the town of Zhenjiang during the Song Dynasty, Bai Suzhen was a snake demon who had cultivated herself for a thousand years. In order to repay Scholar Xu Xian for saving her life in his previous incarnation, she transformed into a human form with the intention of repaying the kindness. Later, she encountered Xiao Qing, a green snake spirit, and the two became companions.
Bai Suzhen used her magical powers and devised clever strategies to get acquainted with Xu Xian and then married him. After marriage, Fahai, a monk from the Jinshan Temple, told Xu Xian that Bai Suzhen was a snake demon. Xu Xian was half-believing and half-doubting. Later, on the Dragon Boat Festival, Xu Xian made Bai Suzhen drink wine laced with realgar according to Fahai's suggestion. Bai Suzhen had no choice but to reveal her true form, which scared Xu Xian to death. Bai Suzhen then went to the Heavenly Court to steal the magic herb Ganoderma lucidum to bring Xu Xian back to life.
Fahai tricked Xu Xian into going to the Jinshan Temple and placed him under house arrest there. Bai Suzhen and Xiao Qing fought against Fahai together, causing the waters to flood the Jinshan Temple. However, this also harmed other living creatures. Because Bai Suzhen had violated the Heavenly Laws, after giving birth to a child, she was captured by Fahai in his alms bowl and suppressed under the Leifeng Pagoda.
Later, Bai Suzhen's son grew up, won the first place in the imperial examination, and went to the pagoda to offer sacrifices to his mother. He rescued his mother, and the whole family was reunited. And the lovely Xiao Qing also found her husband.