趙飛燕 (Zhao Feiyan)

Zhao Feiyan (趙飛燕, c. 32–1 BC)

Zhao Feiyan (Chinese: 趙飛燕, c. 32–1 BC),[1] formally Empress Xiaocheng (孝成皇后), was an empress during the Han Dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Cheng.[2] She was known in the Chinese popular mindset more for her beauty than for the palace intrigue that she and her sister, the also beautiful Consort Zhao Hede engaged in, but unlike most of the famous beauties in Chinese history (such as the Four Beauties), she was often vilified by historians. She was often compared and contrasted with Yang Guifei, the beautiful concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, because she was known for her slender build while Yang was known for her full build. This led to the Chinese idiom yanshou huanfei (燕瘦環肥), describing the range of the types of beauties.


Notes

[1]^ a b c d e Peterson, Barbara Bennett & He Hong Fei & Han Tie & Wang Jiyu & Zhang Guangyu. (1999) Notable Women of China "M.E. Sharpe". pp. 87-90. ISBN 0-7656-0504-X.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Feiyan

Mazu (媽祖)

Mazu (媽祖)

Alternative Names (異名):
媽祖(traditional Chinese), Māzǔ(Hanyu Pinyin), Ma-tsu(Wade-Giles), Má-chó(Pe̍h-ōe-jī), Mazu, Matsu, Mother-Ancestor(literally)


Mazu (traditional Chinese: 媽祖; Hanyu Pinyin: Māzǔ; Wade-Giles: Ma-tsu; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Má-chó·; literally "Mother-Ancestor"), also spelt Matsu, is the Taoist goddess of the sea who protects fishermen and sailors, and is revered as the patron saint who protects East Asians who are associated with the ocean.

Her mortal name is Lin Moniang (Chinese: 林默娘; pinyin: Lín Mòniáng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Be̍k-niû).

She is widely worshipped in the south-eastern coastal areas of China and neighbouring areas, especially Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, and Vietnam, all of which have strong sea-faring traditions, as well as migrant communities elsewhere with sizeable populations from these areas.


Names

Popular names:

Mazu (媽祖, literally "Mother-Ancestor"), or Mazu-po (媽祖婆, "Elder Lady Mazu")
Tian Hou (天后, literally "Heavenly Empress" or "Heavenly Queen") or Thiên Hậu in Vietnamese
Tian Fei (天妃, literally "Heavenly Princess Consort")
A-Ma (阿媽, "Grandmother")
Tianshang Shengmu or Tianhou Shengmu (天上聖母, 天后聖母, both meaning "Heavenly Holy Mother") or Thiên Hậu Thánh Mẫu in Vietnamese

Official titles:

In Southern Song Danasty, she was given the first Title as "Princess of Supernatural Favour" in A.D. 1155 by Emperor Gaozong of Song.
In the Yuan Dynasty, she was officially the "Protector of the Empire and the Brilliantly Outstanding Heavenly Princess" (護國明著天妃 Huguo Mingzhu Tianfei).
In Ming Dynasty, she was given as "Holy Mother of Heaven Above" in 1417 by the Yongle Emperor.
In the Qing Dynasty, she was made the "Heavenly Empress" (天后; Mandarin: Tiān Hòu; Cantonese: Tin Hau'). Her last imperial title was given as "Holy Mother in Heaven" in 1839 by the Daoguang Emperor.


The person

According to legend, Lin Moniang was born in 960 (during the early Northern Song Dynasty) as the seventh daughter of Lin Yuan (林愿) on Meizhou Island, Fujian. She did not cry when she was born, and thus her given name means "Silent Girl."

There are many legends about her and the sea.

Although she started swimming relatively late at the age of 15, she soon became an excellent swimmer. She wore red standing on the shore to guide fishing boats home, even in the most dangerous and harsh weather.

According to one legend, Lin Moniang's father and brothers were fishermen. One day, a terrible typhoon arose while they were out at sea, and the rest of her family feared that those at sea had perished. In the midst of this storm, depending on the version of the legend, she either fell into a trance while praying for the lives of her father and brothers or dreamed of her father and brothers while she was sleeping. In either the trance or the dream, her father and brothers were drowning, and she reached out to them, holding her brothers up with her hands and her father up with her mouth. However, Moniang's mother now discovered her and tried to wake her, but Moniang was in such a deep trance or dream that it seemed like she was dead. Moniang's mother, already believing the rest of their family dead, now broke down, crying, believing that Moniang had also just died. Hearing her mother's cries, in pity, Moniang gave a small cry to let her mother know she was alive, but in opening her mouth, she was forced to drop her father. Consequently, Moniang's brothers returned alive (sadly without their father) and told the other villagers that a miracle had happened and that they had somehow been held up in the water as a typhoon raged.

There are at least two versions of Lin Moniang's death. In one version, she died in 987 at the age of 28, when she climbed a mountain alone and flew to heaven and became a goddess. Another version of the legend says that she died at age 16 of exhaustion after swimming far into the ocean trying to find her lost father and that her corpse later washed ashore in Nankan Island of the Matsu Islands.

Lin Moniang (2000), a minor Fujianese TV series, is a dramatization of the life of Mazu as a mortal.


The goddess

After her death, the families of many fishermen and sailors began to pray to her in honor of her acts of courage in trying to save those at sea. Her worship spread quickly. Much of her popularity in comparison to other sea deities resulted from her role as a compassionate motherly protector, in contrast to authoritarian father figures like the Dragon Kings. She is usually depicted wearing a red robe, and sitting on a throne. As often happens to revered folk heroes in Chinese culture, she became an empress figure during the Yuan Dynasty.


Worship

Starting from Fujian, worship of Mazu spread to the neighbouring coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Guangdong, and thence to all coastal areas of mainland China. With emigration and especially the Chinese diaspora of the 19th and 20th centuries, it further spread to Taiwan, Vietnam, Ryukyu, Japan, and South East Asia; the role of Mazu as patron of the seas ensured that newly arrived immigrants often erected temples to her first, to give thanks for arriving safely. Today, worship of Mazu is also found in other countries with sizeable populations from these regions. In total, there are around 1,500 Mazu temples in 26 countries of the world.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, around 60 temples are dedicated, at least partially to Tin Hau. The temple in the Tin Hau area, east of Victoria Park, in Eastern District, on Hong Kong Island, has given its name to the area and to the MTR station serving it (Island Line). The Tin Hau Temple is one of the declared monuments of Hong Kong. Because of their historic significance, many Tin Hau Temples in Hong Kong were graded historic buildings.

Macau

Macau has three Tin Hau temples (one per Coloane, Macau Peninsula, and Taipa). The name Macau is thought to be derived from the Templo de A-Má (A-Ma Temple) (媽閣廟, Cantonese Jyutping: Maa1 Gok3 Miu6, local pronunciation: Maa5 Gok3 Miu6 or Maa5 Gok3 Miu5), a still-existing landmark built in 1448 dedicated to the goddess Mazu.

Mainland China

Aside from Fujian, there are more than 40 temples dedicated to Mazu in Guangdong and Hainan, and more than 30 in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In northern China, there are large Mazu temples in Tianjin, Weihai, Yingkou, Qinhuangdao, Qingdao, Changdao Islands (also named "Temple Islands" after the Mazu temple there), and Penglai.

In Nanjing, the Tian Fei Palace was built by the Yongle Emperor in the Ming Dynasty, at the instigation of Admiral Zheng He after returning from his first expedition. Before and after each expedition, Zheng He would worship at the temple for Mazu's protection. Because it was a state temple built by the Emperor, this temple was the largest and enjoyed the highest status of all Mazu temples in the country. The temple was largely destroyed by Japanese bombings in 1937, but is currently being rebuilt.

In Shanghai, historically here were three principal Tian Hou Temples. During the Qing Dynasty, it was customary for diplomats departing by sea to worship at the Tian Hou Palace in the old city. All of these were progressively destroyed. The last, on the banks of the Suzhou Creek, was moved to Songjiang. This temple is now dedicated to the "Mazu of the Huangpu River". The City God Temple in the old city is also partially dedicated to Mazu.

Fujian

In Putian, the legendary birthplace of Mazu, there are hundreds of temples dedicated to the goddess, including about 20 on Meizhou island alone.

Elsewhere in Fujian, there are about 70 temples dedicated to Mazu, mostly concentrated in the coastal areas.

Heavenly Empress Temple-Meizhou Ancestral Temple (天后宮湄洲祖廟) is on her native Meizhou Island.

Malaysia

Malaysia has a long history of Taoist religion ever since the Chinese from Southern China settled in South East Asia region. The famous Thean Hou Temple(Chinese:马来西亚吉隆坡天后宫) situated in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Capital of Malaysia is a famous tourist destination in Asia. Few tenths thousand of other temples and statues are found throughout the country.

Every year, the Nine Emperor Gods Festival is celebrated heavily especially in Penang; and the Birthday of Mazu celebrated throughout the country.

A mega project to build the world tallest Mazu statue at Northernmost tip of Borneo, Kudat was officially launched by the leader and people of Sabah recently . The statue was to measure at 10-storey high and would draw millions of tourists to the country every year. This project has however been cancelled due to protests from a few Muslims in Sabah and some political interference.

Singapore

The worship of Mazu was brought to Singapore from China by the influx of Chinese immigrants during the 19th century, a large proportion of whom came from Fujian. Two of the oldest and best known Chinese temples in Singapore, Thian Hock Keng and Yueh Hai Ching Temple, were both dedicated mainly to Mazu, and in the 19th century were frequented by immigrants who came to give thanks after a safe sea voyage from China.

Taiwan
There are about 800 to 1000 Taiwanese temples dedicated entirely or--more often--partly to Mazu. The oldest one is Great Queen of Heaven Temple (zh:大天后宮), Tainan City.

Chenlan Temple (zh:鎮瀾宮) in Tachia, Taichung County, is the most famous Mazu temple in Taiwan, and an annual pilgrimage takes place there each spring. Chaotian Temple (朝天宮) of Peikang Township (北港鎮) in Yunlin is another popular temple of Mazu in Taiwan.

There is also a major temple in Makung, on the Pescadores Islands.

Thailand

In Thailand, there are a lots of Mazu temples too, especially in cities near the sea such as Bangkok, Chonburi, Pattani, and Phuket. Many Thai Chinese worship the goddess, and some visit Fujian, China to worship her at her place of origin.

United States

Chùa Bà Thiên HậuMazu has gained popularity in the west as well. Many temples are dedicated to Mazu in Chinatowns in the United States. The oldest Taoist temple in the United States, Tin How Temple in San Francisco, built in 1852, is dedicated to Mazu. Another Mazu temple that has gained popularity in the west is located in Los Angeles, where many South East Asians are known to reside in or nearby. Known as Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu and home to the Camau Association of America, a Chinese/Vietnamese/Teochew benevolent association, it has become an immensely popular tourist attraction in Chinatown after being completed on September 5, 2005 after two years of building and an investment of around $2m. It features such attrtactions as annual 24-hour lion dances and a legal firecracker display on Chinese New Year's Eve.


Animation

媽祖 - 海之傳說


See also

Chinese mythology
Tin Hau, Hong Kong
Guan Yin


Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chinese_mythology


Chinese mythology | Chinese goddesses | Mother goddesses | Sea and river goddesses

莊子 (Zhuangzi)


Zhuangzi (莊子)

Zhuangzi (simplified Chinese: 庄子; traditional Chinese: 莊子; pinyin: Zhuāng Zǐ; Wade–Giles: Chuang Tzŭ) was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name, the Zhuangzi. His name Zhuangzi (English "Master Zhuang", with Zi being an honorific) is sometimes spelled Zhuang Tze, Zhuang Zhou, Chuang Tsu, Chuang Tzu, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse, or Chuangtze.


Quotes·Quotation by Zhuangzi

Beuty

¶ 毛嬙、麗姬,人之所美也,魚見之深入,鳥見之高飛,麋鹿見之決驟。 [莊子 齊物論]
Mao Qiang(毛嬙) and Li Ji(麗嬉) were accounted by men to be most beautiful, but when fishes saw them, they dived deep in the water from them; when birds, they flew from them aloft; and when deer saw them, they separated and fled away. [Zhuangzi(莊子), The Adjustment of Controversies (齊物論)]

Egotism·Humility

¶ 同於己為是之,異於己為非之。 [莊子 寓言]
Those which agree with their own they hold to be right, and those which do not so agree they hold to be wrong. [Metaphorical Language]

Honor

¶ He who pursues fame at the risk of losing his self is not a scholar.

Knowledge·Wisdom, Knowledge, Wisdom

¶ 則知者不言,言者不知,而世豈識之哉。 [莊子 天道]
The wise do not speak and those who do speak are not wise. How should the world know that real nature? [The Way of Heaven]

¶ 吾生也有涯,而知也无涯。 [莊子 養生主]
There is a limit to our life, but to knowledge there is no limit. [Nourishing the Lord of Life]

Life

¶ 人生天地之間,若白駒之過郤。 [莊子 知北遊]
Life between heaven and earth is like a white colt's passing a crevice. [Knowledge Rambling in the North]

Solitude, Self-reliance

¶ 儵魚出遊從容,是魚樂也。 [莊子 秋水]
These thryssas come out, and play about at their ease - that is the enjoyment of fishes. [The Floods of Autumn]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_philosophers

Magu (麻姑)

Magu (麻姑)

Alternative Names (異名):
麻姑(Chinese), Mágū(pinyin), Ma Ku(Wade-Giles), Ma Gu, Magu, Hemp Maid(literally)


Ma Gu (Chinese: 麻姑; pinyin: Mágū; Wade-Giles: Ma Ku; literally "Hemp Maid") is a legendary Daoist xian (仙 "immortal; transcendent") associated with the elixir of life, and symbolic protector of females in Chinese mythology. Stories in Chinese literature describe Ma Gu as a beautiful young woman with long birdlike fingernails, while early myths associate her with caves. Ma Gu xian shou (麻姑獻壽 "Ma Gu gives her birthday greetings") is a popular motif in Chinese art.


The name

Ma Gu's name compounds two common Chinese words. Ma (麻, pictographically showing plants drying in a 广 "shed, shack") originally meant "hemp, Cannabis sativa" (cultivated in China prior to 4000 BCE, Li 1974); but has extended meanings of "sesame" (zhima 芝麻), " numbed; tingling" (mazui 麻醉 "anesthetic; narcotic"), "pockmarked; pitted" (mazi 麻子 "hemp seed, pockmark"), and an uncommon Chinese surname. Gu (姑, combining the 女 "woman" radical and a gu 古 "old" phonetic) is primarily used in female Chinese kinship terms for "father's sister" (gugu 姑姑), "husband's sister" (dagu/xiaogu 大/小姑 "elder/younger sister-in-law"), and "husband's mother" (wenggu 翁姑 "husband's parents"); gu can also mean "young woman, maiden, maid" (guniang 姑娘 "girl; daughter; prostitute"), and religious titles (daogu 道姑 "Daoist priestess", nigu 尼姑 "Buddhist nun"). Accurately translating Ma Gu into English is problematic, depending upon whether she was a "maid", "priestess", or "goddess" of "hemp", "marijuana", or something else. Victor H. Mair (1990) proposed that Chinese wu (巫 "shaman"), pronounced *myag in Old Chinese, was a loanword from Old Persian *maguš "magician; magi", hypothetically comparable with Ma Gu.

Chinese Ma Gu (麻姑) is called Mago in Korean and Mako in Japanese. Mago (마고, 麻姑) is a cosmogonic goddess in Korean creation myths. Hwang (2004:1) calls her "the Great Goddess" and proposes "Magoism, the archaic gynocentric cultural matrix of East Asia, which derives from the worship of Mago as creatress, progenitress, and sovereign." According to the Budoji, Korean mytho-history began with the "Era of Mago." Japanese Mako (麻姑) is usually a literary reference to the Chinese story (below) about Ma Gu's long fingernails, for instance, Mako sōyō (麻姑掻痒 "Ma Gu scratches the itch") metaphorically means "things going like one imagined".


Cultic origins

While Ma Gu folktales are familiar in East Asia, the sociologist Wolfram Eberhard (1943, 1968:123-126) was the first Western scholar to analyze them. He categorized Ma Gu under a cultural chain of Yao love songs and festivals. Based on references in Chinese texts, Eberhard proposed two centers for the Ma Gu cult, in the present-day provinces of Jiangxi and Hubei. Evidence for an "original cultic center" (1968:124) near Nancheng (南城) county in southwestern Jiangxi includes several place names, including two mountains. The famous Ma Gu Shan (麻姑山 "Ma Gu Mountain") is located in Nancheng, and Daoists regard its Danxia Dong (丹霞洞 "Cinnabar Cloud Grotto", see Hahn 2007:29-30) as the 28th of 36 sacred dongtian (洞天 "Grotto-heavens, heaven-reaching grottos"). The famous Tang Dynasty Daoist calligrapher Yan Zhengqing visited Mt Magu and inscribed the Magu Shan Xiantan Ji (痲姑山仙墰記 "Record of the Mountain Platform where Magu Ascended to Immortality"). A second Ma Gu Mountain is located in Jianchang county (建昌, near Nanfeng 南豐). Ma Gu Wine (麻姑酒) is made in Jianchang and nearby Linchuan. In addition, Ma Gu is an alternate name for Hua Gu (華姑 "flower maid") Mountain in Xuancheng county of Anhui. Evidence for a secondary area for the Ma Gu cult in Hubei includes the Song dynasty temple near Hankou, along with the Ma Gu Temple on Mount Heng. Several early folktales from Sichuan province associate Ma Gu with caves and one describes a shaman who invoked her. Regarding the traditions that she was born in Jiangxi and became an immortal xian in Shandong, Eberhard says.

This ascent to heaven, typical of Taoists, connects her with the immortal saints, and indeed she is regarded as a symbol of long life and rebirth, and therefore in the Chinese drama, appears a good omen during birthday celebrations. (1968:124)


Early descriptions

Campany (2002:259-270) provides details of Ma Gu mythology in his annotated translation of Ge Hong's Shenxian Zhuan (神仙傳 "Biographies of Divine immortals", ca. 317 CE). He compares four Chinese textual variations of Ma Gu stories.

(1) The Shenxian Zhuan Daoist hagiography of Wang Yuan (王遠, or Wang Fangping 王方平) and Ma Gu has the longest early descriptions of her. Wang was supposedly a Confucianist scholar who quit his official post during the reign (146-168 CE) of Emperor Huan of Han and went into the mountains to became a Daoist xian. Later, while traveling in Wu (modern Zhejiang), Wang met Cai Jing 蔡經, whose physiognomy indicated he was destined to become an immortal, and taught him the basic techniques. After Cai had been gone for "over a decade", he suddenly returned home, looking like a young man, announced that Lord Wang would visit on the "seventh day of the seventh month" (later associated with the Cowherd and Weaver Girl lovers' festival), and ordered preparations for a feast. After Wang and his celestial entourage arrived on the auspicious "double-seven" day, he invited Ma Gu to join their celebration because "It has been a long time since you were in the human realm." She replied by invisible messenger. "Maid Ma bows and says: 'Without our realizing it, more than five hundred years have passed since our last meeting!'" After apologizing that she would be delayed owing to an appointment at Penglai Mountain (a legendary island in the Eastern Sea, where the elixir of immortality grows), Ma arrived four hours later.

She appeared to be a handsome woman of eighteen or nineteen; her hair was done up, and several loose strands hung down to her waist. Her gown had a pattern of colors, but it was not woven; it shimmered, dazzling the eyes, and was indescribable – it was not of this world. She approached and bowed to Wang, who bade her rise. When they were both seated, they called for the travelling canteen. The servings were piled up on gold platters and in jade cups without limit. There were rare delicacies, many of them made from flowers and fruits, and their fragrance permeated the air inside [Cai's home] and out. When the meat was sliced and served, [in flavor] it resembled broiled mo, and was announced as kirin meat.

Maid Ma declared: "Since I entered your service, I have seen the Eastern Sea turn to mulberry fields three times. As one proceeded across to Penglai, the water came only up to one's waist. I wonder whether it will turn to dry land once again." Wang answered with a sigh, "Oh, the sages all say that the Eastern Sea will once again become blowing dust." (tr. Campany 2002:262)

When Ma Gu was introduced to the women in Cai's family, she transformed some rice into pearls as a trick to avoid the unclean influences of a recent childbirth. Then Wang presented Cai's family with a strong liquor from "the celestial kitchens", and warned that it was "unfit for drinking by ordinary people". Even after diluting the liquor with water, everyone became intoxicated and wanted more.

Maid Ma's fingernails resembled bird claws. When Cai Jing noticed them, he thought to himself, "My back itches. Wouldn't it be great if I could get her to scratch my back with those nails?" Now, Wang Yuan knew what Cai was saying in his heart, so he ordered him bound and whipped, chiding, "Maid Ma is a divine personage. How dare you think that her nails could scratch your back!" The whip lashing Cai's back was the only thing visible; no one was seen wielding it. Wang added, "My whippings are not given without cause." (tr. Campany 2002:263)

Some later versions of this legend say Ma was Wang's sister. The poet Li Bai immortalized two Classical Chinese expressions from this story. Ma Gu saobei (麻姑掻背 "Ma Gu scratches [my] back") refers to her extraordinary fingernails. Canghai sangtian (滄海桑田 "blue ocean [turns to] mulberry fields") means "great changes over the course of time"; Joseph Needham (1959:599-600) says early Daoists observed seashells in mountainous rocks and recognized the vast scale of geologic transformations.

(2) The Lieyi zhuan (列異傳 "Arrayed Marvels", late 2nd or early 3rd century), attributed to Cao Pi (187-226 CE) has three stories about Wang Fangping.

The third gives a version of the incident of Cai Jing's inappropriate fantasy concerning Maid Ma and her luxuriant four-inch nails. Here, Cai Jing's home is located in Dongyang; he is not whipped but rather flung to the ground, his eyes running blood; and Maid Ma herself, identified as "a divine transcendent" (shenxian), is the one who reads his thoughts and does the punishing. (Campany 2002:268)

Kohn's (1993:355-358, "The Hemp Lady") translation includes a woodblock from the illustrated Zengxiang Liexian zhuan.

(3) The Yiyuan (異苑 "Garden of Marvels", early 5th century), by Liu Jingshu (劉敬叔), records a story about Mei Gu (梅姑 "Plum Maid") or Ma Gu, and suggests her cult originated during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE).

During Qin times, there was a Temple to Maid Mei 梅 – or, as one version has it, Maid Ma – beside a lake. When alive, she had possessed arts of the Dao. She could walk on water in her shoes. Later she violated the laws of the Dao, and her husband, out of anger, murdered her and dumped her body in the lake. Following the current, it floated on the waves until it reached the [present site of] the temple. A subordinate shaman directed that she be encoffined but not immediately buried. Very soon a square, lacquered coffin appeared in the shrine hall. [From then on], at the end and beginning of each lunar month, people there could make out through the fog an indistinct figure, wearing shoes. Fishing and hunting were prohibited in the area of the temple, and violators would always become lost or drown. Shamans said that it was because the Maid had suffered a painful death and hater to see other beings cruelly killed. (tr. Campany 2006:269)

Campany reads this legend to describe founding a temple, probably on Lake Gongting, and translates these "shaman" and "shrine" references in the future tense. Compare the present tense translation of Miyakawa (1979:86) who interprets her body floating to an existing temple.

(4) The Qi Xie ji (齊諧記, 6th century) associates Ma Gu with snakes. It describes her as a commoner from Fuyang, Zhejiang, rather than a Daoist transcendent, who loved raw meat hash. She captured a strange beast resembling a sea turtle and a serpent, and ate it with her companion Hua Ben (華本 "Flower Root"). When Ma started choking, Hau could see a snake flicking its tongue inside her mouth. She later enjoyed a meal at Hua's house, but upon learning that they had eaten snake meat, she vomited blood and died. Campany concludes.

This story hints at an even older stratum of legend behind the Maid Ma cult: like other territorial gods known to Chinese religious history, she may have begun as a theriomorphic deity (perhaps snake-headed) who gradually metamorphosed into a human being and finally – the process culminating in Ge Hong's Traditions narrative – into a full-fledged transcendent. Seen in this light, several details of the Traditions hagiography might be read as betraying these chthonic origins. Among these are Maid Ma's long nails, the featuring of meat dishes among the fantastic foods served by the travelling canteen, and the scene describing the "summoning" of Maid Ma, which is reminiscent of shamanic invocations of deities to attend spirit-writing sessions. (2002:269-270)


Hemp goddess?

Ma Gu can be literally translated "Hemp Goddess/Priestess". The Way of Infinite Harmony is a modern Daoist sect that worships Ma Gu and espouses the spiritual use of cannabis.

Hellmut Wilhelm's book review (1944:213) of Eberhard's original German book (1943) suggested that Ma Gu was associated with cannabis. Eberhard dismissed this hypothesis in the English version.

I have no indication that the goddess ever was a goddess of the hemp plant (ma) as H. Wilhelm surmised (Monumenta Serica vol. 9, p. 213 note 9). She often wears aboriginal attire, a dress with a collar made of leaves, but not of hemp, which only sometimes has developed, according to a late fashion into a cape of cloth. (1968:125)

Campany mentions the Chinese use of ma "hemp" fibers as a weaving material.

(Note also her shimmering, multicolored gown, "not of this world"; but we are told that it was not woven, at least not in an ordinary way.) I know of no attempt to explain the name Ma gu (literally, "the Hemp Maiden"). (2002:267, fn. 487)

The cultural and linguistic origins of Ma Gu remain an open question.


Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Gu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chinese_mythology


Taoism | Chinese mythology

Madame White Snake (白蛇傳)

Madame White Snake (白蛇傳)

Alternative Names (異名):
白蛇傳(Chinese), Madame White Snake, Legend of the White Snake(literally)


Madame White Snake (白蛇傳) (lit. Legend of the White Snake) is a Chinese legend, which existed as oral traditions before any written compilation. It has since become a major subject of several Chinese opera, films and TV series.

The earliest attempt to fictionalize the story appears to be "Madame White Snake Jailed Eternally in the Leifeng Pagoda" (白娘子永鎮雷峰塔) in Jing Shi Tong Yan (警世通言) by Feng Menglong (馮夢龍) during the Ming Dynasty.


Basic story

At its most basic, the story tells of a young scholar who falls in love with a beautiful woman, unaware that she is a white snake which has taken on human form. A Taoist monk intervenes in order to save the scholar's soul and casts the white snake into a deep well at the Leifeng Pagoda.

Over the centuries the story has evolved from horror story to romance with the scholar and the white snake-woman genuinely in love with one another, but such a relationship is forbidden by the laws of Heaven. There have also been variations on the telling of the story: like the scholar adopting the white snake as a pet while still a schoolboy; or himself being banished from Heaven and becoming a mere human on Earth.

An added character is a green snake who has also been turned into a woman and serves as the white snake-woman's companion and confidante.


Storyline

The story is set in the Southern Song Dynasty.

A female white snake demon, Bai SuZhen, dreams of becoming a goddess, so she takes on human form and goes to the human realm. There she meets a green snake demon, Xiao Qing, who causes disasters in the area she lives. Bai SuZhen holds her captive at the bottom of a lake, though she promises the green snake that she'll come back in three hundred years to free her.

After three hundred years she keeps her promise and frees her. They become sisters. Then they meet a sorcerer called FaHai who believes that every demon should be eliminated. But FaHai also knows that Bai SuZhen is already in the process of becoming a goddess. He can't eliminate her immediately so he vows that he will if he sees them again.

Bai and Qing rested in a half world called Ban Bu Duo where they try to do good things by bringing rain to a places that hasn't had any water for three years. But Qing caused a great disaster which almost flooded the whole town! Bai, sadly, loses her chance of becoming a goddess, but Guan Yin informs her that she may have another opportunity.

However Bai and Qing have accidentally brought a scholar Xu Xian and his friend to the demon world. Bai has to protect them from the demons. After the battle with the Leader of the underworld, Xu Xian confesses his feelings for Bai, claiming that from the first time he saw her it was like love at first sight. But in order for a human to go back to the human world they have to be knocked by ghosts who will make them forget everything. Xu Xian knows about this so he avoids getting knocked and is about to go into the other realm when FaHai tricks him into being knocked.

Now Xu Xian is back into the human world but has forgotten everything. Since he and his friend went through the portal separately they land in separate places. There Xu Xian meets many new people.

Soon after Bai takes the final step to becoming a goddess which is to collect human tears. Bai sees Xu Xian with another girl and assumes that they are a couple. The former green snake, Xiao Qing, figures that Xu Xian got knocked by the ghosts, but also realises that when Xu Xian and Bai meet, Xu Xian will again fall in love with Bai. They got married, opened a medicine shop and lived happily.

But since demons and humans aren't supposed to marry, the town was struck by a plague and it was soon on the verge of becoming extinct. Bai, Qing and FaHai finally agreed to a truce and obtained the magical herb needed to help the population.

Later Bai gets pregnant, but Fahai continues to try to eliminate her and Qing.

On the fifth day of the fifth month, the Dragon Boat Festival is held. On that day demons revert to their true selves. Bai thus decides to take Qing and Xu Xian back to Ban Bu Duo, but Xu Xian falls for FaHai's tricks yet again and Bai shows her true self, scaring Xian literally to death! Bai retrieves the herbal medicine and brings Xian back to life.

But after giving birth to a son Bai can't control herself anymore and is forced to tell her husband the truth about her origins. Xian kindly accepts her, but Fahai then attacks the weakened Bai and holds her to eternal captivity in the Leifeng Pagoda.


Modification

In “Jing Shi Tong Yan”, Madame White/Madame Bai did not have a name. 'Bai Suzhen' was only later created.

The story in “Jing Shi Tong Yan” was a story between righteous and evil with Fahai out to save Xu's soul from the demon Bai. Over the centuries however the story has evolved from horror to romance with Bai and Xu genuinely in love with one another, but such a relationship is forbidden by the laws of heaven.

Modifications to the story included:

1. Redemption of Bai

After Bai is trapped underneath the pagoda, Qingqing escapes and leaves for further meditation. She later returns and defeats Fahai, thus setting Bai free. Fahai retreats to the stomach of a crab, which is why the internal fat of the crab is of orange color, which resembles the color of Fahai’s Taoist quilt.

2. Redemption of Bai (second version)

Bai gives birth to Xu’s son before she is trapped. Qingqing takes the baby to Xu’s relatives, who raise him to become a top scholar. The son returns to the pagoda to pay his respects. Bai is released because of her son’s filial piety.

3. Reincarnation

In a retcon version of the story, Xu and Bai are amongst the god and goddess, but they break the law in heaven and must repay by living through human lives. The human Xu saves a white snake that is Bai, and they meet again to begin the story of ‘Madame White Snake’.


Adaptation

The story has been performed numerous times in Peking opera, Cantonese opera and other Chinese operas.

The Legend of the White Serpent (1956), Japanese film made by Toho in collaboration with the Shaw Brothers. Ryo Ikebe and Shirley Yamaguchi starred in the film directed by Shiro Toyoda.

The Tale of the White Serpent (1958), the first coloured anime feature film in Japan.
Madam White Snake (1962 film), also from Shaw Brothers. This version is a huangmeixi opera. Both its Bai (Lin Dai) and Qingqing (Margaret Tu Chan) actors killed themselves a few years after the film was released. Feng Yueh directed. The music is by Fu-ling Wang on a libretto by Chun-ching Li.

In the West there have been children's picture book adaptations of the legend, written by Western authors and illustrated by Chinese artists. They included:

Legend of the White Serpent by A. Fullarton Prior, illustrated by Kwan Sang-Mei, published by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, 1960;
and Lady White Snake: A Tale From Chinese Opera, by Aaron Shepard, illustrated by Song Nang Zhang, Pan Asian Publications, Union City, California, 2001.

There are at least 3 stage musical adaptations in Hong Kong. The first one is "Pai Niang Niang" created by Joseph Koo and Wong Jim, premiered in 1972. This production marked the start of musical theatre industry in Hong Kong. Another two included "White Snake, Green Snake" in 2005 created by Christopher Wong and "Legend of the White Snake, The" created by Leon Ko and Chris Shum of the musical movie Perhaps Love's fame.

Green Snake, a 1993 movie directed by Tsui Hark, told the story from the point of view of green snake Qingqing; this movie starred Joey Wong as Bai and Maggie Cheung as Qingqing.
New Legend of Madame White Snake (新白娘子传奇), a 1993 Taiwanese TV series.

In 2001 a TV drama series Madam White Snake starring Fann Wong, which further modified the plot.

Actresses such as Yoshiko Otaka, Yu So Chow, Lin Dai and Joey Wong had been involved in various movie adaptations of the story.


See also

Chinese mythology
Leifeng Pagoda


Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_White_Snake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Chinese_mythology


Chinese literature | Chinese mythology | Chinese folklore | Legendary serpents | Demons | Shapeshifting | Chinese operas