Hangzhou

The Legend of the White Snake - started in Hangzhou

While Hangzhou's history can be traced back more than 50,000 years to the Upper Paleolithic Period, "modern day" Hangzhou began around 2200 BC. That's B.C.
I am told that in real life the people believed they needed to free the captive women imprisoned by the evil monk. It took 400 hundred years. In secret they removed a brick every day until finally the one side of the building collapsed and she was set free.

This is the building that fell and the top of it is made of 7 tons of real gold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leifeng_Pagoda.JPG



Legend of the White Snake is one of the most famous tales spreading out among folks in ancient China.

The folktale is about a white snake who came to the human world as she was longing for human life
(another version holds that she wanted to repay an obligation), and married a scholar named Xu Xian.

However, such marriage was opposed by Fahai, a Buddhist monk in Jinshan Temple, who maintained that
coexistence of human and evil spirit was unallowable. He then suppressed the white snake (Madam White Snake)
under Leifeng Pagoda at the bank of the West Lake.

The legend happened in the West Lake of Hangzhou. It is said that Madam White Snake met Xu Xian on
the now "Broken Bridge" at the White Dike of the West Lake. Up to now, visitors may still recall the
story as they view and admire this scenic spot. More importantly, the huge quantity of ancient traditional
customs preserved in this legend has made it become one of the oral heritages containing the most
abundant folk customs in China.

Legend of the White Snake derives from the Tang and Five Dynasties and is handed down through the
Ming and Qing Dynasties until now. Through the adaptation and performance of oral folk literature and
various conventional literature, this tale became a classical theme of a variety of literal forms including
story, ballad, precious scroll, fiction, historical novel, script for story-telling, drama, Tanci, as well as
movie, TV play, cartoon, and comic strips. It has therefore experienced an ever expanding
influence and becomes widely known in China.

One day, two snakes got bored. These weren't ordinary snakes, though. Lady White Snake was, in the Snake World, the most beautiful and elegant of snakes. Her maid, Lady Green Snake, was her boon companion. So, on a whim, they decided to travel to Hangzhou in search of fun and adventure. Of course, in order to appear normal, they used their magical powers to turn themselves into two beautiful women.

As soon as they arrived, they knew they had to visit West Lake which they had heard so much about. When they arrived at the north end of the lake, they were standing on The Broken Bridge (Duan Qiao).  Suddenly, it began raining heavily. Of course, they didn't have an umbrella. I mean, they were snakes!

Just then, a handsome man was hailing a water taxi at The Broken Bridge. He couldn't help but notice the two beauties and he asked them if he could give them a lift. (Yeah, that line worked in ancient China, too.) His name was Xu Xian and he told them he was going across to the south side of the lake because that's where he lived and worked. Of course, the two "tourists" had just arrived in Hangzhou so they had no idea where they were going (still true today in HZ) they just wanted to get out of the rain. And Lady White Snake was enamored of Xu Xian, so they jumped in the boat and said, "Yeah! Us also."

When they reached the south shore, it was still raining. The women suddenly became shy. "Where do you live?" asked Gentleman Xu. Lady White Snake got flustered and then said, "In that large house over there". Actually, the large house she was pointing at hadn't existed moments before. But she was a clever and magical snake and so she had used her snake-charm to conjure up the large house.

"Well," said Xu, ever the gentlemen, "You two better take my umbrella. I'll come by your house tomorrow and get it." (Chinese back then, just as Chinese today are deathly afraid of the rain....and sun. It's a cultural trait, I am convinced. China is the umbrella capital of the world...no make that the universe.)

The next day, sure enough, Gentleman Xu came by. And thus began the romance of Gentleman Xu and Lady White Snake in Hangzhou. He was a poor apothecary but despite that, he often gave free medicine to the poor and hopeless. Lady White Snake admired him for his good looks, his good heart, and his simple ways. Their love grew deeper until, at last, they got married and Lady White Snake became pregnant with is child (in that order according to the tale).

Ah, but their was an evil monk who lived in the E-mei Mountains, Fa Hai, by name, who was a jealous  monk. He wasn't jealous of Xu; but in fact, he knew who AND what Lady White Snake was. A SNAKE. He came down from the mountain and befriended Xu. (Afterall, he was a monk. What could a young man fear from an old monk, right?)

He tried to tell Young Xu that his wife was really a snake with wicked powers posing as a beautiful women. But Xu would hear none of that. Fa decided to teach him a lesson.

Fa Hai knew that the Dragon Boat Festival was approaching and so he gave Xu a bottle of the finest Chinese Bai Jiu. He knew that everyone drinks Bai Jiu on that festival AND he knew that if Lady White Snake imbibed, she would lose her magical powers and quickly revert to her true state - a Snake. "Oh, won't Young Gentleman Xu be surprised then!"

So what happened next???? Check back tomorrow and find out.

Here's another version: http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/WhiteSnake.htm