The Broken Bridge is the most famous bridge in the West Lake. There are four love bridges in West Lake in Hangzhou: "Xiling Bridge", "Long Bridge", "Broken Bridge" and "Crossing Hong Bridge", which are famous for their long-lasting reputation. Lingqiao, Changqiao and Broken Bridge are ancient love bridges, while Cross-Hong Kong Bridge is a modern love bridge. It is a place where many couples go on dates and travel together. However, the most famous one is Broken Bridge. Its name is related to the Chinese folk tale "The Legend of White Snake". "The touching and tragic love stories are connected together.
On the Broken Bridge, the touching love story of Xu Xian and White Snake spreads, making the Broken Bridge the most famous bridge among the many bridges on the West Lake. Legend has it that the White Snake was originally a little white snake that cultivated in the mountains. One day, the little white snake was caught by an old snake catcher and almost died. Fortunately, it was saved by a little shepherd boy.
After 1,700 years of practice, the White Snake finally transformed into a human form. Under the guidance of Master Guanyin, she came to Hangzhou West Lake to look for the little shepherd boy who was her savior in her previous life.
During the Qingming Festival, it was misty and rainy. Guanyin Bodhisattva once said, "If you are destined to meet each other thousands of miles away, you must go to the heights of the West Lake to find it." On the bridge of the broken bridge in the West Lake, using an umbrella to express love, the White Snake finally found Xu Xian, her savior in her previous life, and promised to marry him. After experiencing the flood of Jinshan, we met again at the Broken Bridge and renewed our relationship.
The "Warning Words" in the late Ming Dynasty records that in the Song Dynasty, a snake demon who had been cultivating for a thousand years took the form of a human named Bai Suzhen. He and the green snake spirit Xiaoqing met the scholar Xu Xian on the broken bridge of the West Lake in Hangzhou. The white snake Desperate for life, she wanted to be with the scholar, so she married him. After experiencing many right and wrongs, Xu Xiannai realized that Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing were both aliens, and were threatened by the white snake. They were frightened and uneasy, so they asked Zen Master Fahai for help.
So the white snake was put into the bowl and suppressed under the Leifeng Pagoda. Xu Xian saw through the mortal world and was willing to become a monk. He worshiped the Zen master as his teacher and became a monk in Leifeng Pagoda. After practicing for several years, he passed away overnight. The monks bought a niche, burned it, and built a bone tower, which will last for thousands of years. When he was about to die, he also wrote eight lines of poems as a warning to the world. The poem said:
The ancestor saved me from the world of mortals, and the iron tree bloomed before spring began.
Transformation, reincarnation, reincarnation, transformation and rebirth.
If you want to know whether there is color or formlessness, you must realize that there is form but there is form.
Color is emptiness, emptiness is color, and emptiness, color, and color must be distinct.
In the Yue Opera "The Legend of White Snake", the White Snake sang: "The landscape of the West Lake is still the same...seeing the broken bridge but the bridge is not broken, my heart is broken, and all my deep feelings are wasted." These words that came from the bottom of my heart truly made me cry. Touching the bridge railings, recalling the past and thinking about the present, every person with a temperament will have infinite emotions, and every tourist from Tianya who comes here will have endless memories.
Extended information
"The Legend of White Snake" is widely circulated in China. It was spread orally at first, and later appeared among the people in various forms such as commentary, storytelling, and tanci, and gradually evolved. into a dramatic performance. Later, there were novels, and after the Republic of China, there were also interpretations in operas, operas, comics, etc. In modern times, there are also movies based on "The Legend of White Snake", choreographed modern dances, and new novels.
This story appeared under the name "The Legend of White Snake" probably in the late Qing Dynasty, and did not have a fixed name before.
"The Legend of White Snake" is not only popular in China, but also made into a movie in Japan. The French sinologist Julien also translated "The Legend of the White Snake" into French.
Since the story of "The Legend of White Snake" was mainly passed down orally in the early days, different versions and details were derived. Some of the original stories ended with Bai Suzhen being suppressed under the Leifeng Pagoda, some versions had the plot of the White Snake giving birth to a son, and some versions had a happy ending in which the White Snake's son won the first prize and sacrificed the pagoda to save his mother. But the basic elements of this story are generally believed to have been present in the Southern Song Dynasty.
The earliest forming story of "The Legend of White Snake" is currently found to be recorded in the 28th volume of Feng Menglong's "Warning Words", "The White Snake Will Forever Guard the Leifeng Pagoda". Huang Tujue's "Leifeng Pagoda" (Kanshan Pagoda) in the early Qing Dynasty was the earliest written and circulated opera. He only wrote that the white snake was suppressed under the Leifeng Pagoda and did not give birth to a child to worship the pagoda. Later, an old Liyuan manuscript appeared (probably written by Chen Jiayan and his daughter, the existing score is no longer complete). It is a widely circulated manuscript, with a plot of a white snake giving birth to a son.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Fang Chengpei adapted thirty-four works of "The Legend of Leifeng Pagoda" (Shizhuju version), which is divided into four volumes. "Boat Encounter" and "Official Agreement", the second volume is "Duan Yang" and "Qiu Cao", the third volume includes "Ye Zen" and "Water Gate", and the fourth volume ends from "Broken Bridge" to "Pagoda Sacrifice".
The main outline of the story of "The Legend of White Snake" has been basically completed since then.
The script of this play was presented to Emperor Qianlong during his southern tour, so it was officially read by Emperor Qianlong, making people from all walks of life familiar with the story of "The Legend of White Snake". Later, in the eleventh year of Jiajing, the Master of Yushan published the novella "The Legend of Leifeng Pagoda". In the 14th year of Jiajing's reign, the Tanci "The Story of the Righteous Demon" appeared again. At this point, the story of the snake spirit has completely changed from a simple and confusing monster to a sentimental and righteous woman.
After the mid-Qing Dynasty, "The Legend of the White Snake" became a frequently performed drama. Judging from the "Chrysanthemum Heroes" in the Tongzhi period, the performance of "The Legend of the White Snake" at that time was a mixture of Peking Opera and Kun Opera, but it was still based on Kunqu opera is the main one, and it can be seen that the plot of worshiping the pagoda in "The Legend of White Snake" was produced relatively late.
In modern times, there is a drama "The Legend of White Snake" co-produced by Taiwan and Mainland China based on "The Legend of White Snake". It basically adds some content based on the already formed story, and it has become popular throughout China. In addition, there are Peking Opera, Yue Opera, Sichuan Opera and other operas "The Legend of the White Snake". Hong Kong female writer Li Bihua's novel "The Green Snake" also borrowed the story of the Legend of the White Snake, and then it was filmed by director Tsui Hark and put on the screen (but it only borrowed the story of the White Snake). The names of the characters in the biography, but the story has little connection with the traditional "The Legend of White Snake").
The Taiwan Ming Huayuan Drama Troupe’s open-air performance of the White Snake Chuan Ge Zai Opera is often performed around the Dragon Boat Festival. There is no major adaptation of the story content, but the stage design has many similarities with the design of traditional dramatic performances. Breakthroughs include the use of sprinklers from the fire brigade on the flooded Jinshan Temple section, and the design of hanging wires to create the feeling of white snakes and green snakes soaring in the clouds and mist.
In addition, this work was also adapted into the animated film "White Snake" (released in 1958) by Japan's Toei Animation. It is the first full-length color animated film in Japanese history and can be called a milestone in the history of Japanese animation. (It is worth noting that this work follows the original story setting-Xiao Qing is a herring instead of a green snake).
This story has evolved over nearly a thousand years. In addition to the continuous enrichment of the plot, the characters' personalities have also gradually evolved.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Broken Bridge with Remaining Snow
Baidu Encyclopedia - The Legend of White Snake