During the Song Dynasty, Bai Suzhen, a snake demon with a thousand years of training, took human form in order to repay Xu Xian, a scholar, for saving her life in his previous life, and then met Xiaoqing, a green snake spirit, and the two were companions. Bai Suzhen exerted her magic power and trickery to meet Xu Xian and married him.
After the marriage, Fa Hai, a monk from Jinshan Temple, told Xu Xian that Bai Suzhen was a snake demon, and Xu Xian was skeptical. Later, Xu Xian followed Fahai's advice and made Bai Suzhen drink wine with Xionghuang at the Dragon Boat Festival, and Bai Suzhen had to show her original form, but Xu Xian was scared to death.
Bai Suzhen went to heaven to steal the herb Ganoderma lucidum to bring Xu Xian back to life. Fahai tricked Xu Xian to the Jinshan Temple and put him under house arrest. Together with Xiaoqing, Bai Suzhen fought with Fahai and flooded the temple, but harmed other living beings as a result.
Bai Suzhen, after giving birth to a child, was taken into Fahai's mantle and suppressed under the Leifeng Pagoda because she had violated the laws of heaven. Later, Bai Suzhen's son grew up and won the Scholarship, and went to the pagoda to sacrifice his mother, rescuing her and reuniting the family.
Expanded:
The Legend of the White Snake was widely circulated in China, beginning with oral transmission, then folklore in the form of commentary, storytelling, elocution, and many other forms, and then gradually evolving into theatrical performances. Later, there were novels, and after the Republic of China, there were operas, opera and cartoon interpretations.
In modern times there have also been movies based on The Legend of the White Snake, choreographed modern dances, and new novels. The story appeared under the name of "The Legend of the White Snake" in the late Qing Dynasty, and did not have a fixed name before that.
The Tale of the White Snake was not only popular in China, but was 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 White Snake was predominantly passed down orally in the early days, different versions and details were derived.
Some of the original stories end with Bai Suzhen being subdued under the Leifeng Pagoda, some have the story of the White Snake giving birth to a child, and others have a happy ending with the son of the White Snake winning the Scholarship and sacrificing himself to the pagoda to save his mother's life.
But the basic elements of the story are generally believed to have been in place during the Southern Song Dynasty. The earliest record of a well-formed story of the "Legend of the White Snake" has been found in Feng Menglong's "A Cautionary Tale", Volume 28, "The White Maiden's Eternal Subduing of the Leifeng Pagoda".
In the early Qing Dynasty, Huang Tu Gembian's Leifeng Pagoda (Kan Shan Ge Ben), the earliest organized textual creation of a circulating opera, wrote only that the White Snake was subdued under the Leifeng Pagoda, and did not give birth to a son to sacrifice to the pagoda.
The old Liyuan copy (probably by Chen Jiayan's father and daughter, the surviving copy of the score is incomplete), which appeared later, is the widely circulated copy with the plot of White Snake giving birth to a son.
Characters:
1. Bai Suzhen
Bai Suzhen, born in Qingcheng Mountain, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, is a white snake spirit who has practiced for thousands of years. Legend has it that she was a disciple of the Old Mother of Mount Li, and is the main character of one of the four great love legends of ancient folklore, The Legend of the White Snake. Bai Suzhen practiced on Mount Qingcheng and Mount Emei to become a Taoist, and was highly skilled in magical arts.
She is a beautiful woman, with bright eyes and white teeth, and she is a heavenly fairy who is beautiful, elegant and noble in the world. She is a kind-hearted person who uses her medical skills to help the people, and she has done a great deal of good for them.
Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian met at the West Lake, and fell in love at first sight and got married. When the monk Fa Hai of the Jinshan Monastery compels Xu Xian to leave his wife, Xu Xian listens to the slander and abandons his family in Jinshan. When Bai Suzhen went to Jinshan to ask for her husband, she fought with Fa Hai and the water flooded Jinshan.
Fa Hai used his power to break them up and pressed Bai Suzhen under the Leifeng Pagoda. Twenty years later, White Snake's son, Xu Shilin, was awarded the Scholarship and his filial piety moved heaven, so White Snake finally got out of the pagoda and returned to the immortal class.
2, Xu Xian
Xu Xian, word Hanwen, in is an ancient Chinese folklore "White Snake" or "White Lady Legend" in the hero. In the early legend, Xu Xian was named "Xixuan Zan" and later "Xi Xuan" and "Xu Xuan".
3, Fa Hai
History of the real Fa Hai is indeed a person, although the identity of the prototype is still debated, but it has been determined that he is a high monk, there are views that he is a Tang Dynasty monks on the development of Chinese Buddhism has been outstanding.
There were several monks named Fa Hai in history, the most famous being Zen Master Fa Hai of Jinshan Temple. In movies and TV dramas, Fa Hai is a character that has been successfully portrayed: whether it is the old Fa Hai in "The Legend of the New White Lady" or the cool Fa Hai in "Green Snake".
Both are important roles that are indispensable to the performance of the plot of the play, leaving multiple impressions of both good and evil, obsessive and sinister, cold and sentimental, which make people think y, get entangled, worship and hate.
Baidu Encyclopedia - The Four Great Folk Tales of China