Author Archives: yuchima

ShimChong: the blindman’s daughter

Nationality: Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA/Seoul
Performance Date: april 10th, 2016
Primary Language: English

15) Shimchong: the blindman’s daughter

Long time ago, maybe during the end of the HongPung era, there was a poor blind man named Shim Hakkyu. Him and his wife finally had a kid, but the tiredness of childbearing was too much for his wife so she passed away. Shim Hakkyu raised his daughter alone with great hardship, but his daughter grew up to be beautiful and kind.

One day, when Shim Hakkyu was out and about begging for alms, he fell into a ditch. As he was wailing about his ill fate, a monk came and helped him out; he told Shim Hakkyu that if he offers 300 sacks of rice to the temple and the Buddha, then it will have his sight restored. Shim Hakkyu was overjoyed by this kind offer and said yes in a whim. However, he soon realized that he has no means to get 300 sacks of rice. Shim Hakkyu told ShimChong that he was really really worried because what if they end up offending the Buddha???

That night, in ShimChong’s dream, her mother came to her and told her that if she goes and find this merchant at the harbor, he will give their family 300 sacks of rice. So the next day, ShimChong sets out to go to the harbor. The merchant is looking for a fair and beautiful girl to sacrifice to the dragon king so that they can finally sail, and he was overjoyed to see ShimChong volunteer.

The temple was very pleased to receive the 300 sacks of rice, yet Shim Hakkyu did not ge his sights back. The monks of the temple told Shim Hakkyu that it will come to him in time. Because of  that, Shim Hakkyu has now yet to regain his eyesight, but also lost his only daughter. As ShimChong descended into the water, the sea became calm and all the sailors weeped for this beautiful and filial girl. ShimChong surprisingly found herself to be breathing under water. Two guards of the dragon king came to take her with them to the palace; there she lived happily, and her mother’s spirit rested there as well. However, she soon felt homesick, and unwilling to see this beautiful and filial girl sad, the Dragon King turned her into a beautiful white flower and brought her back to land.

ShimChong the flower was discovered by a fisherman, and then offered to the sad emperor that has just recently lost his spouse. When the emperor laid eyes on this flower, he was so wowed and happy that he took the flower in and kept it in the center of his palace. The king was completely obsessed with the flower and one night, he discovered the beautiful ShimChong that came outside of the flower at night. The emperor was so pleased with ShimChong that he decided to marry her. ShimChong was happy to marry the emperor and finally be back on land, but she was still sad that she could not find her father. She sent a request for the king to have a public wedding banquet and to invite all the blind beggars in this country. For three days, countless blind beggars feasted and joyed, but her father was nowhere to be seen. Just as ShimChong was about to give up, she hears the sound of a blind man who arrived late trying to argue his way in with the guards. She rushes towards the gate and discovers that that was her father! The two were overjoyed and to be reunited, and in that moment, Shim Hakkyu regains his sight so that he was able finally see his beautiful daughter.

My korean friend Justin presented this story to me. Justin could not remember a lot of the details so out of curiosity I looked them up. I really like this story in that it has many ups and downs. Justin knew this story just from reading in Elementary school. I feel like I see some common elements between asian folktales in that they seem to rarely end happily, and that family and being filial is absolutely one of the most important things. However, at the same time, I feel like this story really degrades women, making them objects that when in need are praised.

 

Jing Wei filling up the Sea

Nationality: American
Age: 57
Occupation: Choreographer
Residence: Beijing
Performance Date: 4/18/2016
Primary Language: English

14) Jing Wei tried to fill up the sea

Legend has it that Yan Di (the ruler back then) had a smaller daughter named Nv Wa. She was really smart and pretty, and Yan Di loved her very much.

One day she went out to play, and saw a bigger kid riding on a smaller kid; she got mad and yelled at the bigger kid, saying that bullying the weaker ones are shameful; if he was really powerful he’d go hunt down bears and wolves.

The older kid saw that she was a little girl so he didn’t take her for anything. Turned out that the older kid was the son of the Sea Dragon King, and he was very full of himself. Him and Nv Wa got into a fight, but Nv Wa learnt a lot from her father and is very agile; she managed to win the fight against the son of the Sea Dragon King, and the Sea Dragon King had no choice but to back-off, swearing that he will get her back one day.

Sometimes later, Nv Wa goes into the ocean to swim; the son of the Sea Dragon King comes to her and asks her to apologize to him for what happened on land the other time. Nv Wa refuses, so the son of the Sea Dragon King turned waves against her, and ended up drowning her.

After she died, Nv Wa could not accept her death. Her spirit turned into a bird named “Jing Wei.” Everyday, Jing Wei flies to the west mountain to get pebbles, throws it into the sea, hoping to fill it up. She goes everyday, never ending.

I remember reading about this folklore in grade school and being very unsatisfied about the sad ending. Having my mom remind me of it and perform it to me again, I got to know more details of the folklore that I didn’t know before, yet I still feel very very sad about this story. I wish it wsa a happy ending.

 

Kua Fu chases the sun

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 57
Occupation: Choreographer
Residence: Beijing
Performance Date: 4/18/2016

13) Kua Fu chases the sun

A long long time ago, there were a tribe of titans. These titans were big and tall, and very hardworking. However, it was not a good time then. There were vicious animals everywhere and the land was not very good and thus caused many crop failures. The sun is often so harsh that it killed most of the crops and food that the titans planted.

Kua Fu was the leader of his tribe, and he was tired of seeing his tribe people suffer due to the sun, he decided that he was going to do something about it. Many people told Kua fu that he will fail, that he will never reach the sun or that he will burn to death. These words only made Kua Fu more determined, and so he made up his mind to go on the journey to capture the sun.

Kua Fu marched thousands and thousands of miles, using rocks as his pillows and dirt as his bed; he kept going and going, and the he was getting closer and closer, feeling more and more confident. However, the closer he gets to the sun, the thirstier he got. It got to the point where the one drink from the river can’t even hold his thirst anymore.

After nine days and nine nights, Kua Fu finally reached the sun; he stood right under the sun. But his thirst was so bad that he drank two whole river dry, and that still did not help. He needed to run north; there lies a plain named Da Ze that holds enough water that can solve his thirst. However, Da Ze was simply too far away, and half way there, he just couldn’t do it anymore; Kua Fu fell down and died.

Right before he died, still thinking about the people of his tribe, he threw his cane to the side and it turned into a forest of peach trees. Since then, it has provided people with food and helped with their thirst.

My mother told me this story once again, and this one I also learnt as a kid but couldn’t quite remember the details. When I was little I never really comprehended the meaning of it, but thinking back now it really seems more proverbial, telling people that the more you acquire, the more you want, and the harder it is to get it. Unfortunately, when my mother performed this story to me through videochat it was glitching quite awhile due to the terrible wifi, thus reducing the effect of this story. I never realized that Kua fu is actually a relatively kind character.

 

Chang E goes to the moon

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 10
Occupation: Choreographer
Residence: Beijing
Performance Date: 4/18/2016
Primary Language: English

12) Chang E goes to the moon

Chang E was the wife of Hou Yi. They were a loving couple that was praised and respected by everyone around him. One day, an old monk that really admired Hou Yi’s power and bravery gave him a pill that can make him immortal and go up to the sky. Unwilling to leave the villagers and his wife however, Hou Yi told Chang E to hide the pill.

Peng Meng–a servant of Hou Yi–was bad natured and greedy and wanted to take the pill for himself so that he can become immortal. Thus, on the 15th of August one year, Peng Meng made an excuse to not go hunting with the rest of the man. He went to Chang E’s house, cornered her and forced her to give him the pill.

Worried and scared, Chang E did not know what to do, so she ended up just taking the pill herself. She then started rising to the sky, but because she loved her husband Hou Yi so much, she decided to land on somewhere that is the closest to earth–the moon.

Hou Yi came back home and when he found out about this, he was heart-broken. He kept chasing the moon, but whenever he moved forward, the moon mover forward, and whenever he moved backward, the moon moved with him also. He was so desperate but all he could do was to just stare up at the moon with his eyes to try to see if Chang E is there.

Thus, on the 15th of August of the second year, Chang E steps out from her moon palace and watches her husband and families. And the 15th of August became the mid-autumn festival/moon festival where all the families came back home and celebrated together (kinda like thanksgiving).

My mother also told me this tale when I was really little, and every kid just knew because when one attends an event for the moon festivals, there are poster boards that explain the origin of the festival. Unrequited love seem to be a very common theme in chinese stories throughout history. It seems that separation of distance between two lovers are used quite often in chinese folklores.

 

Donkey Lady

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Texas
Performance Date: Mar.12th, 2016
Primary Language: English

1) Donkey Lady

  • There’s a remote bridge over Elm Creek in San Antonio that’s called the Donkey Lady Bridge. It’s said to be haunted by the Donkey Lady, who will do damage to people’s cars and terrorize people that cross it. People have even found hoof-like tracks in the mud under the bridge. The donkey lady is said to have been a settler in the 1800s that threw rocks at a rich boy who was beating up her donkey. The boy went back to town and got all his friends to get revenge, and set her house on fire that night. She was disfigured in the fire, which also killed her children. Her fingers were melted together so it looked like she had hooves and her skin was all freaky and melted, making her look like a really scary donkey. She was angry at the death of her kids, and to this day tries to take it out on anyone she encounters.
  • My friend Annalise who is from San Antonio, Texas told us about this story. She learnt of this story just because growing up in San Antonio, it is a story that everyone naturally talked about, among family or friends. This story was sometimes used my adults to scare children and early teens to not go to certain places or stay out too late. Annalise told me this story when we were just talking about San Antonio, because I didn’t know this story, as I didn’t grow up there. It was casual but also intriguing.
  • I had no idea of this story before so it was nice to hear about it. I wonder if the events described actually happened or that if it did not, who told the story and shaped it this way. It now makes me wanna go try to see if this story is real, or like if this has inspired any crimes to happen.
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