Tag Archives: Chinese

The Butterfly Lovers Legend

Age: 22
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text

Collector: “Can you tell me a legend you heard growing up?” 

Informant: “So the legend takes place in Eastern China during the Jin Dynasty. It is basically a love story. The girl Zhu YingTai is the 9th child and only daughter of a wealthy family and she brought her family pride and joy because she was very disciplined and made beautiful embroidery.Her biggest dream and goal in life was to go to school and take on scholarly pursuits, however women at this time are discouraged from going to school. She convinces her parents to let her go to school so long as she disguises herself as a man and promises to come home after her studies to be a dutiful wife. Along the way, she meets a scholar named Liang Shanbo, and they form a strong friendship. Liang Shanbo does not know Zhu YingTai is a woman. Over the next years, they study together and even share a room.They take an oath of fraternity, become sworn brothers. She starts to fall in love with him and Liang Shanbo feels a strong connection. Liang Shanbo obviously grows suspicious of Zhu YingTai overtime, as she always wears thick robes up her neck. People start noticing her secretive behavior and she is forced to leave school and go home. 

When she returns home she finds out that her parents have arranged for her to marry a wealthy merchant from the Ma family. At the university, Liang ShanBo feels like his studies are dull and pointless without Zhu YingTai and decides to visit the Zhu family. When he knocks on the door he sees a young woman and asks for her brother before realizing it is Zhu YingTai herself. As soon as their eyes meet, they recognize each other and admit to his love for her, now that he knows she is a woman, proposes to her. However she has already been engaged. He is devastated but understands. Liang Shanbo tries to get her engagement broken off, but the girl’s family says breaking off engagement will bring them great shame. 

Liang Shanbo falls ill. Fearing that he would not be able to see her on the wedding day, he writes her a final letter and dies after completing it. In the letter he tells her, if you love me, you will light incense at my grave on your wedding day. On the day of the funeral, there were thunderstorms.

Zhu YingTai honors his request and lights incense, wishing they could still be together. When she is done, thunder cracks the tomb and she throws herself in the grave to join him. When the thunder clears, two butterflies come out of the grave.”

Context

The informant is both Chinese-American and a violinist. When he was in high school, he was instructed by his violin teacher to learn The Butterfly Lovers violin concerto. The Butterfly Lovers violin concerto that is based on the Butterfly Lovers Tale, which the informant learned from his mother. It is also a relatively popular Chinese tale. His interpretation of the story is that it is a cliche story about love. True love can never be hidden nor broken.

Interpretation

 The story conveys the fact that true love has no bounds and that individuals who are meant to be together will find each other in the end. This tale reinforces the traditional norms and expectations of women during the Jin Dynasty, as women were not allowed to seek an education during and had a duty to marry into a good family and be a dutiful wife. Familial expectations are seen in this story and initially act as a barrier to their love. However, Zhu YingTai sacrifices her life in order to be with her true love and they are brought together in the afterlife, which coincides with Buddhist beliefs of reincarnation. Butterflies in Chinese folklore are often associated with one’s soul, therefore the two butterflies emerging from the grave represent the fact that Zhu YingTai and Liang Shanbo have an unbreakable bond. Across other cultures, butterflies often represent a rebirth or a transformation.

Story of My Father’s Escape from Communist China

Context: “My grandfather and Nai-Nai were in Chiang Kai-shek’s army when the Communists won. [Their escape from the country] was like the Underground Railroad: they could only move between safehouses at night. My dad [at the time] was only 1 year old and had to be quiet so he didn’t jeopardize their lives. One day, [the family] heard that the Communists had found their safehouse and were on their way. They had to just grab whatever they could find and run, but Nai-Nai couldn’t find [my father] and they just left. 3 long days later they met up at a new safehouse where they learned that one of the grandfather’s friends had grabbed and taken care of my father in the scuffle. He is now called “Uncle” because he saved my dad’s life.”

Analysis: This legend is a textbook example of a family legend. Despite there being no concrete proof of it happening, the story is treated as truth by the informant and her family and has been passed down for multiple generations. While the main claim of the story, that being the losing of the informant’s father for 3 whole days, may or may not be true, the story has persisted in the informant’s family because it represents the chaos and pain of the escape from China to Taiwan. The Chinese Civil War’s conclusion in 1949 was an upending of the social order. Following their victory, the CCP ruthlessly hunted down any remnants of the old China, both landowners and soldiers alike. In this mad dash to escape certain death, the informant’s family was thrust into a period of chaos and danger where all they had was each other and the clothes on their backs. While they were able to safely escape into Taiwan, they remember both their struggles and the strength of their community through this story. While the disappearance of the informant’s father in the chaos was a serious crisis, it was resolved by the strength of their family and solidarity.

盘古开天辟地

Pangu opens the Earth and Sky

Nationality: Chinese

Age: 59

Occupation: Unemployed

Residence: Shangyu, Zhejiang, China

Date: 04/05/2025 

Language: Mandarin

Description 

It’s been a long time, so I don’t remember this story well. We don’t tell these stories often because everyone knows them. I need to think… it’s about Pangu, he was a giant who created the world. He was the first being, and he was sleeping in an egg, and the egg represented chaos and disorder, and there was nothing but chaos. He has an axe, and… first he was frustrated because he couldn’t make sense of anything. Or did he wake up? I’m not sure. I don’t know. But at some point, he took his axe and swung at the chaos around him as hard as he could, then… the egg was sliced open, and it was really loud, like an explosion. After this, Pangu is no longer inside chaos. But he realized that the two halves of the egg were going to close up together again, so he raised his arms and stomped his feet and held the top half up while standing on the bottom half. The top is sky, the bottom, well, is the earth. And he stood for a long time, until the two halves wouldn’t ever come together anymore. Then he collapsed because he was too tired, he just laid down and he died. But there’s more. Parts of his body all became different things in the nature…natural world. His blood became the river, his sigh became the wind, the sound he made when he fell is the lightning… and then… and then what? I don’t remember the rest. That’s just how it goes. Pangu. 

Subject’s Opinion

Interviewer: If you don’t believe in the story, why do you think people still spread them? 

Subject: It’s a good story, it’s very melancholy. I think people enjoy telling it. And having one main God to think about when they think about the Chinese Gods, with the heavenly Gods and everything, when there’s so many of them. And, well, it’s a myth, so you tell it to Children so they understand the world a little better. 

Analysis

The popular Chinese creation myth of Pangu is commonly regarded as the origin story of the Chinese people. Pangu is often regarded as a martyristic figure, as the spirit of sacrifice is highly noble in Chinese culture. The myth is undoubtedly a sacred truth, as it sets the stage for countless myths to come. Though the subject’s rather indifferent towards the truth value of the myth, her vivid telling is indicative of the rich cultural heritage that Pangu is a part of. Pangu’s actions of holding two boundaries apart invite further exploration of our discussion of “the liminal’, the space in which the most disruption and change can happen. By creating a liminal space, Pangu then creates the world as the Chinese people know it, which communicates a powerful and frankly universal perception of the world not as a binary, but the endless possibilities between two ends. 

Don’t Hit a Dog with a Meatbun!

“If You Hit a Dog with a Meat Bun, the Dog Eats It and You Have No Food Now”

In Mandarin, the proverb is phrased as “用肉包子打狗，有去无回” (yòng ròu bāozi dǎ gǒu, yǒu qù wú huí). This mandarin phrase translates literally to: “If you hit a dog with a meat bun, the dog eats it, and you get nothing back.” The meaning behind the proverb is that once something is given away or invested in the wrong place, it is lost with no return.

I learned this proverb from my classmate C, who heard it from a Chinese friend with whom she has a close personal relationship. Her friend explained it to her in the context of making futile efforts—situations where people put in effort, time, or resources but receive nothing in return. C told me she found it humorous and practical, often using it in conversations when she or someone she knows feels like their effort has been wasted. For example, she mentioned using the phrase when lending money to someone unlikely to repay or when trying to argue with a stubborn person who refuses to change their mind.

This proverb reflects to me, a somewhat practical, yet humorous worldview, emphasizing the importance of knowing where to invest one’s energy and resources. The image of someone literally throwing a meat bun at a dog—only for the dog to eat it—is a vivid metaphor for wasted effort. The cultural value embedded in this proverb aligns with pragmatism, a notion that is deeply ingrained and enshrined in my perception of Chinese culture and their proverbs/folk sayings. From a broader perspective, this proverb connects to universal themes of loss and strategic thinking—understanding that not all efforts are worthwhile and that being mindful of where one invests energy is crucial. It also reveals a subtle caution against generosity without foresight, a theme in many folk traditions worldwide. The humor in the phrase makes it more engaging and relatable, allowing it to be used in everyday conversations while carrying deeper wisdom.

Date of performance: 2/11/2025
Language: English
Nationality: American
Occupation: Student
Primary Language: English
Residence: Los Angeles, CA

‘You can’t put each foot into 2 separate canoes/boats for long without falling into the water’

Text: ‘You can’t put each foot into 2 separate canoes/boats for long without falling into the water’ (Loosely Translated from Chinese)

Context: The subject’s mother, an immigrant who was born and raised in China through her 20s, used to tell her this, especially when the subject was a young adult carving out her place in the world.

“The point being you must focus on pursuing one path/interest instead of trying to do too many things at once and not doing anything well. (Or dating too many people at once!) That’s why she said it all the time because it was applicable to so many situations.” – SK

Analysis: Based on the subject’s description, this proverb seems to be used as a reminder that one ought to stay focused on what is most important to them. Those who say it are expounding the virtue that the pursuit of excellence requires a singular dedication and that trying to “balance” multiple paths will prevent success. As the subject indicated, it was widely applicable and widely used. This suggests to me that it represents a very prevalent idea about the pursuit of success in Chinese culture.

This saying is like the antithesis to the popular English proverb “don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” which cautions Westerners against the dangers of over-commitment. This saying is very popular in the Western world and reveals a lot about how we aspire to live our lives, especially when it comes to chasing success.Perhaps these differences in common proverbs and their associated virtues indicate a divide around how different cultures view this path to success; Chinese culture prioritizes singular dedication to one’s goals and Western culture prioritizes flexibility in options.