Abstract
The key to the four folktales discussed in this chapter is their “intertextuality”—seeing the four folktales as an interdependent organic sequence in which their meaning can be understood only when they are taken as a whole. Despite being four separate tales, they seem to be the four variants of the same tale because they share some complicated and subtle “intrinsic similarities”. The main character in each of the four tales is a woman who exhibits considerable female agency in seeking for equality with men in status or state. Besides, the four folktales still have the following in common: 1. The plot is motivated by the female character; 2. The ethical positioning violates the orthodoxy; 3. The ending is tinged with hope; 4. The male characters of the four folktales represent the scholar, farmer, artisan, and merchant, the four kinds of people that collectively made up the bulk of the then society; 5. The narrative time of each folktale represents spring, summer, autumn, and winter. That the four folktales can stand out from the hundreds and thousands of other similar tales which is the result of natural selection. The four folktales are still read today also because of their educational function. Specifically, these tales involve ethical lessons about life, love, value, and power, which have enlightened generations and generations of readers.
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Notes
- 1.
Bloom (1973), p. 43.
- 2.
Ding Naitong, “Eminent Monk and Snake Girl: A Comparative Study of the Stories based on the folktale of the White Snake in the East and the West”, in A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Narrative Literature, eds. Folk Literature Research Office of Huazhong Normal University, Chen Jianxian, et al., Central China Normal University Press, 1994, p. 15.
- 3.
Qian Nanyang, “The Introduction of Butterfly Lovers” [the combined 93rd, 94th, and 95th issue of Sun Yat-sen University’s Folklore Weekly, published on February 12, 1930], in Comment about Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai by Famous Experts, ed. Taowei, Culture and Art Publishing House, 2006, pp. 2–10.
- 4.
The willow pattern first appeared in the British magazine Family Friend in 1849, and was later widely replicated in Europe. At most, more than 200 porcelain factories painted the pattern. In Europe and the United States today, any willow pattern porcelain with a history of more than 50 years is a valuable collectors’ piece. See also Fu (2012), pp. 3–19.
- 5.
European ceramic workers used this approach to imitate Chinese decorative techniques and designed two pigeons that are still popular today, which show a serene and beautiful tone and pattern, consistent with the imagination of those who came to China in the early days of the East India Company. See Alley (1985), p. 35.
- 6.
Gu Jiegang, “The Transformation of Lady Meng Jiang’s Story”, Peking University Folk Song Weekly 69: 000; Taowei, ed., Comments on Lady Meng Jiang (Cries the Great Wall Down) by Famous Experts (Culture and Art Publishing House, 2006), 2–20.
- 7.
Chen Qiyuan’s Maoshiji Gubian (“Appendices”) features a very similar assertion, and the ancient Roman poet Vergilius had a poem for it, “Tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore”, while later generations will imagine that the cause lies in a failure to reach each other in spite of being within sight. See Qian (1979), pp. 123–24.
- 8.
The Crane-Fairy Tales is a folk story widely spread across the three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa. It originated from Guo Xuan’s Xuanzhongji (“Female in the Western Jin Dynasty”), and a similar record can be found in Volume 14 of In Search of the Supernatural written by Gan Bao in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, so the folktale of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl can be considered to have an overlap with this folktale.
- 9.
Propp (1928), pp. 20–21.
- 10.
Ye (2004).
- 11.
“Guanzi •Xiaokuang”: “Scholar, farmer, artisan and merchant are four pillars of our country.” “Pillars” here means the foundations of the national population.
References
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Bloom, Harold. 1973. The Anxiety of Influence, 2nd ed., 43. London and New York: Oxford University Press.
Fu, Xiuyan. 2012. The narrative and cultural analysis of Porcelain. Journal of Jiangxi Normal University 1: 3–19.
Propp, Vladimir. 1928 [1968]. Morphology of the Folktale, ed. Tr. Lawrence Scott, 20–21. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Qian, Zhongshu. 1979. Limited Views: Essays on Ideas and Letters, vol. 1, 123–24. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company.
Ye, Shuxian. 2004. The Goddess of Thousand Faces: The Symbolic History of Gender Mythology. Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press.
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Fu, X. (2021). The Charm of Intertextuality: A New Insight into Four Folktales. In: Chinese Narratologies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7507-5_7
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