China's Four Greatest Folk Tales

The first folktale, the Cowherd and the Weaving Maiden. Legend has it that the Weaving Maiden is a god in the sky, while the Cowherd is just a mortal. When the Weaving Maiden went to the earth to play in the lake to bathe, her clothes were taken by the Cowherd by mistake, and the two of them fell in love with each other at first sight, and gradually fell in love with each other. The two fell in love at first sight and gradually fell in love with each other. However, in the Heavenly Court, it is not allowed for immortals to fall in love with mortals, so the Jade Emperor ordered to send someone to capture the Weaving Maiden back. After the Weaving Maiden left, the Cowherd longed for her every day, so he tried to find her, even if he was hindered. In the end, the affection between the two of them moved the Queen Mother to allow them to meet once a year on the eve of the seventh day of the seventh month, which gave rise to the legend of the Meeting of the Magpie Bridge.

The 2nd folktale is the Legend of the White Snake, in which Bai Suzhen, a snake demon with a thousand years of cultivation, took human form and married Xu Xian, a scholar in his present day, in order to repay the kindness of her past life. The two were very much in love, but then they met the monk Fa Hai, who was so determined to recover the snake demon that he told Xu Xian about Bai Suzhen's archetype. Misled by Fahai, Xu Xian made Bai Suzhen drink Xionghuang wine, and he himself was scared to death.

Seeing that Xu Xian had fainted to death, Bai Suzhen went up to Heaven privately to steal the elixir, and later fought with Fahai, causing many innocent lives to be harmed, and as a result, she violated the rules of Heaven and was imprisoned under the Leifeng Tower. Some years later, Bai Suzhen's son won the Scholarship and came back to rescue her from under the Leifeng Pagoda, and the family was finally reunited.

The third story is about Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Zhu Yingtai disguised as a man to study in the academy, in the academy recognized Liang Shanbo, three years of schoolmates have long made their feelings become close, but Liang Shanbo never knew Zhu Yingtai is a woman. Then by chance, Liang Shanbo learned the truth and went to bless the marriage proposal, but did not expect to be Ma Wencai preempted, so Liang Shanbo returned home to die of depression.

After hearing the news of Liang Shanbo's death, Zhu Yingtai also shed tears, and then go to pay homage to Liang Shanbo, suddenly the wind gusts, Liang Shanbo's tomb was lifted by the wind, at this time Zhu Yingtai did not hesitate to jump in, after a while there are two butterflies fluttering out of the middle of the grave, people present said that this is the embodiment of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, and so the later generations used butterflies to symbolize the love.

The fourth story is that Meng Jiangnu wept on the Great Wall. This story took place in the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang ordered the whole country's labor force to come together to build the Great Wall. Fan Xiliang met Meng Jiangnu on his way to escape, and the two of them fell in love at first sight and decided to get married. However, on their wedding night, Fan Xiliang was taken away by the government to build the Great Wall, and never came back. Meng Jiangnu missed her husband so much that she decided to look for him in person, and finally found out that her husband was dead and buried at the foot of the Great Wall.

After knowing the truth, Meng Jiangnu cried at the foot of the Great Wall, and this cry was for three days and three nights, and then the Great Wall near the gale, the Great Wall suddenly a section of the place collapsed, which revealed the body of Fan Xiliang, Meng Jiangnu in the process of despair chose to throw himself into the sea. Later generations were touched by the love between them, so they set up the Meng Jiangnu Temple there, and would come in to worship when they passed by.