Legend of the White Snake is one of the Chinese four most popular folk stories. This is a touching love story about a man who fell in love with a white snake. This story has also been ranked into the first batch of China's National Intangible Cultural Heritage List. The Legend of the White Snake has been made into movies, cartoons and TV series.
Once upon a time, there were a green snake and a white snake who dreamt of becoming a goddess by doing good deeds in the Mountain Er Mei. After successfully cultivating for thousands of years in the caves of Er Mei Mountain, the snakes transformed into two beautiful young ladies - Pai Su Shen (the white snake) and Siau Ching (the green snake). Although the ladies were not human but they were benevolent and kind-hearted. They adored the colorful life of human and used to prefer playing around the West Lake of Hang Zhou.
One day, they took a rest in the pavilion somewhere at the West Lake of Hang Zhou city and they found a young handsome man (Xu Xian) standing on the Broken Bridge. Not long after that, it rained very heavily and this made the ladies worried. When they were about to go somewhere else, an umbrella appeared suddenly above their heads. They turned around and surprised to see the scholarly young handsome man who was holding the umbrella for them. This was their first meeting.
Since she was so beautiful and the man was kind and handsome, they fell in love with each other and later they got married and opened a medicine shop. Lady White wrote down the prescription while Siau Ching and Xu Xian gathered and dispensed the herbal medicine. They cured a lot of patients, those who unable to pay were given free treatment as well as the medicines. Their store soon became popular and their business became better and better.
One day, a monk called Fa Hai saw them and warned Xu Xian (the man) that his wife was actually a white snake. Hearing this, the man became furious and said "My wife is not a snake! She is a kind and generous lady who loves me so much" The monk kept explaining that coexistence of human and evil spirit is unallowable but Xu Xian did not want to listen and chose to ignore the monk.
Fa Hai insisted to believe that every demon should be eliminated. In order to save the man's soul, the monk did not have a choice but imprisoned the white snake that had taken on human form under the Leifeng Pagoda. Many years later, Pai Shu Shen's son saved his mother from the pagoda and the family was reunited at last.
What does it mean when you find a snake in your home, find out at Snake Symbol Meaning. You can also read an interesting information about Chinese horoscope snake.
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