Liang Shanbo (梁山伯) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英臺).doc

Liang Shanbo (梁山伯) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英臺),layla(L)()13/Jun/2011hit:3561The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend of a tragic love story of a pair of lovers, Liang Shanbo (梁山伯) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英臺), whose names form the title of the story. The title is often abbreviated to Liang Zhu (梁祝) and often regarded as the Chinese equivalent of Romeo and Juliet.Six cities in the Peoples Republic of China have collaborated in 2004 on a formal application for the Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on the legend at UNESCO, submitted in 2006 through the Chinese Ministry of Culture.The legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is set in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.Zhu Yingtai is a beautiful and intelligent young woman, the ninth child and only daughter of the wealthy Zhu family of Shangyu, Zhejiang. Although traditions of that era discourage females from going to school, Zhu manages to convince her father to allow her to attend classes in disguise as a young man. During her journey to Hangzhou, she meets Liang Shanbo, a scholar from Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing). They chat and feel a strong affinity for each other at their first meeting. Hence, they gather some soil as incense and take an oath of fraternity in the pavilion of a thatched bridge.They study together for the next three years in school and Zhu gradually falls in love with Liang. Although Liang equals Zhu in their studies, he is still a bookworm and fails to notice the feminine characteristics exhibited by his classmate.One day, Zhu receives a letter from her father, asking her to return home as soon as possible. Zhu has no choice but to pack her belongings immediately and bid Liang farewell. However, in her heart, she has already confessed her love for Liang and is determined to be with him for all eternity. Before her departure, she reveals her true identity to the headmasters wife and requests her to hand over a jade pendant to Liang as a betrothal gift.Liang accompanies his sworn brother for 18 miles to see her off. During the journey, Zhu hints to Liang that she is actually a woman. For example, she compares them to a pair of mandarin ducks (symbolic of lovers in Chinese culture) but Liang does not catch her hints and does not have even the slightest suspicion that his companion is a woman in disguise. Zhu finally comes up with an idea and tells Liang that she will act as a matchmaker for him and her sister. Before they part, Zhu reminds Liang to visit her residence later so he can propose to marry her sister. Liang and Zhu reluctantly part ways at the Changting pavilion.Months later, when Liang visits Zhu, he discovers that she is actually a woman. They are devoted to and passionate about each other and they make a vow of till death do us part. The joy of their reunion is short-lived as Zhus parents have already arranged for her to marry a man from a rich family called Ma Wencai. Liang is heartbroken when he hears the news and his health gradually deteriorates until he becomes critically ill. He dies in office later as a county magistrate.On the day of Ma and Zhus marriage, mysterious whirlwinds prevent the wedding procession from escorting the bride beyond Liangs grave, which lies along the journey. Zhu leaves the procession to pay her respects to Liang. She descends in bitter despair and begs for the grave to open up. Suddenly, the grave opens with a clap of thunder. Without further hesitation, Zhu throws herself into the grave to join Liang. Their spirits turn into a pair of beautiful butterflies and emerge from the grave. They fly together as a pair and are never to be separated again.LiangShanboandZhuYingtaiThe legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is a beautiful, doleful, and moving love story .The story is set in theEastern Jin Dynasty.It begins with a beautiful, intelligent young woman named Zhu Yingtai fromShangyu,Zhejiang, who is the ninth child and the only daughter of the wealthy noble Zhu family. After much effort, she convinced her father to let her disguise herself as a young man traveling toHangzhouto study. During her journey, she encountered Liang Shanbo, a scholar from Kuaiji (會稽, Kuij, now known asShaoxing), in the same province. They felt like old friends at the first meeting. Therefore, they gathered some soil as incense and took vows of brotherhood in the pavilion of a thatched bridge.For the three years in school, they shared the same room where there was only one bed and two quilts. Yingtai slowly fell in love with Shanbo. Although being every bit Yingtais equal in studies, Shanbo was a bookworm and did not see any traces of female characteristics in Yingtai.Time flew by quickly. Three years passed, and one day Yingtai received a letter from her father asking her to return home as quickly as possible. Yingtai had no alternative but to pack her belongings immediately and bid farewell. In Yingtais heart, she had decided that even if heaven and earth passed away, her love for Liang Shanbo would never change, and she wanted to be with him for all eternity. Hence, before her departure, Yingtai revealed her true identity to her headmasters wife and requested the headmasters wife to hand her jade pendant as a betrothal gift to Shanbo.Liang Shanbo, being Yingtais sworn brother, accompanied Yingtai for 18 miles to send her off. During the journey, Yingtai hinted to Shanbo that she was a girl. For example, she compared themselves to a pair of mandarin ducks, but Shanbo did not catch onto her hidden meaning and did not even have the slightest suspicion that she was a girl. Finally Yingtai thought of an idea: she told Shanbo that she would be a matchmaker and match make Shanbo with her sister. Before the two parted, Yingtai reminded Shanbo to pay a visit to her house so that he can propose a marriage to her sister (who was really herself). Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai reluctantly took leave of each other at the pavilion where they had first met.When Shanbo arrived at Yingtais home, he discovered her true gender. They were devoted to and passionate about each other, and the lovers vowed that if they cannot live together, they will die together. The joy of the reunion of the two came to an end when Yingtai told Shanbo that her parents had forced her to marry Ma Wencai (馬文才, M Wnci), a rich and spoiled gentleman.Liang Shanbo was heartbroken.