The Story That Made Broken Bridge Famous
Tina from China

Photo:
Ambling
Sheep
It
is the place where the beautiful Chinese
love story of Xuxian and Bainiangzi
started. It's one of the four most popular
traditional Chinese love
stories.

Photo:
Yuan
2003
Unfortunately,
Fahai, the monk, caught Bainiangzi and
locked her up under the Leifeng Pagoda
which was located along the West
Lake.
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West
lake, a famous place of interest in China, has a
long history and along with it a lot of stories.
Some are real and some are imaginary.
Whatever
they are, these stories are always touching and
give the beautiful West Lake a much deeper meaning
than what we see through our eyes.
There
is a famous bridge on West Lake. It is called
Broken Bridge. Although
it is called Broken Bridge, it is not actually
broken. It got its name from the way it look in
winter. On a fine day after a heavy snowfall, from
a distance the bridge seems to be broken in the
middle which was the result of snow melting on the
middle part.
Broken
Bridge is famous because of its beautiful winter
scene, but even more so because of a love story. It
is the place where the beautiful Chinese love story
of Xuxian and Bainiangzi started.
It's
one of the four most popular traditional Chinese
love stories. It is not a true story, but almost
every one in China knows this story.
Broken
Bridge is the place where Xuxian and Bainianzi met
each other. When the two walked on the bridge that
day, it suddenly became rainy. Bainiangzi, a
beautiful girl, didn't have an umbrella, but Xuxian
had one. So they shared the umbrella and started
their first talk. Xuxian, the young man, was
astonished by the beauty of Bainiangzi. They both
liked each other very much and kind of fell in love
at first sight.
But
Bainiangzi was not an ordinary human being. She was
originally a white snake that had practiced
asceticism for 1,000 years. She loved people and
wanted to be a human being herself instead of an
immortal. Finally God let the snake be a woman for
its good behavior. The day Xuxian and Bainianzi met
was the first day she became a human. It was fate
that they met. They fell in love and soon got
married and lived a happy life. They started a
clinic for ill people. Bainiangzi had magic power
and used it to help those poor ill people.
But
there was a monk named Fahai, who knew what
Bainianzi actually was. Regardless of the good
deeds she did, he insisted on regarding her as evil
and decided to kill her. He went to Xuxian and told
him what his wife really was. Xuxian was so
astonished that he was died of fright.
To
save her husband, Bainiangzi risked her life to
steal a kind of holy grass from heaven which could
bring dead people back to life. Xuxian came back to
life. He knew his wife was a snake, but he also
knew her good nature and still loved her.
Unfortunately, Fahai, the monk, caught Bainiangzi
and locked her up under the Leifeng Pagoda which
was located along the West Lake. This pagoda is
still standing there today.
The
end of the story is a sad one, but people do love
the story. As I rewrite this story, I remember how
it moved me when I first heard it when I was a
little girl, and I begin to think why people love
this story so much. My answer is they are touched
by Xuxian and Bainiangzi's love which was the
result of a 1000-year wait. And most importantly,
they are touched by the good nature of the white
snake.
Similar
to Westerners, Chinese do not have a good
impression of snakes. People tend to think they are
evil, but here in this story, the white snake is
kind and generous and brave enough to love. People
do love her. While the monk seemed to be good, what
he did was really bad. He is much closer to evil.
So I think the story tells people not to be
prejudiiced. We should judge a person by what he
really does, not by his appearance or
origin.
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