The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl

The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl
The reunion of the couple on the bridge of magpies. Artwork in the Long Corridor of the Summer Palace, Beijing
Traditional Chinese牛郎織女
Simplified Chinese牛郎织女
Literal meaningCowherd [and] Weaver Girl
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinNiúláng Zhīnǚ
The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting on the magpie bridge.
The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting on the magpie bridge.
View of the night sky: Vega (Zhinü the weaver-girl) is at top left, Altair (Niulang the cowherd) at lower centre. The heavenly river (Milky Way) separates them.

The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are characters found in Chinese mythology and appear eponymously in a romantic Chinese folk tale. The story tells of the romance between Zhinü (織女; the weaver girl, symbolized by the star Vega) and Niulang (牛郎; the cowherd, symbolized by the star Altair).[1] Despite their love for each other, their romance was forbidden, and thus they were banished to opposite sides of the heavenly river (symbolizing the Milky Way).[1][2] Once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, a flock of magpies would form a bridge to reunite the lovers for a single day. Though there are many variations of the story,[1] the earliest-known reference to this famous myth dates back to a poem from the Classic of Poetry from over 2600 years ago:[3]

The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl originated from people’s worship of natural celestial phenomena, and later developed into the Qiqiao or Qixi Festival since the Han Dynasty.[5][better source needed] It has also been celebrated as the Tanabata festival in Japan and the Chilseok festival in Korea.[6] In ancient times, women would make wishes to the stars of Vega and Altair in the sky during the festival, hoping to have a wise mind, a dexterous hand (in embroidery and other household tasks), and a good marriage.[7]

The story was selected as one of China's Four Great Folktales by the "Folklore Movement" in the 1920s—the others being the Legend of the White Snake, Lady Meng Jiang, and Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai—but Idema (2012) also notes that this term neglects the variations and therefore diversity of the tales, as only a single version was taken as the true version.[8][9]

The story of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and its two main characters are popular in various parts of Asia and elsewhere, with different places adopting different variations. Some historical and cross cultural similarities to other stories have also been observed. The story is referenced in various literary and popular cultural sources.

  1. ^ a b c Brown, Ju; Brown, John (2006). China, Japan, Korea: Culture and Customs. North Charleston: BookSurge. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-4196-4893-9.
  2. ^ Lai, Sufen Sophia (1999). "Father in Heaven, Mother in Hell: Gender politics in the creation and transformation of Mulian's mother". Presence and presentation: Women in the Chinese Literati Tradition. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-0312210540.
  3. ^ Schomp, Virginia (2009). The Ancient Chinese. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. p. 89. ISBN 978-0761442165.
  4. ^ Karlgren, Bernhard (1950). The Book of Odes (PDF). Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities.
  5. ^ Schomp, Virginia (2009). The Ancient Chinese. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. p. 70. ISBN 978-0761442165.
  6. ^ Hearn, Lafcadio; Rogers, Bruce (1905). The romance of the Milky Way : and other studies & stories. Wellesley College Library. Boston : Houghton Mifflin.
  7. ^ "Cultural discourse on Xue Susu, a courtesan in late Ming China". International Journal of Asian Studies; Cambridge.
  8. ^ Gao, Jie. Saving the Nation through Culture: The Folklore Movement in Republican China. Contemporary Chinese Studies. University of British Columbia Press.
  9. ^ Idema, Wilt L. (2012). "Old Tales for New Times: Some Comments on the Cultural Translation of China's Four Great Folktales in the Twentieth Century" (PDF). Taiwan Journal of East Asian Studies. 9 (1): 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-06.