Ye Xian

For the county (xian) of Ye, see Ye County.

"Ye Xian" (traditional Chinese: 葉限; simplified Chinese: 叶限; pinyin: Yè Xiàn; Wade–Giles: Yeh Hsien; [jê ɕjɛ̂n]) is a Chinese fairy tale that is similar to the European Cinderella story, the Malay-Indonesian Bawang Putih Bawang Merah tale,[1] and stories from other ethnic groups including the Tibetans and the Zhuang.[2] It is one of the oldest known variants of Cinderella,[3][4] first published in the Tang dynasty compilation Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang written around 850 by Duan Chengshi.[5] Chinese compilations attest several versions from oral sources.[6]

  1. ^ "Yeh-Shen (review)". Retrieved 2010-06-17.
  2. ^ Beauchamp, Fay. "Asian Origins of Cinderella: The Zhuang Storyteller of Guangxi" (PDF). Oral Tradition. 25 (2): 447–496.
  3. ^ Terri Windling,"Cinderella: Ashes, Blood, and the Slipper of Glass"[usurped]
  4. ^ Li, Jing (2008). "Chinese Tales". In Donald Haase (ed.). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales. Vol. I: A-F. Greenwood Press. p. 197. ISBN 9780313334429. ... China maintains the earliest written record of this tale anywhere in the world. Cinderella, under the name of Ye Xian, first appeared in the collection of Duan Chengshi (803-863)...
  5. ^ Shirley See Yan Ma (4 December 2009). Footbinding: A Jungian Engagement with Chinese Culture and Psychology. Taylor & Francis Ltd. pp. 75–78. ISBN 9781135190071.
  6. ^ Zhang, Juwen (July 2020). "Rediscovering the Brothers Grimm of China: Lin Lan". Journal of American Folklore. 133 (529): 285–306. doi:10.5406/jamerfolk.133.529.0285.