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Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai
Here is the story of "The Butterfly Lovers," one of China's best known tragic yet beloved folk tales, presented in a novel format for the first time. Bilingual English-Chinese edition for intermediate-level reading. Illustrated.
210 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 2, 2024
The first time I heard of the White Snake story was at a Peking Opera performance. It was amazing and I recommend if anyone gets a chance to see Chinese Opera - not just music but feats of acrobatics, dance, and pyrotechnics that lead to an entertaining show.
So anyway the story was great and when I found this book - bilingual with English on the left pages, Chinese on the right, I thought it a good book to read.
An old legend that has modified over the centuries: A white snake living on Mount Emei, after cultivating the Way (the Dao) for a thousand years, decides to incarnate as a Human and see the lives of mortals for a while. She is accompanied by her friend, a green snake, who is powerful but not as much as White Snake. White takes the name Bai Suzhen ["Lady White"] and Green takes the name Xiaoqing ["Greenie" in this edition - meaning is "Little Green"].
They meet a handsome man Xu Xian on their first night, he lends them his umbrella. Later, Bai and Xian are married.
What I liked about this telling, is Xu Xian is a damsel in distress many times, with Bai and Xiaoqing having to save him. In the first, Bai Suzhen has to steal live-saving flowers from a sacred mountain, and fight off a Deer-spirit and a Crane-spirit; she wields double-swords. She is also pregnant at the time. Later, still in her pregnancy, she calls on the denizens of the seas to help her and Xiaoqing fight an evil monk when he kidnaps Xian. I remember the Opera version, Xiaoqing character spinning with draped sleeves, juggling multiple swords thrown to her from dancers encircling her. Great evocative stuff.
Anyway a great classic Chinese Legend, it's considered one of the four greatest legends of China, alongside the Cowherd and Weaving Princess story.
So anyway the story was great and when I found this book - bilingual with English on the left pages, Chinese on the right, I thought it a good book to read.
An old legend that has modified over the centuries: A white snake living on Mount Emei, after cultivating the Way (the Dao) for a thousand years, decides to incarnate as a Human and see the lives of mortals for a while. She is accompanied by her friend, a green snake, who is powerful but not as much as White Snake. White takes the name Bai Suzhen ["Lady White"] and Green takes the name Xiaoqing ["Greenie" in this edition - meaning is "Little Green"].
They meet a handsome man Xu Xian on their first night, he lends them his umbrella. Later, Bai and Xian are married.
What I liked about this telling, is Xu Xian is a damsel in distress many times, with Bai and Xiaoqing having to save him. In the first, Bai Suzhen has to steal live-saving flowers from a sacred mountain, and fight off a Deer-spirit and a Crane-spirit; she wields double-swords. She is also pregnant at the time. Later, still in her pregnancy, she calls on the denizens of the seas to help her and Xiaoqing fight an evil monk when he kidnaps Xian. I remember the Opera version, Xiaoqing character spinning with draped sleeves, juggling multiple swords thrown to her from dancers encircling her. Great evocative stuff.
Anyway a great classic Chinese Legend, it's considered one of the four greatest legends of China, alongside the Cowherd and Weaving Princess story.
August 8, 2020
I only found out more about the author after finishing this book. In the context of the (presumably) early PRC, I now understand why it seemed like the title of this book should have been "Hello, this is social commentary". Not overwhelmingly good, though I will have a closer look at the original.
December 21, 2024
Im for sure interpreting this as gayer than it is.
July 24, 2012
When Charlie goes to Venice to protest against corporate greed and their affect on global warming, his path collides with the love of his life, Caitlin. They soon fall head over heals for each other and decide to start a new life in Australia together; The perfect life. That is, until a group of men start to hunt them down! Charlie discovers that Caitlin isn't who he thought she was. Caitlin and her sister must protect themselves, but most importantly they must protect the ones they love!
I enjoyed how the author created some mixed characters. While Caitlin was strong willed and caring, Charlie was very naive and careless. I liked the harmony that they brought to the story. Surprisingly, I got attached to the side characters more than the main ones. I liked Alice because she seemed to be less naive and more aware of what she was doing. She only cared for Caitlin and didn't really get attached to anyone else. Even with Charlie, she didn't seem to happy about seeing him everyday.
The Last Kiss in Venice had a nice feel to it. It didn't go overboard with the romance, nor did it have an extensive history of magic and fantastic creatures. Although as I'm a fantasy fan, I liked how the author created his world. Alice and Caitlin weren't too powerful as to make it another one of those stories where the main characters never get hurt. Their powers were vague, but when a spell came up it was usually explained. The only thing I disliked was the magical flying, which I had no idea what it was and found a bit outlandish..
I found myself getting very annoyed by the love at first sight theme. In that two second span, where Charlie sees Caitlin, it seems his whole personality changed. Then he became a bit more irritating and annoying! The romance theme really got to me. It felt like they were too much in love, if that's even possible. It almost seemed as if they were obsessive. Okay I might be exaggerating a bit but I didn't like it one bit!
Apart from the previous dilemma I had with the novel, it was excellent even if it wasn't a genre I would seek out on my own!
I enjoyed how the author created some mixed characters. While Caitlin was strong willed and caring, Charlie was very naive and careless. I liked the harmony that they brought to the story. Surprisingly, I got attached to the side characters more than the main ones. I liked Alice because she seemed to be less naive and more aware of what she was doing. She only cared for Caitlin and didn't really get attached to anyone else. Even with Charlie, she didn't seem to happy about seeing him everyday.
The Last Kiss in Venice had a nice feel to it. It didn't go overboard with the romance, nor did it have an extensive history of magic and fantastic creatures. Although as I'm a fantasy fan, I liked how the author created his world. Alice and Caitlin weren't too powerful as to make it another one of those stories where the main characters never get hurt. Their powers were vague, but when a spell came up it was usually explained. The only thing I disliked was the magical flying, which I had no idea what it was and found a bit outlandish..
I found myself getting very annoyed by the love at first sight theme. In that two second span, where Charlie sees Caitlin, it seems his whole personality changed. Then he became a bit more irritating and annoying! The romance theme really got to me. It felt like they were too much in love, if that's even possible. It almost seemed as if they were obsessive. Okay I might be exaggerating a bit but I didn't like it one bit!
Apart from the previous dilemma I had with the novel, it was excellent even if it wasn't a genre I would seek out on my own!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews