The place and time when the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl took place

Shaanxi - Xingping - Dong Yong - The Seven Fairies are the prototype: "Yingying in the water, the pulse is speechless" tells the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Today is the Chinese Valentine's Day. In this traditional festival, I heard that you can hear the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl whispering under the melon stand next to the water tank. But do you know? According to Shaanxi folklore experts, the birthplace of this beautiful legend is actually in Xingping City, Shaanxi Province.

It has been passed down for two thousand years that Xingping has passed: Qixi Festival is the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet in the sky. According to Zhao Jianwen, president of the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Research Association, the storyline of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has gradually become complete during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the Han Dynasty, some people compiled it from folk tales into poetry: "The far-off Altair, Jiao Jiao River Han Girl."

Xingping, Shaanxi is the birthplace of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Today, Zixiao Village and Beimen Village in Dongcheng District, Xingping City are the core areas of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has been passed down in Xingping for two thousand years. Its completeness and authenticity reflect the farming culture of China's rural society, symbolize people's yearning and pursuit of a better love life, and are also the crystallization of people's wisdom.

There are still many historic sites in Xingping: In order to prove that the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl originated in Xingping, Mr. Zhai Chongren, an expert on local chronicles in Xingping City, conducted research for more than ten years. He said that the prototype of the Cowherd was Dong Yong in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Today, the locust tree in the west of Wulizixiao Village in the northeast of Xingping City, Shaanxi Province is still simple, tall, vigorous and leafy, and looks exactly like the ancient locust tree in the movie "The Match". At the east gate of the North Gate of the City's North Ring Road, there is still Yuxian Bridge along the slope of the high trunk canal. Many middle-aged and elderly people recalled that there used to be two tombs on the northwest slope of Yuxian Bridge, known as the tombs of Dong Yong and the Seven Fairies. They were later flattened when the land was leveled. An old man from the Dong family in Nanwei Town once said: "In the old days, there were portraits of Dong Yong and the Seven Fairies on the top of the Dongjiarong axis." Dong Yong's address was called Dongjiadian.

In the 1950s, the story of the Seven Fairies and Dong Yong was adapted into "The Fairy Match" and put on the stage. Later, the media reported that Dong Yong was from Anhui. A retired cadre said that in his collection of "The Fairy" There is also a story about "Dong Yong's Encounter with Immortals" in "Dong Family Tree".

However, according to Mr. Zhai Chongren's research, Anhui's Huangmei Opera "The Match of the Immortals" only played a leading role in choreography. Xue Fan, former director of the County Cultural Center, also agreed with the theory that the legend of "The Immortal Match" originated in Xingping. Xingping also has cultural landscapes such as Yuxian Bridge, Shuangzhong, Millennium Han Sophora japonica, Fairy Lake ruins, etc. In addition, there are also folk activities such as the annual Qiqiao Festival and the Seven Fairies Temple Fair. These story elements in the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are unique in the country, which undoubtedly proves that Xingping is the birthplace of the "Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" love story.

There is a stone statue of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in Chang'an, Shaanxi Province as evidence: "The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl originated from our Xi'an. The statue of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, which is more than 2,000 years old, is located in the jurisdiction of the Doumen Street Office in Chang'an District." said Yu Xiangqian, a member of the Xi'an CPPCC . In this regard, Chen Jiangfeng, deputy dean of Zhengzhou Institute of Light Industry and folklore expert, believes that based on the investigation and analysis of geographical conditions, Han Dynasty ideology, relatively concentrated folklore, ancient documentary records and many other aspects, the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl originated from the Chu region on both sides of the Han River. . In Nanyang, there are not only Han paintings of Cowherd and Weaver Girl and stories that are still passed down orally among people, but also the place of origin is clearly explained in the stories.

Yu Xiangqian put forward a proposal at the "Two Sessions" in Xi'an in early 2005, suggesting that the government develop the historical and cultural resources of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, make the seventh day of the seventh lunar month a Chinese Valentine's Day, and serve in Doumen Street, Chang'an District A cultural tourism area will be built on the site of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl Temple to create "the birthplace of Chinese love culture". Yu Xiangqian told reporters that the "Statue of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" was called the "Shi Ye" and "Shi Po" statues by the local people in Chang'an District. It was listed as one of the first provincial key cultural relics to be protected in 1956, but it has not been developed and utilized enough. "In our folk, the myth and legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting on the magpie bridge can be said to be a household name, known to all women and children." Yu Xiangqian said that developing the historical and cultural resources of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl can not only promote the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, but also add a new dimension to the tourism of the ancient city of Xi'an. Highlights. According to "Henan Business Daily"

Nanyang, Henan - the legendary hometown of the Cowherd: As the Chinese Valentine's Day approaches, the origin of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has not only aroused heated discussion among Shaanxi people, but also triggered The debate among people in Nanyang, Henan. Many citizens in Nanyang believe that the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl originated from Nanyang.

Their basis is: If you search for keywords such as "Qixi Festival" and "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" on the Internet, more than 40,000 related web pages will appear, and the place where the story clearly takes place is "Niujiazhuang in the west of Nanyang City".

Chen Jiangfeng said that the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl was first seen in the Book of Songs, indicating that the story originated in the pre-Qin era. By the Han Dynasty, the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl had reached maturity. Based on data analysis, the origin of the Qixi Festival began in the Han River Basin during the Chu State. With the rise of the Han Dynasty, the story of the Qixi Festival and the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl became widely spread.

Chen Jiangfeng also said that at that time, as a country of Chu that had been founded for more than 800 years and spanned most of China, the farming civilization was quite mature and the textile handicraft industry was extremely developed. Most of the ancient silk fabrics that have been preserved to this day come from Chu tombs in Jingxiang area. The variety of designs, colors and techniques are astonishing to today's people. The adjacent Nanyang Basin is also a Chu land and has been rich in fine-bred cattle since ancient times. A local folktale circulates: "There is a Niujiazhuang 20 miles west of Nanyang City, and there is a Cowherd in Niujiazhuang." (2001, "Chinese Folklore Encyclopedia" published by Xinjiang People's Publishing House)

Folklorist Mr. Zhang Zhenli also said in "An Examination of the Evolution of Classical Myths in the Central Plains": "The Cowherd is called Ruyi, and she is a native of Sanglin Village in the west of Nanyang City. The Weaver Girl came to the world from the sky, married the Cowherd, and taught the people in Nanyang with her own hands. The sisters learned to raise silkworms, spin silk, and weave silk and satin.”

Different stories refer to the same place of origin, which shows that Nanyang has the economic and cultural soil to produce the myth of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

In addition, the Han River Basin retains a large number of relics related to the myth of the "Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" and the customs of the Chinese Valentine's Day. Yunxi County, which was under the jurisdiction of Xiangyang Prefecture in the past, has place names such as "Tianhe" and "Tianhekou". The "Laohekou" in Laohekou City is said to be the mouth of the Tianhe River where "the Han River connects the Tianhe River". In Shangluo County, there is the "Weaver Girl Creek" where the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are said to have traveled. Broadly speaking, the Funiu Mountains still belong to this area, such as Lushan, which has the "Cowherd Cave" and the "Nine Girls Pond" where the fairies bathed in the story.