“The legend of white snake”

   Remember I was in elementary school when this Taiwanese sitcom prevailed in mainland, China. The bewitching white snake swept the country and left so many priceless memories in that generation. Along with many other television sitcoms that have accompanied our growth; “The legend of white snake” has always occupied a special spot in my heart.

   Almost 15 years later, when the music of “The legend of white snake” sounds again, when so many familiar figures recurred again on the screen, I was smitten by deep sensation somewhat between sadness and rejoice.

   It must here be told who this white snake was. White snake demon, Bai SuZhen, dreams of becoming a goddess, Kwan-yin directed her to repay her benefactor(Xu), who saved her life 1000 years ago ,so she takes on human form and goes to the human realm. Bai and Xu genuinely fall in love with one another, but such a relationship is forbidden by the laws of heaven. They meet a sorcerer (monk) called FaHai who once had a personal enmity with Bai and believes that every demon should be eliminated. But FaHai also knows that Bai SuZhen is already in the process of becoming a goddess. He can't eliminate her immediately so he vows that he will if he sees them again. The chance came when Bai sent her sister (Qing) to steal treasure from the “Prime minister” of the country in order to help Xu, and thus offended the officials. “Prime minister” sent Fahai to eliminate Bai and her friends. Fahai first tricks Xu into being knocked and locked him up. Bai begged Fahai to release Xu, Fahai not only refused her request but humiliated her by disgraceful means. Qing decided to revenge for her sister, but was almost killed by Fahai, to save her sister; Bai flooded the temple and almost the entire district by using witchcraft. Fahai was going to eliminate Bai when the baby in Bai saved her life.  But after giving birth to a son Bai can't control herself anymore and is forced to tell her husband the truth about her origins. Xian kindly accepts her, but Fahai then attacks the weakened Bai and holds her to eternal captivity in the Leifeng Pagoda.

   There have been many modifications to the story and the story has been performed numerous times in Opera and films. But it is only in its 1993 Taiwanese TV series that my affectionateness dwells. I believe I wasn’t the only one that was crazy for Bai Suzhen, revolted at Faihai and felt sad for Xu…Bai Suzhen was played by Agene (Zhao yazhi), who has gained her popularity based upon many of the roles she played long before this sitcom. I recall that I first fell for her on her last play “Drama of Qianlong”. “Such a beauty shall only be found in heaven, for what reason was she descended to terrestrial?

I didn’t recon that after so many years, when I went back to review the TV series, it is still so affecting as if it was a barrel of aged wine that could only refine itself as the time lapse . When the roughness of the graphics becomes so obvious and yet so naïvely cute; when so many special effects in the movie are considered obsolete according to today’s technological standard…then I start to realize that I was only too dump to have made such a comparison.