The earliest version of The Legend of the White Snake that we can see in the past is the Leifeng Pagoda of the Legend of the White Snake in Yongzheng, which was selected by Feng Menglong in the Ming Dynasty. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, operas related to the legend of the white snake, such as Legend of Leifeng Pagoda, written by Qing Qianlong in Songjiang three years later, Leifeng Pagoda, Legend of the Righteous Demon and Baojuan, written by Fang Chengpei in Anhui, etc. Basically, it is based on Feng Menglong. However, what is Feng Ben's basis? How did this legend come into being?
Many experts and scholars believe that the story of the ancient snake demon in China and the folk custom of worshipping dragons and snakes contain the basis or "origin" of the legend of the white snake. Because everyone is based on different materials, the statement is slightly different. Dai Bufan made textual research on Jingci Temple Zhi (published in August Loujuan, Shi Ding, Hangzhou) in the article On the Legend of the White Snake. It was recorded that in the Song Dynasty, there were python infested on the hillside near the temple, and harmful goblins turned into women. Inference: "Leifeng Tower is near Jingci Temple, and the legend of White Snake may be related to this legend." Luo Yonglin believes that the "original" of the white snake legend may have been handed down from the Southern Song Dynasty. According to the story of Three Pagodas of the West Lake in Qingping Mountain Hall, during the reign of Xiaozong in the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin 'an House (now Hangzhou) invited Xuanzang and Tomb-Sweeping Day to visit the West Lake, and a girl with white hair was lost and rescued by Xi. In order to reward him, the girl's mother, the woman in white, took people's hearts at the banquet, drank wine and promised to be with him for half a month. Soon, the woman in white hated Xuanzan and wanted to kill her, but she was saved twice by the girl. Xi was lucky enough to go home, and his uncle Xi learned about it and broke with Taoism. The woman in white is a white snake, the girl is a chicken demon, and grandma in black is an otter demon. Xi is a real person, building three stone pagodas, and the town is strange to the West Lake. Luo Yonglin believes that the legend of the White Snake was adapted to meet the psychological needs of citizens.
In the process of the development of the white snake story —— Talking about the Leifeng Pagoda in Yongzheng of The Legend of the White Snake from Story Club, Hu Shiying thinks that the original story of the snake demon in The Legend of the White Snake should be traced back to the Tang Dynasty, not the Song Dynasty. The legendary novels White Snake and DuDu in Tang Dynasty described the essence of white snake, which laid the foundation for the legend of white snake in later generations. One of them said: In the second year of Yuanhe in Tang Xianzong, Emperor Li of Shaanxi met a beautiful young woman in white mourning in the east of Chang 'an, and seduced her. She stayed at home for three days, full of joy. On the fourth day, she came home, feeling "top-heavy", bedridden, her body gradually eroded, leaving only a stream of blood. Later, the family went to look for the home of the beautiful woman in white, but found an empty garden and a locust tree. I heard from my neighbors that there are often big white snakes in the trees, and I realized that the young woman was changed by the "snake demon". According to the historical records of the Legend of the Monk Dragon Fight in Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, Wang Xiang interrupted the article "The Legend of the White Snake: A Source of Zhenjiang", saying that the "original" of the Legend of the White Snake not only originated in the Tang Dynasty, but also the generation period of the First Source of Zhenjiang may be earlier than that of the First Source of Hangzhou. The story is also more specific. "
Some researchers also look for the origin of the legend of White Snake from the folklore of national traditional culture. Chen's article "The Folk Origin and Aesthetic Significance of the Central Structure of the White Snake Image" holds that the image of the white snake can be seen in the totem worship of the "snake head" by the ancients. Ancient books such as The Classic of Mountains and Seas, The Century of Emperors, and The Chronicle of Bamboo Books recorded a large number of images of people and snakes, such as "Nu Wa, an ancient emperor goddess, had a snake face" and "A man in the chivalrous world was born Fuxi" ... and he also had a snake head ". There are so-called dragons, hidden dragons, giant dragons, dragon generals, upper dragons, water dragons, green dragons, red dragons and white dragons in the Fu system, all of which are large groups of dragons and snakes. The "living historical chain" formed by the folk customs of the ancient Chinese nation has nurtured and woven the image of the white snake and its legend.
Some scholars believe that the legend of White Snake originated from China, but it originated from foreign countries. Qin Nv and Ling Yun said in the article of Textual Research on the Legend of the White Snake, Volume 2, No.3 and No.4, a monthly magazine of Sino-French universities in 1930s: "The story of the Legend of the White Snake has never had a long history, although it is often circulated among the people in China." Its root is the story that spread from India to lamia in the west and China. China's Legend of the White Snake "is just a story circulating in India, which organizes and connects the fragments of ancient legends or anecdotes in China, making her a systematic, lively and active story", "it is just an enchanting and wonderful story produced by the combination of old news from China and myths from India".
There is also a view that the legend of the white snake comes from real people. 1984 At the academic seminar of The Legend of the White Snake held in Hangzhou in May, some scholars thought that the stories of The Legend of the White Snake collected in the past were all influenced by China traditional operas and should not be ignored. Judging from the content of Legend of the White Snake, it is closer to real life. It is said that there is a surname Xu in Shanghai who claims to be a descendant of the White Snake. The genealogy is recorded, but it is a pity that the genealogy was destroyed by the war and there is no data to support it.