Marital problems in the sacred-profane love fiction of "Frog god" and "Zhuqing" of Liaozhai Zhiyi

Document Type

Book chapter

Source Publication

5th Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities: 2007 conference proceedings

Publication Date

1-1-2007

First Page

2949

Last Page

2972

Publisher

Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities

Keywords

without posterity, marital discord, growth, bird-breeding, frog-breeding, angry-frog, shrew, taboo

Abstract

“Frog God”(蛙神) and “Zhu-qing”(竹青) of Liaozhai Zhiyi reflect different marital problems such as without posterity, marital disharmony and difficult paths of personal development. The Bird-Goddess of “Zhu-qing” gives birth to two sons to solve the problem of male-heirs. Before giving birth to the heirs, the fact that wife of the male protagonist who is considered to be a barren woman-cannot give birth to sons or daughters really “creates” a serious problem. According to the law of the Qing Dynasty, wealth of a family without heir would be confiscated to the civil government. Besides, name of the family cannot be carried to the next generation. The Bird-Goddess of “Zhu-qing” gives birth to two heirs can be viewed as a kind of “compensation” for the miserable family without posterity. Furthermore, pragmatic issues such as marital discord is reflected in “Frog God”. The quarrelsome Frog-Goddess has lots of conflicts with the hot-tempered husband. Actually, “hot-temper” is one of the characteristic of the Frog God. When frogs get “stimulated”, they will become “swollen” as if they were very angry. The Frog-Goddess in “Frog God” has the characteristic of an angry goddess. Though characters have to face difficulties in marriage, they have undergone personal growth in the path of development. The Frog-Goddess grows from a hot-tempered angry Goddess to a mother Goddess—always wears a smile on her face. This young Goddess has become a mature Goddess who gives blessing to the people in need. “Frog God” and “Zhu-qing” reflect realistic problems in marital relationship instead of pure romantic love that make them outstanding in the sacred-profane love fiction.

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Lau, Y.-p. G. (2007). Marital problems in the sacred-profane love fiction of "Frog god" and "Zhuqing" of Liaozhai Zhiyi. In 5th Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities: 2007 conference proceedings (pp. 2949-2972). Honolulu, Hawaii: Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities.

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