The Chinese Cinderella Story is a Chinese fairy tale and its original Chinese name is Yeh Hsien. This story was first published by Duan Chengshi in the book named Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang in Tang Dynasty. This story is similar to the European Cinderella Story but written a thousand years earlier. The story describes a girl name Yeh Hsien, whose father died and she has been abused by her stepmother and forced to work as the servant. Yeh Hsien found a fish bone which can grant all her wishes.
With the help of the fishbone, Hsien dresses up and goes to the New Year’s Festival. She leaves her golden shoe when she’s running back home, which the king used to find her and married her. Hsien’s wicked stepmother and sister were stoned to death at the end of the story. The Chinese Cinderella Story reflects the unequal social status during China’s Medieval period between men and women, the family conflicts under the private ownership and the a kind of idea that “good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and future suffering”(“Karma”).
The book Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang is a collection of anecdotes, tales, and supernatural stories, that includes some information on Chinese historical people and events. It provides historical records for social research and also is an important literature of understanding the communication between Medieval China and the West. The Chinese Cinderella Story is the story that the author Duan Chengshi heard orally from other people.
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In the Chinese Cinderella Story, the words that the author chose to use can illustrate that this story happened among the Chinese minorities in the South. The book is written in the third person point of view, so it is more objective for readers to have their own perspective towards the story. In the Chinese Cinderella Story, readers are given all the detailed depictions of each event. Therefore, the story allows for multiple perspectives in the same plot line.
The background of the Chinese Cinderella Story is very crucial because it reveals the difference between religious and social status between the Western and Eastern culture. In the story, the religious background is significant. The Buddhism belief had the very evident characteristic in the Tang dynasty. The way Yeh Hsien changed her life is when she met a spiritual man who told her to find the fishbone and that it can grant all her wishes. The spiritual man represents the good wishes for people who want to get help under the hard circumstances in the feudal society.
And for the fish, Yeh Hsien got it from the lake, she brought the fish back and fed it instead of eating it. It relates to the “FishBasket Bodhisattva” which “starts appearing at the same time as the spread of domesticated goldfish and Buddhist Ponds of Mercy where small redfish are released” (Beauchamp). In the story, the punishment of Yeh Hsien’s stepmother and sister is that they are stoned to death, which reflects the belief of Buddhism: karma. The cause is Hsien’s stepmother abused her and killed the fish; the effect is they were stoned to the death. Every life is equal, people will pay for their bad actions (1lunwen).
The background of the story is not only showed by the religion in Buddhism, but also the unequal social status difference between men and women. In Medieval China, men were in the dominant position of the family, and women were usually treated as men’s properties. In the Tang dynasty and many other dynasties in Medieval China, the marriage of a man and several women is legal, which named as polygyny. Under this environment, women did not enjoy any social or political rights. “Women were subordinate to first their fathers, then their husbands, and their sons when they became widows” (Beauchamp).
In Chinese Cinderella Story, Yeh Hsien father got two wives, although Hsien’s mom passed away in her young age, Hsien still won her father’s favor because she is a smart, kind, and gentle girl, and she is also talented in pottery and poetry. Hsien’s tragic life started after her father died that he was the strongest protection for Hsien. The festival in the story is a significant festival in China known as the New Year Festival.
In the New Year Festival, families will take their unmarried daughter to meet potential husbands. The stepmother forcing Yeh Hsien to stay home and clean up, this action makes the reader be more sympathetic to Hsien. Although after the festival, the king found Yeh Hsien and married her, it doesn’t mean that Hsien got true happiness and free life. As mentioned earlier, in Medieval China, women were treated as men’s properties and do not have the true power to protect themselves.
The King was curious about the golden shoes and used his power to find Hsien, and married Hsien because of her beauty. Otherwise, Hsien would still be the servant of her stepmother and Hsien would suffer her entire life. After Yeh Hsien married the King, she earned the better life however that is based on the King’s control and his power. During China’s Medieval time, the only way to change a woman’s life is to marry someone who has high social status and depend on that person, this reflects the extreme unequal social status between men and women.
Although the social status in two genders is different from that period and now, people at the different time always admire kindness. The Chinese Cinderella admires the kindness of Yeh Hsien, expresses people’s criticism of greedy, and the sympathy for the weak. Yeh Hsien has the great personality such as smart, kind, gentle, and has different skills, these good characters make readers like her. On the contrary, the stepmother and sister are cruel and selfish, who force Yeh Hsien to do all dangerous job and serve them.
This flagrant contrast makes readers like Yeh Hsien more, and be sympathetic to her. This shows that people in Tang dynasty have the same point of view towards morality with us. Also, at the end of the story, the story mentions the king is greedy and asks for too many things for the fishbone, eventually, the fishbone stop working. In different times, there always are people who are greedy and never satisfy and appreciate what they have. This story tells people that do not be greedy and sometimes release oneself and it will have a better ending.
Although the Chinese Cinderella story is a fairy tale, it reflected the state of the Tang society. This story helps people to have a better understanding of the culture in the Tang dynasty, such as the religion of Buddhism that flourished and influenced the society, and the social status of two genders where women had almost no right and power, and the people in that society admire kindness and morality and criticize viciousness.
