Introduction
The Butterfly Lovers is one of the four Chinese folk love stories. Its poignant romance is world-renowned, and it is hailed as the “Chinese Romeo and Juliet”.
The story originated from the Eastern Jin Dynasty when Leung Shan-pak and Chuk Ying-toi (a girl disguised as a lad) met by chance on their way to Hangzhou to study and became sworn brothers. After having studied together for three years, Ying-toi was urged to return home by her father. On the trip, Shan-pak sent her off for eighteen miles, but was oblivious throughout to Ying-toi’s repeated hints of her true identity. As a last resort, Ying-toi made the promise to marry her sister to Shan-pak and invited him to propose to her parents. Unfortunately, when Shan-pak finally arrived, Ying-toi had already been betrothed to Ma Man-choi. The lovers were heartbroken when they bid each other farewell in a pavilion, and Shan-pak died of illness after returning home with grief. On the day of her wedding, Ying-toi went to Shan-pak’s grave to mourn and sacrificed herself for love. Ma Man-choi arrived in anger and dug up the grave to see that Leung and Chuk had transformed into a pair of butterflies. The lovers were finally united.
The Butterfly Lovers is about the yearning for the freedom of marriage of a young couple in a traditional society, and the touching story of a woman’s bold pursuit of love. Commonplace interpretations also praised Leung and Chuk for their moral integrity and filial piety, since they would rather bear the suffering of separation than to fight against fate and parental authority.