BOTH WESTERN AND ASIAN cultures have legends about people and events that have occurred in the ancient past. Such legends often blend truth and fiction, and focus on a certain human condition or theme with an element of fantasy. One of the most enduring themes is the struggle between two people to find love and overcome social injustices.
The famous story about Romeo and Juliet has been described as a classic “literary legend”. It focuses on two young lovers from feuding families who marry secretly, are tragically separated from each other, and ultimately sacrifice their lives after their desperate but unsuccessful struggle to reunite. This story explores various themes that concern social justice and the law, including patriarchal authority and the unequal treatment of women (for a discussion about the notion of “justice” in the West and in China, see China Business Law Journal, volume 11, issue 7: The notion of justice).
This column has previously discussed the Chinese legend that led to development of the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun (see China Business Law Journal, volume 13, issue 5: Kung fu fighting in law). This form of kung fu is said to have originated when a Buddhist nun in the Qing Dynasty taught her style of Chinese kung fu to a young girl called Yan Yong Chun (Yim Wing Chun in Cantonese) to enable her to defend herself against a warlord who had tried to force her into marriage.
This form subsequently came to be known by the given name of the young girl, Wing Chun. Like Romeo and Juliet, this legend explores patriarchal authority and the unequal treatment of women in the form of arranged or forced marriages.
There are countless legends such as this. This column discusses another famous Chinese legend and its implications for social justice and the law.
The Butterfly Lovers
In Chinese symbology, butterflies often represent conjugal bliss. Most Chinese people are aware of the story about the Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zi, who once dreamt that he was a butterfly and experienced great happiness in fluttering here and there. When Zhuang Zi woke up, he was not sure whether he was a man who had dreamt of being a butterfly, or whether he was a butterfly who was dreaming of being a man.
The legend of the Butterfly Lovers tells the tragic romance between a young man, Liang Shanbo, and a young woman, Zhu Yingtai, during the Eastern Jin dynasty (266-420 AD). In order to attend class and obtain an education – a pursuit that was often denied to women in ancient times – Zhu disguises herself as a young man. During her studies, Zhu meets Liang and they develop a strong friendship.
Zhu falls in love with Liang, who does not realise that Zhu is a woman. Zhu and Liang are separated when Zhu receives a letter from her father asking her to return home. Subsequently, when Liang visits Zhu, he is surprised to realise that she is a woman and both of them declare their love for each other.
However, Zhu’s parents have already arranged for her to marry another man. When Liang finds out the news of Zhu’s arranged marriage, he falls ill and subsequently dies of a broken heart.
On the day of her marriage, Zhu visits Liang’s grave to pay her respects to her former lover. In despair, she begs for the grave to open up. Suddenly the grave does open, and Zhu throws herself into it to join Liang. They next emerge from the grave as a pair of butterflies and fly away together, never to be separated again.
The legend of the Butterfly Lovers has become the subject of Chinese opera. A version of the legend as told in Chinese opera was also adapted for a film produced in the Chinese mainland in 1954, and another film produced in Hong Kong in 1963.
In 1958, two young Chinese student composers at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, were also inspired by this legend to compose the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, a work for violin and orchestra. In 1959, the concerto’s premiere was performed by the famous Chinese violinist, Yu Lina, as part of celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Yu Lina was then 18 years old and has since long served as a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. On a personal note, this columnist, who plays the violin, studied the concerto with Professor Yu in the early years of his decade in China (1996 – 2006).
In his chronicle of Chinese music, A History of Chinese Music, published in 2002, Professor Ju Qihong writes:
That the violin concerto “The Butterfly Lovers” could be created in 1958, during the fervour of the Great Leap Forward, is truly a miracle. This is likely to be closely related to the fact that Meng Bo, the Party Secretary and Vice President of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, who led its composition, respected the principles of instrumental composition and insisted on this particular theme. Otherwise, based solely on the anti-feudal theme and the well-known love story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, it would have been difficult to avoid accusations of being “detached from politics” or “detached from the fiery life of the Great Leap Forward”.
Unfortunately, during the cultural revolution in China (1966-1976), the concerto was banned on the basis that it promoted romantic love, which was considered bourgeois and counter revolutionary. In 1978, however, the ban was lifted and the concerto was once again performed, becoming a classic of Chinese music and a source of great national pride in China. In the past two decades, it has also found its way into mainstream concert halls in the West. A recording of the concerto was included in an album by the famous American violinist, Joshua Bell, in 2023.
Social justice and law
Happily, most jurisdictions around the world have laws that reflect values such as upholding gender equality and prohibiting arranged or forced marriages.
In the history of modern China, these values were first reflected in article 1 of the 1950 PRC Marriage Law, which provided as follows:
The feudal marriage system, involving arranged and forced marriages, male chauvinism, and disregard for the interests of children, is abolished. A new democratic marriage system is implemented, based on freedom of marriage for men and women, monogamy, equality of rights for men and women, and protection of the legitimate rights and interests of women and children.
These values are now reflected in articles 1041 and 1042 of the PRC Civil Code.
Andrew Godwin previously practised as a foreign lawyer in Shanghai (1996-2006) before returning to his alma mater, Melbourne Law School in Australia, to teach and research law. Andrew is currently Joint Associate Director of the Corporate Law and Financial Regulation Research Programme at the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law and Honorary Associate Director (Commercial law) of the Asian Law Centre. Andrew has acted as a consultant to a broad range of organisations, regulators and governments in Australia and abroad. He served as Special Counsel and Acting General Counsel of the Australian Law Reform Commission between 2020 and 2024.
