Rob Women Of The "monkey Jue," The Story Origins And Evolution,

The stories about monkeys kidnapping women were originally the clannish tale which were popular in the Maoniu Qiang gens in the southwest and south of Shu district during the Han and Jin dynasty. In the stories, such cultural custom of Qiang gens as adoration of totems, belief in magic, kidnapping the bride, maternal focus, and so on were described in a complicated way. During the period of Wei, Jin and South and North dynasties when people intercoursed with each other intimately, the stories were introduced into central China with the fuse of different kinds of culture and gradually they were fussed into the cultural ideas of the people there. And they changed gradually into the editions of "Monkeys kidnapping wives" of Tang dynasty and thereafter. So they became the legend of the whole nation, instead of the clannish tales of the local district.The stories about monkeys kidnapping women had changed very much in their editions since they were introduced into central China. In this dissertation, the changes was stated in detail which included the changes in the evolution of the monkeys' appearances, the transformation of the kidnapped women's thoughts, and the differences in the status of the born children, people's views and the complexity of the story. The wane of the totem culture, the decline of the animal worship and the influence of the ideas of Ru, Dao and Shi in central China were the cultural factors that lead to the changes.In the tales of the mystery and the supernatural of Wei and Jin dynasty, the editions of the stories about the marriages between animals and human beings had changed in almost the same way. Their originals could all be traced to the culture of totem worship, and each had myth original in the gens period that could prove it. On the other hand, they changed very much in the editions of Tang dynasty and thereafter. The changes could been seen in such aspects as the changes of the appearance of the animals that married human beings from our ancestors to ugly beasts, the transformation of people's attitude towards the animals from worship and cherish to hate, even killing. So the editions of such tales of the mystery and the supernatural of Wei and Jin dynasty were the transition from the original myth in gens period when totem worship was popular to the stories about the marriages between animals and human beings. It was the tales of the mystery and the supernatural of Wei and Jin dynasty that liked up the veins of Chinese folk culture. They supplied usenough clues to understand the cultural custom, religious believes in the ancient times, to discover the relationships between different cultures. In the same time, they supplied a lot of materials for later literary works. All above can be said the benefit of the tales of the mystery and the supernatural of Wei and Jin dynasty to Chinese culture history.