Stones Form Other Hills May Serve To Polish The Jade Of This One ——Western Sinologist Idema’s Research On Chinese Folklore

The sinologist Wilt L.Idema,who translated and introduced Chinese ancient rap literature in the West,made a great contribution to western readers’ understanding of Chinese culture.Idema’s literature research is most notable in Yuan Zaju,but his carefully compiled series of Chinese folklore with five legends as the main body is rarely discussed specifically.In view of this,this paper will take Idema’s five works about this series as the main research object,and through detailed analysis and comment on them,to fully show the achievements and contributions of Idema’s folklore series research.This paper is divided into seven parts:Introduction briefly introduces Idema’s academic background and works,as well as his research status in Chinese academic circles.It shows the motivation of Idema’s folklore series research and clarifies the research value of this paper.Chapter one reviews Idema’s research on the legend of Dong Yong’s encounter with the immortal.This chapter will make a detailed review of the research on the origin of the legend of Dong Yong’s encounter with the immortal and the research on the rap texts in the Yuan,Ming and Qing dynasties,and give a supplementary demonstration and explanation of the research on the match of the celestial immortal by Idema.Chapter two reviews Idema’s research on the legend of the White Snake.This chapter will demonstrate and discuss Idema’s research from two aspects:the origin of the White Snake theory and the White Snake’s theatrical works.Chapter three comments on Idema’s research on the legend of the Butterfly Lovers.This chapter takes time as a clue to comment on Idema’s research on the legend of the Butterfly Lovers,and analyzes his interpretation of the social psychology of the legend.Chapter four reviews Idema’s research on the legend of Mengjiang Nv.This chapter will comment on Idema’s research on the legend of Mengjiang Nv,and analyze the purpose of the study of Idema’s research on the legend of Mengjiang Nv.Chapter five reviews Idema’s research on the legend of Mulan.This chapter will focus on the themes of different versions of the of Mulan and present Idema’s novel ideas and perspectives in the study.Chapter six summarizes the characteristics of Idema’s folklore research.This chapter will summarize the research methods and characteristics of Idema’s folklore research from three aspects:writing characteristics,new trends of Sinology in North America,limitations and deficiencies.It also compares the characteristics of Idema’s research with those of Chinese folklore scholars and Sinologists in North America to highlight the value of Idema’s research.