The Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner—May 31 this year—and while most people think of it as a time for zongzi, boat races, and honoring the poet Qu Yuan, it’s also the perfect moment to revisit one of the most magical love stories in Chinese folklore: Lady White Snake (白蛇傳).

And since it’s the Year of the Snake, the timing couldn’t be more poetic.

Our story begins at the scenic West Lake in Hangzhou, just two hours from our sister city Suzhou, where a thousand-year-old white snake spirit—on a quest for love—disguised as a beautiful woman, meets the gentle scholar Xu Xian on a rainy spring day by the lake. She lends him an umbrella, and just like that, fate steps in.

They fall in love, marry, and open an herb shop, where Lady White Snake uses her magic to heal many. But during the Dragon Boat Festival, when people traditionally drink realgar wine to ward off summer pests and evil spirits, the jealous monk Fahai warns Xu Xian that his wife may not be… entirely human. Xu Xian gives her the wine. She drinks it—and transforms into a giant white snake. Xu Xian faints from shock and dies. (Let’s just say, not the most resilient male lead.)

Heartbroken, Lady White Snake and her loyal maidservant Xiao Qing—a green snake spirit—embark on a journey to retrieve a magical herb that brings Xu Xian back to life. But when Xu Xian revives and sees his wife’s true form again, he panics and flees to Fahai’s temple to seek refuge. (Again—not exactly husband-of-the-year.) In a desperate attempt to rescue him, Lady White Snake floods the temple, unleashing the full force of her power. Despite her strength, Fahai ultimately traps her beneath a pagoda by West Lake, where she remains for decades—until, in some versions of the tale, she is finally freed by her son.

This iconic love story has been told and retold in so many movies, TV shows, and Chinese operas. If you grew up in Taiwan or China in the ’90s like I did, you’ll remember the classic TV drama. I still hum the theme song—and yes, many of us, myself included, absolutely tried to recreate her hairstyle with chopsticks and a white pillowcase. Before Disney princesses arrived in our lives, this was our fairy tale.

So this Dragon Boat Festival, while enjoying your zongzi, raise a quiet toast to Lady White Snake—a heroine whose love still lingers like mist over West Lake.

Venus Sun
Vice President of Culture & Community
Lan Su Chinese Garden