- Reflections on the Feast of Lanterns
No event in the Monterey area is more Chinese than the Feast of Lanterns of Pacific Grove. Every year towards the end of July, the city will celebrate this festival with lots of activities, the most important of which is the show on the pier at Lover's Point.
Every year the event reiterates a story on which the famous Blue Willow china design is based. The story goes that the daughter of a mandarin fell in love with a poor young scholar working for the mandarin as his secretary. The mandarin was furious and after driving away the scholar, he locked the daughter up and forced her to marry a rich man. The girl managed to send a message to the young man who came at the wedding to rescue her. They fled in a boat. The Chinese God of Mercy Guanyin changed them into two birds kissing each other in their flight. This last detail was changed by the monarch-butterfly-loving Pacific Grovers. They say the lovers turned into monarch butterflies and since the ancient times, they have been visiting the city again and again.
I lived in China for forty years and never heard such a story, though there are some similar ones about young lovers of different social classes fighting for their fate. I think, however, there must be a Chinese origin of the Blue Willow story. After watching the show on the pier, I came to my conclusion.
I believe the story must be about a couple of young lovers in the Tang Dynasty. Tang Dynasty enjoyed more than two hundred years of prosperity. The Tang rulers were open minded to the outside world and trade along the Silk Road was robust. At that time, Japan sent students to China to learn from China almost everything. Therefore, we can explain why at the Feast of Lanterns show, there are belly dancers and Japanese dancers.
One strange thing is the lack of Chinese songs and dances at the show. This can only be explained this way: the love story must have taken place during the chaotic years of the so called Anshi Rebellion. In this rebellion, the emperor had to flee the capital and when fleeing, was forced by his generals to have his concubine, Lay Yang, executed because the troops believed that it was this woman who ruined an otherwise wise and just emperor. At such a chaotic moment, songs and dances must have been suspended throughout China.
Despite the miserable ending of the emperor’s love story, it has been passed down as a great romance in Chinese literature and art. Shadowed by a romance of such magnitude, the love affair in our Blue Willow story appears insignificant. Perhaps this is why in China no one talks about it at all.
Many years ago, I talked with two or three guys at the Fisherman’s Wharf. I told them that I was interested in collecting local stories that were never printed. One tall thin guy said to me: “You know why they have this lantern festival in PG?” “Why?” I asked. “Because they burnt down the Chinatown there and now they feel guilty, so they invented this Chinese festival.”
Maybe this explains why no Chinese gets involved in this festival.
2007,8,5
加州蒙特瑞半岛上最富有中国特色的活动，莫过于太平林市一年一度的灯节。每年七月底，该市举行各种活动，最重要的是情人岬码头上的表演。
一年一度这里重复着一个故事。著名的英国瓷器蓝柳瓷的设计就是建立在这个故事的基础上的。
故事说一个官员的女儿爱上了给官员做事的穷秀才。官员大怒。赶走秀才，囚禁女儿， 迫使其嫁给富商。女儿托人传信。秀才婚礼之夜潜入，救走小姐， 登船而逃。被追赶中，受到观音点化， 变成比翼鸟。太平林市把最后的细节改为他们变成蝴蝶，每年回到这里一次。这样做是为了给太平林市的蝴蝶找个说辞。
我在中国活到40余年，从来没有听说过这个传说。
类似的倒是有一些。不过我想这个故事一定有出处。经过观看表演，茅塞顿开。
这个故事一定是发生在唐代的，因为唐代盛世，对外开放， 丝绸之路贸易发达。日本向大唐派了不少遣唐使，向中国学习。 这样我们可以解释为什么在这个灯节上， 会有阿拉伯肚皮舞和日本女人的舞蹈。
奇怪的是这个灯节上看不到中国歌舞。这只能这样来解释，那就是这个故事一定是发生在安史之乱年间。皇上被迫逃跑，并被迫赐死爱妃杨女士。在这样的乱世，汉人当然没有心思唱歌跳舞了。
唐皇帝的爱情虽然是个悲剧，却在中国文学和艺术中代代相传。 相形之下，一个小官吏家里边的事，就算不了什么了。
也许这就是为什么这个蓝柳的故事在中国连提都没人提。
多年以前，我在渔人码头跟当地人聊天，说想搜集一些没有见诸文字的故事。一个瘦高个对我说：“你知道他们为什么有那个灯节吗？那是因为他们的爷爷辈儿一把火烧掉了那里的唐人街。现在觉得不好意思了，才设计出了这么么中国节日。“
也许这可以解释为什么没有中国人跟着凑热闹。
2007,8,5
fanghuzhai
