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| White Serpent Tale, played by Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan, is an adaptation of the famous Chinese legend, Madame White Snake. (China Daily/Zhu Yinwei) |
Indeed, if you're bitten by a snake - presumably not a poisonous one - for the next decade you'll tremble at the sight of a rope, or anything that vaguely resembles a snake.
There is an ancient tale of a man who spots a snake in his glass of liquor. It turns out the wriggly thing was the reflection of a bow hanging on the wall. The yarn has since been immortalized as a phrase for unfounded panic.
Contrary to some cultures where the snake is perceived as a steadfast defender, in the Chinese lexicon it is enshrined as a subject and object of fright.
In calligraphy, however, the snake is not portrayed in a negative light. A serpentine brush stroke is to be marveled, not quivered, at - and that refers to a snake that's flying or scurrying away.
Very often, the snake comes with its nobler peer, the dragon, in such descriptions. However, one ancient calligrapher painted a realistic snake on a scroll and, on a whim, added a foot to the legless species, thus becoming the archetype of redundancy. Never mind that some species indeed have a pair of vestigial claws. But in this story, it's the painter, not the snake, who is the butt of derision.
For all the snake-related idioms, China does not hold a candle to Indian mythology when it comes to snake references. Likewise, Egyptian, Greek, Christian and many other cultures have images of the snake more colorful than ours.
The Chinese snake is not as rich in connotation and has not spilled over into the visual arts. We do not have a deity sitting on a coiled python; the Buddhist concept of reincarnation has not been compared to the shedding of snake skin; our female monsters do not sport a crop of snakes for hair; and a snake is not the cause for carnal temptation. (The fox is the closest to that symbol, but it epitomizes female seduction rather than the lure that brings man and woman together.)
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