The Snake Clings to Qing

Protagonist One: A Mu

The son of a hunter from Tongmu Village, he has shared a fateful bond with snakes since birth. Steady and reserved, he has the keen senses and resilience unique to a child of the mountains. He can easily read animals’ emotions and has an almost instinctive understanding with snakes in particular. Bound to Xiao Qing since childhood, he has always believed that all things have a spirit, refusing to be constrained by the village’s prejudice against snakes. He spends his life protecting this bond that crosses species, while searching for the deeper secrets connecting his family and snakes.

Protagonist Two: Xiao Qing

An intelligent green snake with a diamond-shaped white mark on its head, Xiao Qing is A Mu’s closest companion from childhood into adulthood. It is no ordinary snake, but seems to carry an ancient spirituality. It comes to A Mu’s rescue when he is in danger and uses extraordinary powers to protect the village during crises, such as a severe drought. Its existence blurs the line between “animal” and “spirit creature,” and its growth and transformation, from a young snake to a giant serpent, then to a mysterious disappearance and return, run through the heart of the story.

Synopsis

Set in Tongmu Village in western Hunan, Snake Bound in Green tells of the bond between A Mu, a hunter’s son, and Xiao Qing, a spirit snake. On the day A Mu was born, a green snake as thick as a barrel coiled beneath the ancient banyan tree at the village entrance. The midwife took it as a sign that “the earth dragon had come to claim its kin,” and so began A Mu’s unbreakable connection with snakes. As a child, A Mu was inseparable from the little green snake with a white mark on its head. Xiao Qing was not only his playmate, but also saved his life time and again. In a year of severe drought, it even used mysterious powers to bring rain to the village…