Library

Through literature review and field investigation, this book explores how people told the story of the White Emperor in different historical periods, why they told it in this way, and the resulting narrative evolution. This book believes that the story of the White Emperor and the Heavenly King originated from the ancestral memory of the "Northern Heavenly King" of the Yang family in Jingzhou during the Song Dynasty. Later, it was introduced to the local area as some Yang family members migrated to today's western Hunan area. It spread through the further development of local society in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, forming increasingly diverse versions of the story. The evolution of the narrative of the White Emperor and Heavenly King from "ancestral memories" to "local legends" is a historical microcosm of the increasing integration of Western Hunan society into a dynastic state since the Song Dynasty.