On-foot in Hangzhou

That is the famous Lei Feng Pagoda behind me in the romantic city of Hangzhou, which is a few hours drive from Shanghai. The legend of the Lei Feng Pagoda goes like this, if I can remember it and translate it correctly (our tour guide was Chinese so there are some expressions lost in translation)…

A few thousand years ago, there was a snake lady that lived in a forest. Then, one night (or was it day) a man was walking in the forest and saved the snake lady from being killed by humans that caught it (or it could’ve been the other way around, the snake lady saved the man in the forest). Anyway, the point is, there was some saving going on and the man and snake lady fell in love. Obviously, it was impossible for the two to unite as one was a human while the other a snake. So, through some magic that the snake lady did which involved the moon and sun, she took the form of a human – a ghost human. The couple bore a son. But, like most love stories, a powerful monk rejected the idea of a human and snake being in love, I guess he considered the relationship as beastiality. The monk did his magic and fought the snake lady. The snake lady lost and was buried under the pagoda. What happened to the son? Wait for the sequel.