| The legend of White Snake is one of the most popular tales of China, with countless versions in folklore, literature, and drama. From a blood-sucking demon to"China's Goddess of Love", the image of Lady White Snake has undergone three major changes: a she-demon (Li Huang, The Three Pagodas on the West Lake); a humanized snake spirit (the drama Lady White Snake Overpowering Thunder Pagoda and the opera Thunder Pagoda); a brave and devoted woman (Tale of the White Snake by Tian Han). With the popularity of mass culture, the multipolarization of culture leads people to question and reconstruct the classics. New Legend of Lady White Snake, a TV series produced in Taiwan, depicts Lady White Snake as a gentle, devoted, kind and beautiful fairy. Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's movie Green Snake, adapted from the tales of Lady White Snake, overthrows the traditional interpretations of the folktale. What's more, Chinese regional operas have their own Lady White operas such as Tale of the White Snake, a Sichuan opera TV series and Green Snake, a Wuxi opera. These operas interpret this classic myth from different perspectives.The hitherto startlingly varied alternations to the Legend of White Snake have given the legend profound cultural meanings. The different versions developed in different historic periods reveals significant variations in the approach to treating the relations among Lady White Snake, Xu Xian, Little Green Snake and Fa-hai. These variations represent the conflicts of different cultures, and the changes in the relative strength of these cultures. This paper attempts an in-depth, systematic research into the various processes of the evolution of the Legend, which, I hope, will lead to an appreciation of the roundabout development of national mentality and to a brand-new interpretation of this age-old theme.
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