A Study Of Love Keepsakes In "Sanyan And Erpai"

Love keepsake is an important thing for young men and women to express their feelings from ancient times to the present.It represents loyalty,trust and it is a symbol of beautiful love between lovers.The main givers of love keepsake are couples or lovers.It is different from things which just convey emotions.It may be the same as things for betrothal.Love keepsake's formation and development is the result of many factors.It is mainly influenced by ancient Chinese folk culture and primitive witchcraft culture.Love keepsake has a long history,which runs through Chinese literary works.Love keepsake plays a very important role in the novels which describe love and marriage."Sanyan and Erpai" is an important representative of this kind of novels in the late Ming Dynasty.In "Sanyan and Erpai ",many young couples use love keepsakes to express their love and make promises,so that love keepsakes become the promises of love and marriage,or the witness of reunion.There are various kinds of love keepsakes in "Sanyan and Erpai",mainly including metal keepsakes,clothing keepsakes,jade keepsakes,paper keepsakes and other keepsakes.Different kinds of love keepsakes are rich in connotation,influenced by Chinese culture for thousands of years,and reflect the personality,psychology and beautiful expectations of young men and women.There are three ways to obtain love keepsakes: men and women giving each other,men giving women,women giving men.Different ways of giving presents also represent different psychology of young men and women.And through the way of looking forward and looking back,we can see the particularity of love keepsakes in the historical stage.The value of love keepsake in "Sanyan and Erpai" is various,it helps to highlight the theme of the novel,shape the characters,and design the plot and structure;they also reflect the political and economic situation,cultural trend of thought and local customs at the end of Ming Dynasty;they even have the function of educating people.