The White Snake is a Chinese legend, which existed as oral traditions before any written compilation. It has since become a major subject of several Chinese opera, films and TV series.
Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing
A female white snake demon, Bai Suzhen, dreams of transforming into a goddess by doing good deeds, so she takes on a human form and goes to the human realm. There she meets a green snake demon, Xiaoqing, who causes disasters in the area she lived. Bai Suzhen holds her captive at the bottom of a lake, though she promises the green snake that she’ll come back in 300 years to free her.
After 300 years she keeps her promise and frees her. They bond as sisters. They meet a monk called Fahai who believes that every demon should be destroyed. But Bai was too powerful, and he can’t eliminate her immediately so he vows that he will if he sees them again.
Fearing that they would meet more human sorcerers, Bai and Qing snakes retreat into the world between fairyland, demon and human world where they try to do good things by bringing rain to places that hasn’t had any water for three years. But Qing was careless and almost flooded the whole town, because of this, Bai sadly loses her chance of becoming a goddess. However Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy) informs her that she may have yet another opportunity.
Meeting Xu Xian
In the meantime Bai and Qing accidentally brought a scholar Xu Xian and his friend to the demon world. Bai protected them from demons and in the process fell in love with Xu Xian. After the battle with the leader of the underworld, Xu Xian confessed his feelings for Bai, claiming that it was love at first sight. But in order for a human being to go back to the human world, they had to become unconscious and in the process also forget their time in the demon world. Xu Xian tried to avoid being knocked out. However, Fahai somehow found a way into the demon world, seeing Xu Xian, and tricked him into being knocked out.
When Xu Xian was back into the human world, he had forgotten everything. Since he and his friend went through the portal separately they landed in separate places. There Xu Xian met many new people.
Soon after Bai took the final step of becoming a goddess, which was to collect human tears, Bai saw Xu Xian with another girl and assumed that they were a couple. The former green snake, Xiaoqing, realized that when Xu Xian and Bai met, Xu Xian would again fall in love with Bai, so she arranged a meeting. They then got married, opened a herbal medicine shop and lived happily.
But as demons and humans were not supposed to join, the town was struck by a plague, and it was soon on the verge of total destruction. Bai, Qing and Fahai finally agreed to a truce and obtained the magical herb needed to help the folks.
Dragon Boat Festival Tragedy
Later Bai got pregnant, but FaHai continued to try to eliminate her and Qing.
On the fifth day of the fifth month, the Dragon Boat Festival is held. On that day demons revert to their true selves. Bai thus decided to take Qing and Xu Xian back to Ban Bu Duo, but Xu Xian falls victim to Fahai’s tricks again. Then Bai shows her true self, scaring Xu Xian literally to death. Bai retrieved the herbal medicine which brought Xu Xian back to life.
But after giving birth to a son, Bai can’t control herself anymore. She was forced to tell her husband the truth about her origin. Xu Xian kindly accepted her, but Fahai then attacked the weakened Bai and held her to eternal captivity in the Leifeng Pagoda.
