Yexian: A Chinese Cinderella
This week marks a huge milestone for me, after six months of working with an early version of Cinderella from China, my book is being released. This has been the most magnificent experience that began as a desire to deepen our understanding of the classic fairy tale which has lost its essence and has become soulless.
For me, Yexian is a story that captures my heart because when I found the original translations into English, I felt like I was taken to southern China/Northern Vietnam 2000 years ago (when the story probably originated). However, it wasn’t documented until 850AD. Every part of me has been engaged - researching, fairy tales, finding evidence, writing, reimagining and while I’m certainly far from an expert in it, I do have a deep, soulful understanding of the story and its origins.
Along the way, it has helped me to see the vision I want for my fairy tale and storytelling life, but also makes me feel incredibly proud that these stories do not get lost in heavy academia or in historical documents, but remain living parts of our collective history. The book is my way of making the story, and its context, available for everyone.
The Cinderella story has influenced everything from romance, to metaphor to poetry, art, and song, and for girls and women, our identity. This makes it an incredibly important story and how we tell it to our children matters.
Whether we like it or not, our stories define us. What we watch, listen to and read (and increasingly play on video games) sets our values, our beliefs, our ability to have empathy and compassion for others and so much more. The driving force behind this project was to remind us all that the Cinderella we have become, is not who we started out as, and perhaps by returning to her roots, we may find a truth that can help us all, and the world.
For a deeper look at the history and my research process about this story and other fairy tales, please see my Substack.
“A girl, rejected, finds
hope inside the bones.
Fish grants her wishes
finds her way home.”
Beautiful illustrations by Erin-Claire Barrow have brought my vision to life.
