The Meeting of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid in Chinese Popular Prints

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month is one of the most significant dates in the Chinese traditional calendar. It is known as Double Seven day. The annual meeting of the two mythological lovers, the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid, otherwise separated by the Heavenly Han River (the Milky Way), occurs at this time. This tryst is one of the most celebrated events in the vast lexicon of Chinese mythology.

From the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries, the production of single-sheet woodblock prints was a widespread, viable commercial business that prospered because it offered ordinary customers a variety of important pictorial themes at prices they could easily afford. These popular prints, or minjian banhua, are commonly known as nianhua, or ‘New Year prints’. The Meeting of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid was a frequent subject for popular prints. This article analyzes five interesting popular prints of this subject.

The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid have astral origins. The Herd Boy is associated with three stars in almost a straight line, with Aquila at its centre. The Weaving Maid constellation has three stars in a triangle, with Lyra at the centre.

By the second century CECE, the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid were linked in one of the famous Gushi shijiu shou (Nineteen old poems).

Faraway Herdboy star,
White, white girl of River Han
Slim, slim lift white hands,
Clack, clack ply her loom’s shuttle.

All day long she never ends her pattern,
Tears she sheds fall like rain.
River Han clear and shallow,
Away from each other how much longer?
In spate the whole river widens.
She stares and stares without a word

(translation by Birrell, 1988, p. 40).

1. Meeting Across the Milky Way
China, Shandong province, Yangjiabu; 19th century
Polychrome woodblock print on paper; 55 x 93 cm
(after Wang Shucun, Ancient Chinese Woodblock New Year Prints, Beijing, 1985, fig. 67)

According to Mary Ellen Friends, this poem established the important premise of separated lovers (Friends, 2019, p. 23). Documents reveal that by the early second century, the Herd Boy and Weaving Maid are destined to meet on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. By the late second century, the annual reunion of the Herd Boy and Weaving Maid was facilitated by a bridge formed by magpies. These were appropriate birds for this function because the first character in xique (magpie) is a homophone for xi (‘joy’ or ‘happiness’). The magpie is also connected with a happy marriage (Bartholomew, 2006, pp. 50–52, 95–96; Welch, 2008, pp. 38, 77).

2. The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid

China, Henan province, Zhuxianzhen; 19th century

Polychrome woodblock print on paper;

d

imensions not available

(after Xie Guihua, Minjian nianhua, Shijiazhuang, 2004, p. 35)

Over time, many details expanded the basic account. The Herd Boy and Weaving Maid are linked romantically and have two children. But because they became so involved with each other and neglected their work, they were separated by the King and Queen of Heaven. The Queen used her hairpin to create the Heavenly River (the Milky Way) to separate them. The King, however, allowed them to meet once a year on the seventh night of the seventh month (Birrell, 1988, p. 332). For this event, as noted above, magpies formed a bridge to enable the Herd Boy to cross the Milky Way.

Many variations in plot specifics and circumstances supplemented the legend. These included women bathing and the Herd Boy stealing their clothes (Bredon and Mitrophanow, 1927, pp. 371–73). In one instance the Herd Boy’s devoted cow told him: ‘When I am dead, wrap yourself in my skin. Then you can follow your beloved to Heaven’ (Bredon and Mitrophanow, 1927, p. 372).

Many popular prints represent diverse features of the Herd Boy and Weaving Maid myth. This essay focuses in particular on five that demonstrate the varied imagery and the different artistic approaches to picturing this meeting.

A print from Yangjiabu in Weifang, Shandong province, labeled Meeting Across the Milky Way, takes an expanded approach by representing the story as narrative in connected panels (fig. 1). Depicted from right to left are the Weaving Maid obtaining clothes from the Herd Boy after he stole them from bathing maidens, the Weaving Maid returning to heaven and the Herd Boy wearing his cow’s hide to enable him to reunite with his beloved, the Queen Mother of the West producing the Milky Way from her sleeve, and, finally, the reunion of the Herd Boy and Weaving Maid on the seventh day of the seventh month. Apparently it does not matter that throughout the print series the Weaving Maid’s headdress and the decoration of the figures’ garments is inconsistent. There is no background, and children are present in each stage of the narrative. These horizontal, continuous narrative prints were ‘unique to the farming households of eastern Shandong’ (Zhongguo chuantong nianhua yishu tezhan zhuanji, 1991, p. 288). Such print scrolls were used as part of window decorations (Wang, 1985, p. 173).

3. The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid

China, Jiangsu province, Suzhou; late 18th century

Polychrome woodblock print on paper;

62 x 47.5 cm

Christer von der Berg collection

Photo by Elizabeth Hunter, courtesy of Christer von der Berg

The entire fable could alternatively be reduced to a single-sheet print depicting the meeting of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid. Such prints were perhaps meant to be displayed on Double Seven day. The most condensed type of rendering, represented here by a print from the Tianyi firm in Zhuxianzhen, Henan province, shows only the two lovers (fig. 2). There is no river, and only a single magpie alludes to the bridge created to enable the Herd Boy to cross the Heavenly River to meet the Weaving Maid. The magpie is so unlike the real bird that it requires the presence of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid to make it possible to identify it. The two lovers themselves hardly seem to recognize each other. They are staid and stiff. The artist has taken the liberty of including a long-tailed male phoenix at the top. The phoenix is associated with the Queen Mother of the West, who used her hairpin to create the river separating the two lovers. The phoenix is, ironically, another emblem of joy and happiness and a popular wedding motif, implying a perfect marriage (Bartholomew, 2006, p. 55). There is also what appears to be a round coin below the phoenix’s tail. The Weaving Maid holds a fly-whisk, a symbol of being able to ‘fly through the air and walk on clouds’ (Goodrich, 1991, p. 312). The fly-whisk was also a ‘symbol of grace and elegance’ and a fashion accessory (Welch, 2008, p. 244). As such, it became a standard feature of the Weaving Maid’s attire. The Herd Boy holds a basket of lingzhi fungus and a flute. The fungus is associated with longevity (Welch, 2008, p. 50). It was not unusual for herd boys to play on a flute while caring for their charges. The flute might also denote the special attribute of Han Xiangzi, one of the Eight Immortals. Among his many talents, ‘He wandered in the country, playing his flute and attracting birds . . . by the sweet sounds’ (Williams, 1976, p. 155). Representations of the Herd Boy with a flute perhaps convey the idea of him enticing a flock of magpies to form a bridge so that he could cross the Milky Way for his annual reunion with the Weaving Maid. The limited number of colours applied in wide areas makes this picture somewhat abstract. The meaning of the two characters on this print: tianyi (‘heaven’ and ‘righteousness’ or ‘faithful’) remain unclear.

Other prints present the climax of the story in more realistic, animated poses and more varied colours. This method was used for depictions in both vertical and horizontal formats. A significant example is a print from Suzhou (fig. 3). Here the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid, appearing to be teen-agers, stand close and look lovingly at each other. They are on separate clouds. An ox accompanies the Herd Boy and looks toward him. The colours are soft and realistic, and there is significant detail overall. The Weaving Maid holds a ruyi (wish-granting scepter) with a lingzhi (fungus) finial (Welch, 2008, pp. 258– 59). Her floating sleeves, scarf, and sashes indicate that she is in an ethereal environment. The Herd Boy holds a flute and a whip. Several magpies from the bridge hover nearby. Very rare is the inclusion of the two astral formations above the upper-most cloud. They are not exactly the correct shapes associated with the Herd Boy (three stars in a straight line) and with the Weaving Maid (three stars in a triangle). Nevertheless, the designer seems to have included these diagrams as reminders of the astral origin of the two lovers.

A dramatic presentation, also in a Suzhou print (fig. 4), vividly illustrates the moment of the couple’s sad parting. The Herd Boy, on his ox that seems eager to depart, is already leaving the scene of their meeting. Tumbling water from a narrow waterfall in a precipice will become a rushing stream that feeds the Heavenly River separating the two lovers. The Weaving Maid looks toward the Herd Boy’s straw hat, which the wind has blown toward her. It presumably will become a memento of their meeting. On a cloud, she holds her fly-whisk, as noted above, a symbol of being able to ‘fly through the air and walk on clouds’. She also clasps the peach of longevity (Bartholomew, 2006, p. 204; Welch, 2008, p. 55), which emphasizes the eternal relationship between her and the Herd Boy.

4. The Parting of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid
China, Jiangsu province, Suzhou; before 1750
Polychrome woodblock print on paper, hand colored; 88 x 52.5 cm
Christer von der Berg collection
Photo by Elizabeth Hunter, courtesy of Christer von der Berg

Another example of a lovely horizontal print, titled Meeting Across the Milky Way, is from the Tai Lianzeng company in Yangliuqing, Hebei province (fig. 5). The Herd Boy, along with his two happy children, the boy on the back of the ox and the girl standing next to her father, are on one side of the river. The Herd Boy still wears his hat and has an ox-skin tried around his waist to enable him to reunite with his beloved. The slender Weaving Maid, standing in a misty cloud on the opposite side of the river, looks toward the Herd Boy and their children. She holds two rolls of fabric and her fly-whisk. A flock of fourteen magpies flies around, apparently prepared to form a bridge for the Herd Boy to use. Although each one is artistically reduced to just four black lines for the wings and split tail, with small black-and-white bodies, there is the implication that the magpies are moving fast. The sense of scattered flitting is admirably conveyed. A similar print was said to be used as decoration on a kang or platform bed (Zhang, 2009, p. 153).

In the twentieth-first century, the fascination with the romance between the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid has not declined. Double Seven day, celebrating the reunion of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid, is considered the Chinese Valentine’s Day. An online search for information on the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid resulted in a vast number of modern depictions of the two, beyond the scope of this article.

Despite extensive studies on later Chinese prints, the role and ingenuity of print design in this mercantile industry has largely been neglected. Prints depicting the Meeting of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid provide an excellent opportunity to understand, evaluate, and appreciate designers’ contributions to popular iconography in response to customer demand. In China as elsewhere, persons from mythology were in the public domain. Their stories and images could be altered and recycled to serve different purposes. In the Chinese popular print medium, there is no single, iconographic artistic prototype for the representation of the Meeting of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid and no intended single purpose for prints depicting them. For commercial success, print workshops catered to desires of their customers and produced a range of images. The print designers were responsible for creating representations to satisfy varied popular demand. Some citizens, especially those in Shandong province, needed the extended narrative (fig. 1) as a part of their window decorations. In Hebei province, depictions of the pair were applied as ornaments for the kang bed (fig. 5). Some customers were satisfied with a simple presentation of two static figures in a single page (fig. 2). Other clients preferred more artistically complex prints of the reunion of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid with the actual meeting or departure conveyed through subtle poses and gestures (figs. 3–5). To make the rendition more interesting, designers could include the ox, magpies, and/or the two children.

At least two special innovations of the print designers are evident in the prints introduced here. First, designers were at liberty to augment the depictions of the Meeting of the Herd Boy and the Weaving Maid with appropriate, auspicious symbols: the magpie and the phoenix for joy and happy marriages, the fungus and the peach for longevity. Such positive motifs counterbalance the otherwise sorrowful aura of the rare meeting and parting of the unhappy lovers. A special example is the Weaving Maid holding the wish-fulfilling scepter (fig. 3). It implies that her desires for future meetings with the Herd Boy will be fulfilled. Presumably, these insertions would provide the prints with greater appeal to the purchaser and help explain their appeal to the general public.

5. Meeting Across the Milky Way
China, Hebei province, Yangliuqing; 19th century
Polychrome woodblock print on paper; 35 x 60 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum. Photo by Vladimir Terebenin

The second innovation is the designer’s skill in visualizing the abstract. One example is where the Queen Mother creates the Heavenly River supposedly from her hairpin. In figure 1, no hairpin is shown; rather, the river flows down her sleeve. Some designers were more adept and inventive than others in conveying abstract ideas visually. The print in figure 4 is an excellent example. As described above, the designer used the rushing cascade of water in a natural setting to suggest the Heavenly River that separates the two lovers. The Herd Boy’s wind-blown hat, presumably to be caught by the Weaving Maid, is also an abstract idea, as it will serve as a memento of the Herd Boy as well as a reminder of their meeting in a year. In addition, the Weaving Maid seems to be looking with longing toward the Herd Boy, conveying both the sentiment of their sorrowful parting and remembering their past meetings as well as anticipating more meetings in the future.

The acquisition of these popular prints among ordinary people in China made it a viable commercial enterprise. Presumably, the owners of such prints appreciated these artistic inventions.

Ellen Johnston Laing is an Associate at the Kenneth G. Lieberthal and Richard H. Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan

Selected Bibliography

Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006.

Anne Birrell, New Songs from a Jade Terrace: An Anthology of Early Chinese Love Poetry, New York, 1988.

Juliet Bredon and Igor Mitrophanow, The Moon Year: A Record of Chinese Customs and Festivals, Shanghai, 1927.

Mary Ellen Friends, ‘Love, Gender and Reception in Double Seventh Literature,’ PhD diss, Yale University, 2019.

Anne S. Goodrich, Peking Paper Gods: A Look at Home Worship, Nettetal, Germany, 1991.

Wang Shucun, Ancient Chinese Woodblock New Year Prints, Beijing, 1985.

Patricia Bjaaland Welch, Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery, Tokyo and Rutland, Vermont, 2008.

C. A. S. Williams, Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Motives, 3rd rev.ed., New York, 1976.

Zhang Daoyi (ed.), Zhongguo mubanhua tongjian, Nanjing, 2009.

Zhongguo chuantong nianhua yishu tezhan zhuanji, Taipei, 1991.