Cultural Communication at the Edge of "Corridor": Taking the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood in Tiancheng Village as an Example

Na ZHAO

Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730030, China; Lanzhou University of Arts and Science, Lanzhou 730030, China

Abstract The "corridor" constructed jointly by multi-nationalities provides a space of cultural dissemination for the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood the in Hexi Corridor.Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood spreads on the flowing cultural "corridor", relying on various narrative forms of cultural media.It deeply promotes the localization of the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood.The situation of integration and harmony between ethnic groups and Common value orientation of multi-ethnic humanities and religions are explored and taken through the multicultural elements embedded in the legend so that the "cultural integration" hidden in the legends and stories can emerge.

Key words The Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood, Corridor, Corridor effect, Multiculturalism, Cultural integration

1 Introduction

Tiancheng Village is located in Luocheng Town, Gaotai County, Gansu Province.It is an ancient village with a long history and profound cultural accumulation.Tiancheng Village is situated in the triangle area at the junction of Zhangye, Jiuquan and Inner Mongolia Ejin Banner.Heli Mountain stands in the northeast, and the weak water flows through the southwest.It is known as "Tiancheng Suoyao"(a strategic gateway or approach to a vital military area), the throat of the main road.In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Tiancheng Village implemented the policies of "reclamation and border guarding" and "immigration to the border", the orthodox Chinese culture of the Central Plains brought by a large number of immigrants and the multi-ethnic culture constantly collided and blended in the Hexi Corridor-this long and narrow "corridor", which have formed an open and diverse cultural corridor and cultural space.Tiancheng Village is not only located at the edge of the corridor, but also has the corridor feature of accepting and accommodating new cultures, which helps to generate the "corridor effect" of the cultural integration of the Hexi Corridor("corridor" and "corridor effect" are the subject theories of landscape ecology.In recent years, it is often used in urban and rural planning, rail transit and archaeology and other disciplines.This paper uses this theory to focus on the study of the cultural transmission of oral legends in the fringes of the "corridor".).In recent years, predecessors have examined the multiple narrative forms and internal correlations of legends from the perspectives of text, landscape and ritual,etc.However, academic circles still needs further focus on the localization process of legends in combination with the spatial dimension of corridor.Therefore, we choose Tiancheng Village as the field investigation site, and based on the context of the "corridor effect", taking the Legend of King Yu Floods Control as the object of investigation, and relying on narrative resources such as oral legends, cultural relics, sacrificial beliefs to peep at this cultural landscape present the cultural value and positive influence, the historical memory and ethnic emotion further carried by the legend, and reveal the historical fact of the multicultural blending, harmony and symbiosis reflected in the corridor space by the legend.

2 Fusion of the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood and the regional landscape

Tiancheng Village is geographically isolated, and its traffic is blocked, the regional culture is very different.The narrative forms in the marginal culture are rich, diverse and ever-changing.To this day, the marginal cultural vitality of this corridor is still active in the oral narratives of the people.In the process of inheritance and evolution, the various cultural elements in the corridor space are embedded in the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood, practicing the expression of narrative resources such as oral traditions, landscapes and beliefs, promoting the integration and interpenetration of cultures in multiple regions, and building harmony and symbiosis among the people.The corridor is the gathering place of various knowledge and discourses.How did the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood collide and blend with multiculturalism in the corridor space entity, and then generate legends that are widely accepted by the people of Tiancheng Village?

There are many legends about King Yu Tamed the Flood here.In the primitive society thousands of years ago, the Tiancheng area was a vast ocean, which is the "sea of stones".Legend has it that there is a cave of Xi Wang Mu(the famous Chinese goddess, is commonly known as "Queen Mother of the West".)on the east side of Zhengyi Gorge.It is the place where Xi Wang Mu lives.When King Yu was dredging the rocks and sand in the weak water, he happened to find the key that Xi Wang Mu had lost in the sky, and King Yu opened it with the key that Xi Wang Mu lost.The gate of Shixia is closed, and the flood flows from Shihai into Juyan Sea.

The Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood in Tiancheng Village runs through the local myths and legends of the Queen Mother of the West.The legends and myths are integrated into one, showing a mythological tendency.Xi Wang Mu Cave is the residence of the Queen Mother of the West in local legends.Mr.Chang Zheng once mentioned: "The Queen Mother of the West is only a female tribal chief of the Hexi Corridor, probably in the area of Shule River and Beishan hills in northern Gansu today"[1].There may be vestiges of its activities in the vast grassland areas around Qinghai Lake and in the mountains north of the Hexi Corridor.In this way, the legend of the Queen Mother of the West scattered in the Hexi Corridor has its origin.As one of the key figures in the Kunlun mythology in the corridor, the Queen Mother of the West uses the landscape to imagine and create, producing an episodic landscape narrative, which is realized by oral narrative of the local people.The associated landscape narrative of the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood not only shows the inheritance function of legends, but also presents us with the inter-construction relationship between landscapes and legends, and creates a new path of inheritance in which legends and landscapes are intertwined.What, then, is the Ruins of West Queen Mother Cave told?

Jiang Dengcai, born in 1940, a villager of Tiancheng Village.At 10:40 am on May 2, 2020, he narrated that, "the Cave of Queen Mother of the West" is located on the east side of Zhengyi Gorge.It was called Huilan Cave in ancient times, and the locals called it Leopard Cave and Webbed Dog Cave.In fact, this cave is a cave of natural sand and stone.There are still traces of the poems written by the literati in ancient times.

Wan Jianzhong once explained the relationship between legends and materials inTheRelationshipbetweenIntangibleCulturalHeritageandMaterial: "Legends exist because of the existence of material, and material can clarify the specific place where legends are inherited and increase the value of legends, and authenticity,etc."[2].The Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood and the landscape relics of Xi Wang Mu Cave are adhered together.The inter-construction function of the landscape and the legend makes the legend more realistic and credible, and also adds a bit of mystery.External objects have expanded the growth mechanism of the legend, making the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood have a positive role in promoting the spread of the contemporary legend.

When the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood is spreading on the edge of the corridor, the multiple cultures that collide and intersect each other dissolve and interpret each other, absorb the cultural elements of different ethnic groups, and embed them in the regional culture, the result is formed a unique localized legend evolution.Besides, the "corridor effect" is also reflected in the fact that the main culture of the "Queen Mother of the West" in the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood is grounded, which not only is from the local people’s identification with the cultural beliefs and values from ethnic minorities, but also shows the harmonious coexistence of multiculturalism hidden behind the evolution of legends.

3 Spreading effect and ethnic identity of the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood

The "corridor effect" is also reflected in the people’s life practice.The main reason for the constant change of legends is the real psychological factors of the people in the corridor.

There is another legend.A long time ago, floods occurred frequently in Zhenyi Gorge, the downstream was blocked, and the floods flooded, forming an endless sea of stones.Legend has it that "A Stone Sea" and "The Milky Way" are connected with each other, and there is a ladder with which one can go up to heaven and down to hades.One day, King Mu of Zhou happened to meet the Queen Mother of the West in a stone sea, and he set up a banquet to invite the Queen Mother of the West.When they parted, the Queen Mother of the West invited King Zhou Mu to come back for a walk.King Mu of Zhou promised to see again in three years.What does this feeling mean? It shows the friendship between the people of the Central Plains and the people of the Western Region, but King Hai prevented them from communicating with each other.He cast a spell to make the sky spin, and the sky was dark and foggy.The Queen Mother of the West and King Mu of Zhou were both injured and had no choice but to ascend from the ladder.After that, she never saw the Queen Mother of the West any more.The villainous King Hai angered the people of the Central Plains.In order to save the people in the west from the disaster, the eastern holy immortal, King Yu, led his men to control the flood and eliminate the harm, in his anger, King Yu turned his axe to split the Shixia Gorge, and the sea water flowed into the desert beyond the Great Wall.From then on, the people in the western region can live and work in peace and contentment.In order to commemorate the contribution of King Yu, the people in the western region built a shrine to King Yu at Shixia, and also built a statue of King Yu to commemorate him, sacrifices ceremony are hold every year on the second day of the second lunar month.

The plot of the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood added by the narrator reveals the psychology of the spread and acceptance of the legend from the people in the corridor.Under the influence of this psychological mechanism, the narrator and the receiver exchange randomly and identify with each other, which are reflected in the transformation of the characters function in the legend by oral transmission as a carrier.

First of all, water cultural space was built by the frequent flood and drought disasters in the corridor.At this time, the legend became an indispensable part of recording and reflecting the living conditions of the people in Tiancheng Village in a certain period.Psychological needs and good wishes are placed in the legends and stories, which has contributed to the transformation of the characters in the legend of King Yu water control from mythical figures to water-controlling heroes.

Secondly, "corridor effect" radiates a very strong penetrating power.Although Tiancheng Village is on the edge of the corridor, the edge vitality of its oral literature is still alive.It can be seen from the above two legends: elements of ethnic mythology are added to the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood, and embedded into narrative discourse dominated by mainstream literary history.At this time, the narrative motif has not changed, but only original oral narrative form is mutated, grafted and recreated in order to add narrative plots, render King Yu beliefs and fully reflecting ethnic identity.At the same time, the second legend also expresses the urgent psychological needs between the people of the Central Plains and the western regions for peace, stability and communication, which prompts the image function of King Yu to be transformed into a local protector that meets the needs of the people.This blending of inter-ethnic has created harmony ethnic relations.The plot of the legend that the Eastern Saint Immortal King Yu helped people in the west get rid of disasters is conducive to cultural beliefs of the Central Plains the accepted by other ethnic groups, at this time, King Yu became the common national belief of the people of the Central Plains and the West.This diverse and intertwined narrative form expresses the psychological expectation of multi-ethnic harmonious coexistence.Through the radiation of "Corridor Effect", the interwoven and symbiotic narrative form is quickly spread in the region.

4 Memory field and folk identity of the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood

Cognition of the people of Tiancheng Village on King Yu Tamed the Flood and King Yu’s image can be summarized as "gratitude" and "reflecting the will of the local people".As a flood control figure in Tiancheng Village, people regard him as a local flood control hero to praise his achievements, King Yu’s role and function have also been transformed, he has changed from a local flood control hero to a god, and continues to bless and benefit the local area.People meet certain needs and prevent flood disasters by offering sacrifices ceremony to King Yu.While the image and function of King Yu are constantly changing, their beliefs and worship are also changing.

At first, the worship ceremonies of building temples and offering sacrifices in the Hexi Corridor pointed to the officially god of mountains and rivers recognized, mainly expressing respect and worship to all things in nature.With the continuous deterioration of the natural environment in the Hexi Corridor, people gradually realized that a single godhead could not compete with nature, people’s most primitive demand for water resources was stimulated by floods and droughts, and the sacrificing objects began to be faith worship of "personality" and "Apotheosis".The material carriers scattered in the villages fully confirm that the Hexi Corridor is an area with frequent floods and droughts, and a "corridor" water culture space gradually is formed with the images of flood control figures and water god worship.This is consistent with the common cognition of the people of Tiancheng Village on the King Yu Tamed the Flood and King Yu image.At this time, under the influence of the strong cultural inclusiveness of the "corridor effect", the worship of King Yu is the cross-regional localized belief worship on the basis of geographical environment, forming a representation of the localization of corridor culture.Therefore, how localized sacrificial belief in King Yu Tamed the Flood is reflected in the "corridor effect"?

Sacrificial ceremony of King Yu is an important means of constructing people’s memory space and regional cultural identity under "corridor effect".In the Ming Dynasty, in order to commemorate King Yu’s contribution to flood control, the "King Yu Temple" was built on the front hill to the north of Tiancheng, and the "King Yu Temple" was built on the back hill.According to internal data records, there was a sacrificial ceremony for King Yu every year in the old days.Among them, the King Yu Temple was rebuilt with funds raised by Yan Bokuan and Xiao Yuben from Tiancheng Village during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, and it was destroyed in 1958[3].According to the local elderly, Tiancheng has a custom of praying King Yu in times of floods and droughts.

The memory field of the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood did not end because of the disappearance of cultural events, but was reactivated with the declaration of Zhangye’s intangible cultural heritage project.In this process, folk cultural scholars, as the most important practice group of primary resources, shoulder the responsibility and mission of recovering and promoting local intangible culture, and carry a strong sense of responsibility and identity for inheriting local culture.For example, Hou Jizhou, Jiang Dengcai, other elderly people, cadres of Tiancheng Village and even relevant government departments have been working on application of intangible cultural heritage activities for sacrifice to King Yu Tamed the Flood.

Cai Jun, born in 1966, a villager of Tiancheng Village, narrated at 9:40 am on March 29, 2021, that, "our some local people in Tiancheng planned to hold a sacrificial activity.Later, just in time for the proposal of the intangible cultural heritage at that time, we communicated with them about this idea, they are also doing some preparation for the declaration of municipal intangible cultural heritage.On April 4, 2008(Qingming Day or Tomb-Sweeping Day), a large sacrifice ceremony of King Yu Tamed the Flood was held by government.

Sacrificial space relationship is constituted of contemporary King Yu sacrifices and legend.The people are grateful for King Yu’s contribution to the local flood control, transform Da Yu’s image as a flood control hero, and regard him as a local god to continue to bless the local people from disasters as a local god.At this time, the people used sacrificial ritual activities to strengthen the belief in the divinity of King Yu.It also awakened people’s collective memory of the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood While the belief was strengthened, a close sacrificial space was composed of legend and belief activities, they are interdependent and jointly promote the inheritance of legends.During the continuous creation and dissemination, the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood has an horizontal confluence of multi-cultural elements of different nationalities, there is deeper interaction to promote its localization with the help of various transmission methods of cultural media, "corridor effect" is reflected from the fusion of legends and regional landscapes, spread effect of legends and ethnic identity, and in the field of memory and folk identity of legends.In the overlapping of history, it is an effective path for the spread of cultural media that various ethnic groups have jointly built and constructed in this cultural corridor, which has become such as the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood, cultural beliefs, infiltrating common cognition of regional cultural integration and harmony, and condensing cultural beliefs of national identity and symbiosis.

5 Conclusions

The Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood is part of the Kunlun myth of the entire Hexi Corridor, and contains much information such as the origin and integration of the Chinese nation.The national spirit in the legend that nature is conquered by King Yu embodies the need for harmonious coexistence between human ecology and natural ecology.In addition, the spread of the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood cannot be this time-space channel "corridor".As an entity space, "corridor" provides the conditions of the integration and spread for symbiotic theme of oral tradition, which provides convenience for the "corridor effect" generated by the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood in the horizontal space.Common value orientation of multi-ethnic humanities and religions are put into practice through multicultural elements in the Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood.This kind of common value presents the hidden historical form of "cultural integration" with the cultural media as the carrier.It is the integration of multiculturalism in the corridor that the common value of "cultural integration" can be fully realized.The Legend of King Yu Tamed the Flood is one of the cases in the corridor that shows the coexistence of multi-ethnic cultures.Perhaps this is what we need to keep prying into: actively looking for more legends and stories in the corridor, understanding more cultural relics, inheriting more integrated and intertwining legends, telling the real Chinese legends that belong to the corridor.