Picturesque Guilin III: Legend of Sanjie Liu

Some Days ago, Super models Hannah Davis, Jessica Gomes and Anne V were photographed by Derek Kettela in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China. Swimsuit by Kate Swim for Sports Illustrated. I am sure they are considered to be dream lovers of a lot of men. And, do you know, Liu Sanjie, the famous singer and dream lover of many men in Guangxi. In the article, we will talk about the legend of Liu Sanjie.

Chapter Three

Legend of Sanjie Liu

A melodious song breaks the silence of a serene morning on a green river. The song comes from a young girl on a fishing boat. She is Liu Sanjie or The Third Sister of the Liu Family.

Liu Sanjie is a legend of the Zhuang people. Zhuang is one of the 56 ethnic groups in China and, with a population of 15 million, is second only to the Han people, who account for more than 91 percent of the nation's total population of 1.3 billion. 

Liu Sanjie

Thanks to an eponymic movie produced in color in 1961, the story of Liu Sanjie became known throughout the country. An instant hit, the movie also helped spread the legend to the entire Southeast Asia.

The Zhuang people believe that the legendary Liu Sanjie actually existed. The Middle Jian Village on the Lower Jian River at the foot of the Lower Jian Mountain in the Yizhou Town of Guangxi Autonomous Region professes to be her birthplace. Her original name is said to be Liu Shanhua. Since she was the third child of her family, she was given the nickname of "Liu Sanjie," meaning "Sister No. 3 of the Liu Family." 

Orphaned at an early age, she was raised by her brother Liu Er, honest but meek. Sanjie is a girl of beauty, intelligence, and courage. She is well-known for using her singing talent to celebrate freedom and honesty while castigating abuse and injustice. Therefore she is cherished by the common people but hated by those lording over them.

An incarnation of a lark, as the Zhuang people so believe, Sanjie started speaking eloquently when she was only one. At the age of three, she already had a melodious voice. In her teens, she was regarded as the top singer of folk songs—songs in an antiphonal style, typical of the ethnic people in South China. 

Liu Sanjie

She can recite the Chinese traditional poems at the age of 12. She was so good at creating folk songs that she can sing immediately when she saw scenery. Her songs were so beautiful that everyone was attracted by her tone. She was invited to many places in Guangxi to teach singer skills. Her songs were so many that no one can compete with here in singing match.

At the age of 17, Liu San Jie fell in love with a handsome young man who was also a good folk singer. They lived in the beautiful and harmonious landscape enjoying the green mountains and clean rivers. The two swore never separate in their lives.


Coveting her beauty and talent, a local tyrant named Mo Huairen wanted to have her as his concubine. Rejected, the angry Mo plotted to murder her. With the help of her boy friend and fellow villagers, she managed to escape. The two lovers traveled as they sang, and eventually found their ultimate freedom by turning themselves into a pair of larks.

Liu Sanjie

She has just been involved in a singing duel with a local despot where she and her brother lived miles away. The despot suffered an heart attack and died during the confrontation where Sanjie relentlessly chastised him for his villainy. Blaming his death on Sanjie, the tyrant's family bribed the local authorities in the hope of having her pay for his life. Sanjie and her brother Liu Er are now on their way to their grandma’s home to seek refuge.

The time she and her brother set foot on their grandmother's village, Liu Sanjie encounters a bully looting a hunter. The bully is Mo Fu, a henchman of a local tyrant named Mo Huairen. She also witnesses a young man trying to reason with the henchman. 

When challenged to a physical fight, the young man simply threw him to the ground. Liu Sanjie learned that the young man's name is Li Xiaoniu and felt drawn to him. As Liu Sanjie and the others are amused at the embarrassed and exasperate henchman, there comes Mo Huiren's butler Mo Jincai. 

A Niu

Brand his fist at the hunter, Mo Jincai fumes: “Since every single blade of the grass and every single twig of the trees on this mountain belong to my master Mo Huairen, he certainly owns whatever you catch! If you dare to challenge my authority, I will have him bar you from hunting at all!” Liu Sanjie can no longer restrain her indignation and begins to chastise the bullies with her song.

When the day comes for the contest, all the villagers turn out. Mo Huairen has hired three pedants, who claim to know all the songs in the world. The books they brought with them fill an entire boat. Knowing that their opponent is but a country girl, they are more than confident about their victory.
Equally confident, Liu Sanjie starts the contest by singing:
“No matter how much you've read,
If you can glide, then I can wing;
A wasp hovering above a tortoise head,
Dare you stick it out and I will sting."

After a few rounds, the pedants begin to know the girl's strength, but they won't take it lying down. Racking their brains and leafing through their books, they are looking frantically for a song that they hope can help them turn the table. Eventually, one of them seems to have found a lifesaver:
“Tell us, you smart girl, without delay:
How many nails you can find on our boat,
How much the mountains yonder weigh,
How many grains there are in a basket of oat.”
Liu Sanjie answers effortlessly:
....
Knowing that Mo Huairen will surely get the magistrate’s support and attempt at Liu Sanjie’s life, the villagers urge her to keep herself from harm’s way for the time being. Liu Sanjie says goodbye to them and embarks on her journey with her lover Li Xiaoniu. Liu Sanjie leaves a trail of her songs wherever she travels. In no time, they spread all over the region where the Zhuang people live.

March 3

The peaceful happiness was, however, broken by a hooligan in the village who had been for a long time attracted by Liu's beauty. This evil man decided to take Liu San Jie by force. He got his chance on a moonlight night when Liu and her lover were sitting on a big rock at riverside to enjoy the beauty of the moon. Suddenly, a gang of hooligans surrounded them. Liu San Jie and her lover had no way to escape, with no hesitation, the couple jumped into the roaring Liujiang River, hand in hand.--Liu Sanjie's efforts to fight against the landlords were remembered by many Chinese. 

The legend of Liu Sanjie was originally an oral tradition and later found itself in romance, drama scripts, and county annals in Guangxi. Studies show that the legend is not exclusively of the Zhuang people. Its spread turns out to be more ethnically and geographically diversified. For, similar stories can be found among the Miao, Yao, Buyi, Mulao and Han ethnic populations in Guangdong, Hunan, Yuannan and Guizhou provinces as well.

Nowadays, on the day of March 3, local people will gather along the riverside of the Liujiang River, organizing a folk-song competition to mourn Liu San Jie.

Today, the Great show in Yangshuo, which was called The Impression of Liu Sanjie, was a very popular night show in Yangshuo, Guilin. There are thousands of tourists coming to Yangshuo to see the life of Liu Sanjie. Her folk songs were also sung from generation to generations.  

My dears, may be a show watching of the Impression of Liu Sanjie could bring you close to the life of Sanjie Liu and listen to her beautiful voice.