A Study of the Folk Culture in White Deer Plain

Abstract

White Deer Plain is a full-length novel written by author Chen Zhongshi over six years, which won the fourth Mao Dun Literature Prize and has been altered into a variety of art forms, including movies, television dramas, and plays. The setting of the novel is the feud between three generations of the White Deer and Deer families on the White Deer Plain in Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province, beginning in the late Qing Dynasty. The novel is rich in content and depicts diverse and intertwined characters. The author realizes the life at that time, with original life and real details, showing a story on the White Deer Plain. The writing of the novel weakens the political utilitarianism and enhances the depiction of local folk culture in Guanzhong, Shaanxi, which improves the artistic value of the novel. This paper will explore the folk culture study related to White Deer Plains from the following three parts, namely, the concept of the life of family marriage and childbearing, the unique dialect culture, and the traditional spiritual beliefs. The related folk culture has been passed down from generation to generation, forming a set of its own patterned way of life with a certain degree of inheritance and stability. These centuries-old traditions make the research and discussion more relevant to the present.