Liu Sanjie: Song Fairy and Her Work in Tourism

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2025-1/294-304

Abstract

The article examines the legend of the Zhuang people, the largest PRC national minority dwelling in the Guangxi Autonomous Region, about the “Song Fairy” Liu Sanjie. Liu Sanjie (“Third Sister Liu”) is a Zhuang mythological character, an orphan who has a magical talent for singing songs. Various plot versions are recorded, but in general they describe her as a kind and hardworking girl. She sings songs, fights with the landlord, and defeats the poets sent by him in a song contest. In the end, she and her lover die in the river and then ascend to Heaven. In other versions, they both float down the river from the evil landlord’s soldiers. The work examines the history of Liu Sanjie’s appearance, manifestation and use in modern culture, and her character’s transition from a myth to a tourist attraction. The author draws a conclusion about the desacralization of the mythological image and illustrates it with several examples of its partial use in tourism, crime control, anti-COVID measures propaganda etc.