This essay explores the revolutionary sisterhood depicted by Chinese American author Cindy Pon in her duology Serpentine and Sacrifice (2015, 2016), set in a mythological Chinese Xia dynasty. Recalling the famous Chinese snake sisters, White Snake and Green Snake, Pon constructs an unconventional cross-species sisterhood between Skybright, a serpentine protagonist, and Zhen Ni, a lesbian girl. While “The Legend of the White Snake”—a long-evolving Chinese myth—has historically included Green Snake since Ming Feng Menglong’s retelling (1624), the sisterhood between the two has often been overshadowed by interspecies heterosexual romances between snake women and human males in most adaptations. Although Pon also includes plots of romance, they never eclipse the theme of sisterhood. Notably, Pon’s revisionist fiction refuses celebrations of cross-species heterosexual love, culminating instead in the sister-like heroines’ defeat of a “Bluebeard” figure—the emblem of malicious patriarchal marriages. Within the traditional Chinese patriarchy, Zhen Ni, despite being a lesbian, is coerced into marrying a wealthy, ugly man who is revealed to be a monster lord conspiring to dominate the human world. The similarity between Pon’s narrative and the French “Bluebeard” folklore is unmistakable. Shortly after marriage, Zhen Ni discovers heaps of cadavers in the underground of her husband’s mansion. Critically, the sisters’ defeat of this monster lord not only saves Zhen Ni from her ominous marriage but also precludes humanity’s annihilation. Love is no longer the primary pursuit for Pon’s heroines; instead, their subjectivities are achieved through the heroic task of “saving the world.”

Authors:
Qianyi Ma, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

About the Presenter(s)
Qianyi Ma is currently a Ph.D. student in English literary studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

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