A Study on the Narrative of Jiutian Xuannv in Water Margin from an Intertextual Perspective

Abstract

In this study, the narrative of Jiutian Xuannv (Mystic Goddess of the Nine Heavens) in Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan) is used to examine the interplay of inheritance and innovation within the traditional Chinese “divine female” narratives. The research aims to reveal the text's hidden symbolic logic and metaphorical dimensions. An intertextual framework is applied, and a comparative analysis is done with Song Jiang's encounter with Jiutian Xuannv in Water Margin and Cao Zhi's poetic dialogue with Fu Fei (Goddess of the Luo River) in The Goddess of the Luo River (Luo shen Fu). This comparison points out the similarities and differences in the dreamlike locations, the ceremonial patterns, and the shifting power relations between the human main characters and the godly ones. The focus is mainly on deconstructing Song Jiang's paradoxical identity—his dual acceptance of Confucian loyalty and subversive rebellion—and on questioning its compatibility with Jiutian Xuannv's validation of the righteous resistance as both a heavenly decree and political allegory. By connecting mytho-literary archetypes with socio-historical critiques, this research presents interdisciplinary contributions to the reinterpretation of Water Margin while also suggesting new paradigms for the analysis of gender, agency, and heavenly intervention in the premodern Chinese narrative tradition.