The influence of the Chinese Cinderella (“Yeh-Shen”) on the evolving image of Cinderella in the West

This article compares the image of Yeh-Shen in major English translations to those of Cinderella in Western classics by Basile, Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Disney. The study examines story types, family backgrounds, social statuses, and personalities to construct an evolving image of Cinderella. It challenges the traditional story genealogy and argues that Yeh-Shen has substantially influenced Cinderella's image, supported by reader acceptance and postmodern rewritings. The analysis reveals Yeh-Shen's enduring legacy, the complexities of image translation, and the rich postmodernist themes in the Chinese tale's influence on the West.

Peiyi Ou, Xiaohong Zhang