Abstract
Focusing on the literary migration and development of a Chinese classic, the tale of the White Snake and its evolution in different forms and languages, this article explores how ethnic Chinese communities in insular Southeast Asia sustain their cultural identity. From its origins as a folk tale to the Baba Malay (Malaysian peranakan) novel version, adapted for an emergent print culture in British Malaya and to its Indonesian language version, recounted for an independent Indonesia, the transformation of the Lady White Snake tale not only demonstrates its agility and resilience as a marker of Chinese identity but the variety of literary forms it takes explain how East-West interactions contribute to the evolution of Chinese identity overseas. This article also explores the English language version published in Malaysia in the 1970s in the form of a play and the latest Hong Kong Cantonese version made as a film, both in reaction to the establishment and development of the nation state.
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