The Butterfly Lovers: From Shangyu to Ningbo

Zhu Yingtai is the ninth child and only daughter of the wealthy Zhu family of Shangyu. Although women are traditionally discouraged from scholarship, she convinces her father to let her attend classes disguised as a man. The tale is set in the Eastern Jin dynasty, and its earliest written records, from the late Tang dynasty, already call her a daughter of the Zhu family of Shangyu. No family house is identified, so the pin only marks Shangyu District.

Location precision: The legend names the town, not a house; the pin marks the centre of Shangyu District.

On the road to Hangzhou, Zhu meets Liang Shanbo, a scholar from Kuaiji, present-day Shaoxing. They swear brotherhood, taking soil as incense, in the pavilion of a wooden bridge. Then they study side by side for three years, and Zhu gradually falls in love with him. Wansong Academy on Phoenix Hill, dating from 1498, has added a love-story theme from the folk tale of the two studying there. That link is a modern tourist tradition.

Location precision: The tale only says Hangzhou; the pin marks Wansong Academy, which presents itself as the lovers' school by local tradition.

Visitor guidance: Wansong Academy sits on Wansong Ridge, on the west foot of Phoenix Hill, Hangzhou.

Liang escorts his "sworn brother" 18 miles to see her off. On the way Zhu drops hints that she is a woman: she compares them to a pair of mandarin ducks, a symbol of lovers, but Liang does not catch on. Before they part at the Changting pavilion, she offers to act as matchmaker between him and Zhu's "sister". In a Tang account, Liang visits two years later and only then learns she is a woman, but her family has already betrothed her to the Ma family.

Location precision: The tale names only the Changting pavilion, not a real road or town, so this stop is left unpinned.

Liang becomes magistrate of Yin, in present-day western Ningbo, and dies of illness. Later, wind and waves stop Zhu's boat by his grave; she steps ashore, the ground suddenly cracks open and she is buried within. In the popular version their spirits fly away as a pair of butterflies. The Liang Shanbo Temple in Shaojiadu Village, Gaoqiao, was built by locals in 347, by its own tradition, and its rear hall holds a bedroom with the couple's tomb behind it. The Liangzhu Culture Park, opened in 1999, was built around temple and tomb: 20 hectares beside the Yuyao River.

Location precision: The temple has no map pin of its own; the pin marks the Liangzhu Culture Park built around it. The tomb is a traditional identification, not proven history.

Visitor guidance: Temple and tomb are inside the Liangzhu Culture Park in Gaoqiao Town, about five miles west of central Ningbo.

Ningbo is not the only claimant. A Song-dynasty gazetteer records a great rock inscription at Mount Shanjuan, in Yixing, reading "where Zhu Yingtai studied". Yixing's county records also carry the story. Shanjuan Cave, a show cave 25 km from the town, was named a Liang and Zhu village of China by a folk artists' association in 2006. The legend has several homes, and none can be proven.

Location precision: Local tradition connects Mount Shanjuan with Zhu's studies; the pin marks Shanjuan Cave.

Visitor guidance: Shanjuan Cave is a tourist cave in Luoyan Mountain, south-west of Yixing.

The story has travelled. Ningbo and Verona became sister cities in October 2005, and on 24 September 2008 a Sino-Italian love culture festival was held in Verona, where fifteen couples from Ningbo in Chinese-style costumes held a wedding. The cities swapped statues: Verona gave a replica of its bronze Juliet, Ningbo a white marble Liang and Zhu, caught at the moment they turn into butterflies. It stands at the entrance of Juliet's Tomb.

Visitor guidance: The statue stands at the entrance of Juliet's Tomb in Verona's old town.