中國四大民間故事（孟姜女、牛郎與織女、梁山伯與祝英台、白蛇 傳）的轉化與變異在前現代中國各有其長遠的歷史。自一九二○年代民俗 學運動勃興，學界開始探索主流文化以外代表中國性的文化傳統。此後這 四則故事便被定位為「四大民間故事」，其多樣性也被否定，因為只有一 個版本被選為真實的、唯一的版本。學界對於其刻意選擇的公定版本往往 賦予諸多詮釋，使其支持現代民族建構計畫之旨趣。改寫版──往往取代 較早的版本──將這些故事大幅調整，使之與其原有含義的現代化詮釋相 符。一旦這些故事獲得權威性地位，便成為愚弄與諷刺性模仿的對象，並 被邊緣團體改編。

Each of China's four great folk tales (Meng Jiangnu, Buffalo Boy and Weaving Maiden; Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai; and The White Snake) has a long history of transformation and variation in premodern China. When following the rise of the Folklore Movement in the 1920s and its search for alternative authentic traditions of Chineseness these four stories were selected as "the four great folktales" this diversity was denied, as a single version was selected as the true version; the version thus selected was then interpreted in such a way that it was seen to support the modern nation-building project. Rewritings, which in many cases came to replace the earlier versions, drastically adapted these stories in line with the modern interpretations of their meaning. Once the stories had acquired canonical status, they became available for spoofs and parodies and adaptations by marginal groups.