Red Thread and Golden Arrow: A Comparative Study of Love Myth Symbols, Narrative Motifs and Civilizational Roots in Chinese and Western Cultures

Jiake Hu

doi:10.47297/wsprolaadWSP2634-786514.20260704

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Red Thread and Golden Arrow: A Comparative Study of Love Myth Symbols, Narrative Motifs and Civilizational Roots in Chinese and Western Cultures

7卷第4期

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Red Thread and Golden Arrow: A Comparative Study of Love Myth Symbols, Narrative Motifs and Civilizational Roots in Chinese and Western Cultures
Red Thread and Golden Arrow: A Comparative Study of Love Myth Symbols, Narrative Motifs and Civilizational Roots in Chinese and Western Cultures
School of Foreign Languages, Hefei University, Hefei, Anhui, 230000, China
2026年7卷第4期页码：65-68
纸质出版：2026-08-30
DOI：10.47297/wsprolaadWSP2634-786514.20260704
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Jiake Hu. (2026). Red Thread and Golden Arrow: A Comparative Study of Love Myth Symbols, Narrative Motifs and Civilizational Roots in Chinese and Western Cultures. 文艺发展研究（英文版）, 7(4), 65-68.

Hu Jiake.Red Thread and Golden Arrow: A Comparative Study of Love Myth Symbols, Narrative Motifs and Civilizational Roots in Chinese and Western Cultures[J].Research on Literary and Art Development,2026,07(04):65-68.
Jiake Hu. (2026). Red Thread and Golden Arrow: A Comparative Study of Love Myth Symbols, Narrative Motifs and Civilizational Roots in Chinese and Western Cultures. 文艺发展研究（英文版）, 7(4), 65-68. DOI： 10.47297/wsprolaadWSP2634-786514.20260704.

Hu Jiake.Red Thread and Golden Arrow: A Comparative Study of Love Myth Symbols, Narrative Motifs and Civilizational Roots in Chinese and Western Cultures[J].Research on Literary and Art Development,2026,07(04):65-68. DOI： 10.47297/wsprolaadWSP2634-786514.20260704.

摘要

Abstract

Yue Lao's red thread and Eros/Cupid's golden arrows stand as the most iconic erotic symbols in Chinese and Western romantic mythology. Both deploy supernatural forces to intervene in human romantic and marital bonds

proving love and wedlock cannot be fully governed by rational will alone

yet they hold fundamentally divergent cultural logics. Centered on the act of binding

Yue Lao's red thread integrates romantic ties into cosmic fate

clan order and Confucian ethics

highlighting preordained karmic unions and lifelong spousal commitment. Revolving around the piercing strike of arrows

Cupid's golden arrows frame love as sudden

overwhelming individual passion

prioritizing spontaneous longing and subjective personal feeling.Drawing on comparative literature

folklore and cultural semiotics

this paper takes

The Inn of Predestined Marriages

Ovid's

Metamorphoses

Platonic Eros theories

Chinese operas

Western poetry and modern screen works as core texts. It conducts cross-cultural analysis across six dimensions: symbolic origins

narrative motifs

the chronological evolution of Western love ideology

contrasting civilizational foundations

artistic inheritance

and contemporary marital value. The study finds the red thread grows from agrarian civilizations to embody clan-oriented

orderly marriage; the golden arrow arises from maritime cultures and Western humanism to represent individualistic

passion-driven romance. The two archetypes are not opposites

but complementary references for modern relationships: healthy intimacy requires both autonomous affection and long-term responsibility

rejecting blind fatalism and reckless obsession with fleeting passion.

关键词

Keywords

references

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