Lady Meng Jiang or Meng Jiang Nü (Chinese: 孟姜女; pinyin: Mèng Jiāng Nǚ) is a Chinese tale with many variations. Later versions are set in the Qin dynasty, when Lady Meng Jiang's husband was pressed into service by imperial officials and sent as corvee labor to build the Great Wall of China. Lady Meng Jiang heard nothing after his departure, so she set out to bring him winter clothes. Unfortunately, by the time she reached the Great Wall, her husband had already died. Hearing the bad news, she wept so bitterly that a part of the Great Wall collapsed, revealing his bones.
The story is now counted as one of China's Four Great Folktales, the others being the Legend of the White Snake (Baishezhuan), Butterfly Lovers, and The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid (Niulang Zhinü).[1] Chinese folklorists in the early 20th century discovered that the legend existed in many forms and genres and evolved over the last 2,000 years.[2]
The section of the Great Wall that was toppled in the legend is the Great Wall of Qi in today's Shandong Province. The Temple of Lady Meng Jiang, whose origins are sometimes dated to the Song dynasty, was constructed or reconstructed in 1594, during the Ming dynasty, at the eastern beginning of the Ming Great Wall in Qinhuangdao of Hebei Province. It is still in existence.[3]
Originally "Meng" was not her family name. "Meng Jiang" would have been a very common one for women in the state of Qi, as "Jiang" was the surname of the Qi ruler and much of its nobility, and "Meng" meant "eldest child" not born to the main wife.[4]
In 2006, the legend of Meng Jiang was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list by the State Council.[5]
- ^ Idema (2012), p. 26.
- ^ Doar (2006).
- ^ Waldron (1990), p. 203.
- ^ Ouyang (2013), p. 26.
- ^ "Intangible Cultural Heritage China First National List 國家級非物質文化遺產名錄第一批". Cultural Heritage China. Chinese Cultural Studies Center. Retrieved 19 September 2021.