Dong Yong

For the actor, see Dong Yong (actor).
Dong Yong depicted by Kong Lianqing (孔蓮卿) in the 19th century.
Dong Yong's statue in Thean Hou Temple, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Dong Yong and the Heavenly Maiden depicted by Japanese artist Urakawa Kōsa (浦川公佐) in the mid-19th century.
A duet from the Huangmei opera Married to a Heavenly Fairy being performed in Huangshan City, Anhui Province.

In Chinese folklore, Dong Yong (Chinese: 董永; pinyin: Dǒng Yǒng; Wade–Giles: Tung3 Yung3) is one of the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars who sold himself into servitude to bury his dead father. Touched by his filial piety, a celestial maiden (usually identified as the Seventh Fairy in modern times) came to Earth, married him and changed his fortunes.

Dong Yong was possibly a real person from the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), and a pictorial relief bearing his name has been found in the second-century site of Wu Family Shrines in Shandong Province.[1] His legend probably began with a poem by Cao Zhi (192–232) and a "canonical" tale in the fourth-century text In Search of the Supernatural.[2]

Due to local belief that Dong hailed from their place, the city of Xiaogan in Hubei Province derived its name from his story. However, the legend's earliest versions are all set in Shandong.[3]

  1. ^ Knapp 2012, p. 116–118
  2. ^ Idema 2009, p. xv–xvi
  3. ^ Idema 2009, p. xxi–xxii