What is the story of Meng Jiangnu?

In the Qin dynasty, Meng Jiangnu's new husband, Fan Xiliang, is taken away to build the Great Wall. When winter comes she walks north to bring him a padded coat, only to learn that he has died and been buried in the wall. She weeps so bitterly that a section of the wall collapses, and she finds him.

Is the story of Meng Jiangnu true?

No, it is a legend. It grew from a record in the Zuo Zhuan about the widow of Qi Liang, a general of the state of Qi; by the 1st century BC her weeping was said to have brought down a city wall, and only from the Tang dynasty was the story tied to the Qin Great Wall. In the 1920s the historian Gu Jiegang famously traced how it changed over two thousand years.

What are the Four Great Folk Legends of China?

They are Lady Meng Jiang, the Butterfly Lovers (Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai), the Legend of the White Snake, and the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. All four are love stories that have been told for centuries in opera, songs and books.

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Chinese legend · 声匠改编 · 4:08

Lady Meng Jiang and the Great Wall

Her new husband is dragged off to build the Great Wall, so Meng Jiang sews him a winter coat and walks north to find him. When she weeps, the wall falls.

Narrator

Meng Jiang

Fan Xiliang

Old Mr. Meng

The Officer

The Old Wall Builder

0:000:00

Other languages · 2 languages

🇨🇳 中文 🇺🇸 English

About this story

Lady Meng Jiang, or Meng Jiangnu, who wept down the Great Wall, is one of China's Four Great Folk Legends. Its roots are in the ancient chronicle Zuo Zhuan, which records that when Qi Liang, a general of the state of Qi, was killed in battle in 550 BC, his widow refused to receive the duke's condolences out in the open countryside; by the 1st century BC, Liu Xiang's Biographies of Exemplary Women says she wept at a city wall for ten days until it collapsed. From the Tang dynasty on, the story moved to the building of the Qin Great Wall, and the heroine became Meng Jiangnu, wife of Fan Xiliang. This version tells the best-loved folk scenes, the girl from the gourd, the long walk north with a winter coat and the falling wall, and ends with her carrying her husband home, leaving out the darker endings of some tellings.

What it teaches

It is a story of love and courage: an ordinary young woman walks hundreds of miles alone to keep her husband warm. It also remembers the ordinary people who suffered under forced labour, and imagines that true grief could move even stone.

Suits

Ages 7 and up

Tips for telling it

Make the gourd scene at the start lively and funny; it makes the long walk north feel heavier by contrast.
Show your child a photo of the Great Wall and talk about how hard it was to build by hand across mountains.
Older children can learn that this is a legend, not history: no one's tears ever brought down the real wall.

Questions people ask

What is the story of Meng Jiangnu?: In the Qin dynasty, Meng Jiangnu's new husband, Fan Xiliang, is taken away to build the Great Wall. When winter comes she walks north to bring him a padded coat, only to learn that he has died and been buried in the wall. She weeps so bitterly that a section of the wall collapses, and she finds him.
Is the story of Meng Jiangnu true?: No, it is a legend. It grew from a record in the Zuo Zhuan about the widow of Qi Liang, a general of the state of Qi; by the 1st century BC her weeping was said to have brought down a city wall, and only from the Tang dynasty was the story tied to the Qin Great Wall. In the 1920s the historian Gu Jiegang famously traced how it changed over two thousand years.
What are the Four Great Folk Legends of China?: They are Lady Meng Jiang, the Butterfly Lovers (Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai), the Legend of the White Snake, and the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. All four are love stories that have been told for centuries in opera, songs and books.

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