Late Tang Dynasty

755–907

The story of Meng Jiang to take shape

杞良,秦始皇时北筑长城,避役逃走,因入孟超(超,下作起)后园树上。起女仲姿浴于池中,仰见杞良,而唤之问曰:“君是 何人? 因何在此?”对曰:“吾姓杞名良,是燕人也。但以从役而筑长城,不 堪辛苦,遂逃于此。”仲姿曰:“请为君妻。”

良曰:“娘子生于长者,处在深宫,容貌艳丽,焉为役人之匹。”仲姿曰:“女人之体不得再见丈夫,君勿辞也。”遂以状陈 父,而父许之。夫妇礼毕,良往作所。主典怒其逃走,乃打煞之,并筑城内。起不知死,遣仆欲往代之,闻良已死并筑城中。

仲姿既知,悲哽向往,向城号哭,其城当面一时崩倒,死人白骨交横,莫知孰是。仲姿乃刺指血滴白骨,云:“若是杞良骨 者。 血可流入。”即沥血。果至良骸,血径流入。便将归葬之也。

《同贤记》13

During the Qin Dynasty, while building the Great Wall in the north, a man named Qi Liang fled from the labor and climbed up a tree in the garden of Meng Changjun. While bathing in the pool, Meng Changjun’s daughter, Zhongzi, saw him and asked, “Who are you? Why are you here?” He replied, “My surname is Qi, and my name is Liang. I am from Yan. I couldn’t bear the hard labor of building the Great Wall, so I ran away here.” Zhongzi said, “Please be my husband.” Liang replied, “Madam, you were born in a noble family and raised in a deep palace. You are beautiful and shouldn’t be matched with a laborer like me.” Zhongzi said, “A woman’s body cannot see her husband again, please don’t decline.” She then asked her father for permission, and they got married.

The supervisor in charge of the labor was angry that Liang had fled and beat him severely. Liang did not survive the beating, and the supervisor had him buried in the wall. When Zhongzi found out, she went to the wall to cry and mourn for him. The wall collapsed at the spot where she cried, and countless bones were exposed. Zhongzi pierced her finger and let her blood drip on the bones, saying, “If these are the bones of Qi Liang, my blood will flow into them.” As it turned out, her blood did reach Qi Liang’s bones. She then buried him properly.

The Records of Virtuous and Talented Individuals

The Great Wall is a typical representation of heavy labour and servitude, breaking the traditional way of life in agrarian society where people live and work in peace and contentment, with men farming and women weaving. Imagine if the Great Wall had not been built or repaired, Qi Liang and others would not have died on the wall, and the Meng Jiang would not have traveled thousands of miles to search for her husband, shedding tears all the way. In legends, the wall is a symbol of cruel and oppressive government, representing high-pressure rule. The close connection between the Great Wall and the suffering of the people became an essential element in The story of Meng Jiang.

13 同贤记 The Records of Virtuous and Talented Individuals, Fiction, is a collection of strange and supernatural stories from ancient China. The author of the collection is unknown and the original book is lost. However, there is a Tang Dynasty copy of the book called “Shanyu Ji ”, which includes three stories from the collection in its 12th volume, titled “The Influences of Heaven and Fate”.

In

Northern Song Dynasty

960–1127

Addition of plot point: Meng Jiang travels thousands of miles to find her husband and brings him warm clothes

孟姜女，杞梁妻，一去燕山更不归。造得寒衣无人送，不免自家送征衣。 长城路，实难行。乳酪山下雪纷纷。吃酒则为 隔饭病，愿身强健早还归。

——《敦煌曲子词集》14 Meng Jiang, wife of Qi Liang, went to Yanshan and never returned. She made a winter coat with no one to send it, and had to go and deliver it herself. The road to the Great Wall was really difficult. Under the cheese mountain, snow fell heavily. Drinking alcohol was like having a disease that separated one from food, and she wished to be healthy and return home early.

——The Collection of Dunhuang Music and Lyrics

The first half of the text describes how Qi Liang went to Yanshan and never returned. It was a harsh winter, but his wife traveled thousands of miles to send him warm clothes, highlighting the deep love between husband and wife. The second half of the text portrays Meng Jiang, who braves the difficult journey and wishes her husband good health and a safe return home in the midst of a heavy snowfall.

The first two sentences of the first half of the text establish the relationship between the characters. The subject of the second sentence is Qi Liang, and never to return implies criticism and satire, as his departure to Yanshan was not voluntary, but due to the forced labour of the feudal rulers’ tyranny. The third and fourth sentences depict the difficult situation of Meng Jiang, highlighting her strong character. The fact that there was no one to deliver the warm clothes that there were no young men in Meng Jiang’s family, and possibly, in the whole village, as all the young adults had been taken to build the Great Wall, forcing her to make the journey herself.

The first three sentences of the second half describe the difficult journey to deliver the clothes, which was already a challenging task, made even harder by the heavy snowfall. However, the female protagonist did not back down. Rather, she thought of her husband’s situation in the cold and snow. The last two sentences express Meng Jiang’s hope and wish. In the end, she expresses her heartfelt desire for her husband’s good health, hoping for his early return and reunion. The beauty of Meng Jiang’s spirit and her care and concern for her husband overflow between the lines of the text.

The story has undergone significant changes and enrichment in both content and plot, and has developed a relatively fixed narrative structure. Later versions of the story were created based on this version.

The main plot of The Story of Meng Jiang is as follows: Qi Liang is conscripted to build the Great Wall - Qi Liang and Meng Jiang are newlyweds and are separated - Qi Liang dies and his body is cast on the wall - Meng Jiang travels thousands of miles to find her husband and brings him warm clothes - Meng Jiang cries and collapses on the wall - the wall collapses and reveals the Qi Liang’s bones - Meng Jiang carries her husband’s bones back for burial.

These structured storylines highlight the strong folk characteristics, inheriting the allusions passed down from previous generations while corresponding to the social customs and historical background of the time. By linking a folk woman with the story of Qinshihuang’s construction of the Great Wall, the people expressed their resistance to the feudal dynasty’s heavy labor and cruel governance. At this point, the image of Meng Jiang, as a loyal and virtuous wife who travels thousands of miles to bring warm clothes to her husband and carries his bones back for burial, has already been formed.

From the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms of war and chaos to the early Song Dynasty with continuous smoke of war on the northern border, the people suffered deeply, families were separated, and the separation and death of husband and wife were common. In the midst of the chaos, people admired the character of Meng Jiang, and with the promotion of the Neo-Confucian moral philosophy, Meng Jiang’s image became even higher. In order to praise the virtue of Meng Jiang’s steadfastness, and to express their emotions and relieve their inner struggles, various regions began to establish temples to worship Meng Jiang. According to historical records, there were Jiangnus in Ansui (now Xushui, Hebei) and Tongguan (now Chuanshi, Shaanxi) and other places. In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was also a “Fan Lang Temple” with a statue of Meng Jiangnu in Yongqiu, the Jin rule area (now Qixian, Henan). At that time, the

Jiangnu temples distributed among the people were not rare.