The story of Mengjiang

The story of Meng Jiang is a Chinese legend with many variations. Later versions are set in the Qin dynasty, when Meng Jiang’s husband was pressed into service by imperial officials and sent as corvée labour to build the Great Wall of China. When Meng Jiang heard nothing after his departure, 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.

In 2006, The story of Meng Jiang was included in the first batch of National intangible cultural heritage list by the State Council.

The story of Meng Jiang has a long history, it has been passed down for a thousand years from the agricultural civilization(around 770 BEC) to the modern industrial civilization. Like all literature and art, is a reflection of social life. Different historical periods, storyline was influenced by and changed to reflect the social conflicts, social trends and social customs of time period.

As for the form of representing, The story of Meng Jiang It has been interpreted and enriched in the form of songs, novels, poems and operas.

Although The story of Meng Jiang has a simple plot, has followed the shifting social and cultural changes, changes in different times and places due to social trends and customs, and developed through the emotions and imaginations of the people. In different eras and from different narrators’ perspectives, its plot has been consciously added or reduced. Some changes are purely driven by the narrator’s intention, while others are influenced by the demands of the narrator’s interpretation. At the same time, due to the emergence and growth of the civic class, different versions of The story of Meng Jiang began to appear in the circulation of different classes.