Meng Jiangnu

Author: Zhang Henshu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: The story depicts the time of Qin Shi Huang, when the emperor conscripted common people to build the Great Wall. Scholar Fan Qiliang fled from corvée labor and hid in the garden of the Meng family, seeking refuge under the shade of willow trees by the pond. Meng Guang had a daughter named Meng Jiang, who was well-versed in poetry and deeply understood etiquette. At that moment, she was bathing in the garden when she suddenly encountered a wasp that landed on her chest, accidentally revealing her clothing. Looking up, she saw Fan Qiliang. Jiang had made a vow that anyone she encountered in the nude, regardless of wealth, would become her husband. She invited Qiliang home, informed her parents, and they married. After only two days of marriage, Qiliang was again captured by the authorities to build the Great Wall. On their parting, they broke a round mirror, with each taking half as a token to reunite in the future. Qiliang arrived at the Great Wall and soon died from exhaustion, buried beneath it. When winter arrived, Meng Jiang sewed warm clothes and traveled thousands of miles to the Great Wall to deliver them to Qiliang. Upon arriving, she learned that Qiliang had already died and was overcome with grief, weeping so intensely that she collapsed the Great Wall. Seeing her husband's remains and holding the broken mirror, the gods, moved by Jiang's loyalty, resurrected Qiliang, allowing the couple to reunite. Impressed by her unwavering loyalty, the Qin Emperor issued an edict to honor and enshrine her.