Legend of Meng Jiangnu
01 · Historical Records
The source of the Meng Jiangnü legend lies in the war launched by the state of Qi against the state of Ju.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
In the fourth year of Duke Zhuang of Qi (550 BCE) Duke Zhuang sent the generals Qi Liang and Hua Zhou with troops to attack the state of Ju by stealth, and Qi Liang was captured by Ju's soldiers and killed. When the war ended, Meng Jiangnü, Qi Liang's newly wedded wife, longing for her husband, resolved to go to Ju to seek him. Weeping all the way and heedless of weariness, she came to the city of Ju, and when she saw her husband's head hanging on the city wall her heart was pierced with grief and her tears fell like rain. With a muffled thunderclap the mountains shook and the earth moved, and the wall where Qi Liang's head hung collapsed, burying Meng Jiangnü with it. When people dug away the fallen earth and stone they found neither Meng Jiangnü nor Qi Liang's head; it is said that their love was unfinished in the world of the living, so they renewed their marriage in the world of the dead and became husband and wife again. This is the Meng Jiangnü legend widely current in the Ju area and its surroundings. The legend is spread throughout the country. Unlike the Meng Jiangnü legends current elsewhere, the one current in Ju, where the events took place, does not centre on the Qin Great Wall and Qin Shi Huang but on the Qi Great Wall and the war between Qi and Ju. In the Ju version the tragic result of husband and wife being parted because of the launching of war is its typical feature. To this day elderly women in the Ju county area still, on particular occasions, use the traditional Meng Jiangnü tune to express feeling; this weeping tune is widely current in the countryside and forms a culture of weeping.
Qi Liang Dies in the Attack on Ju
The historical basis of Qi Liang being killed while leading troops to attack Ju in the fourth year of Duke Zhuang of Qi.
Meng Jiangnü Seeks Her Husband at Ju
The episode of Meng Jiangnü weeping her way to the city of Ju to seek her husband and wailing when she sees his head hung on the wall.
Weeping Down the City Wall
The core episode of the Ju version, in which the wall collapses and Meng Jiangnü is buried with Qi Liang.
The Meng Jiangnü Weeping Tune of the Ju Area
The culture of weeping formed by elderly women of Ju county expressing feeling with the traditional Meng Jiangnü tune.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Ju county is an important birthplace and area of the Meng Jiangnü legend, closely bound up with the Qi Great Wall and the war between Qi and Ju. The county formerly had relics and oral traditions connected with Qi Liang and Meng Jiang, and the story of Qi Liang's wife weeping for her husband and bringing down the wall is still told in the ruins of the Qi Great Wall, the old city of Ju and the surrounding villages; the Ju version of the legend does not take the Qin Great Wall and Qin Shi Huang as its main line but the Qi Great Wall and the Qi-Ju war as its trunk, standing out among legends of its kind.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Legend of Meng Jiangnu · Legend of Meng Jiangnu · Legend of Meng Jiangnu · Legend of Meng Jiangnu.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Meng Jiangnü legend has been transmitted through the generations in the Ju area; the sorrowful story of Qi Liang's wife meeting the coffin and weeping and bringing down the wall reflects the ancient people's loathing of war and corvée and their praise of faithful love, and has a relatively high value for historical and folkloric research. To this day elderly women in the Ju county area still sing and express feeling with the traditional Meng Jiangnü tune, forming a distinctive culture of weeping chant and bearing witness to the living transmission of this ancient legend.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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