Q: Is there any relationship between Meng Jiangnu and the Great Wall?

A: Meng Jiangnu has no direct connection with the Great Wall. Her story first appeared in Zuo Zhuan, Commentary on the “Spring and Autumn Annals”, where the original character was the wife of Qi Liang, a general from the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). After her husband died in battle, she was able to conduct herself with propriety and clarity of mind despite her deep sorrow. In later literary creations, the story was embellished to include her weeping causing the collapse of the city wall. By the Tang Dynasty (618-907), records began to depict Qi Liang as a person from the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), linking him to the construction of the Great Wall by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, thus forming the legend of "Meng Jiangnu Weeping at the Great Wall." This is not consistent with historical facts and is the result of folk tales and literary embellishment.

The most widely known version of the legend of "Meng Jiangnu Weeping at the Great Wall" tells the story of Meng Jiangnu, who traveled a thousand miles to the Great Wall in search of her husband, who had been forcibly taken to build the wall. Upon learning that her husband had died from exhaustion and was buried beneath the Great Wall, she was overcome with grief and wept for three days and nights. Her sorrow moved heaven and earth, causing the Great Wall to collapse and revealing her husband's remains.