Traditional Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin
Lady Meng Jiang
孟姜女
Lady Meng Jiang (孟姜女, Mèng Jiāngnǚ) is a Chinese legend, retold in simple Mandarin as a 5-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 2 (Elementary).
Retold from one of China's Four Great Folk Legends: a girl born from a gourd marries a runaway scholar, and when he is dragged off to build the Great Wall, she walks north through the snow to find him.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — Tells the old legend of Meng Jiangnu the way it has been told beside winter fires for two thousand years.
- Meng Jiangnu · 孟姜女 — A farmer's daughter who was found inside a gourd: gentle, cheerful, and far more stubborn than she looks.
- Fan Xiliang · 范喜良 — A young scholar on the run from the emperor's wall builders, much better with books than with stones.
- Meng Jiangnu's father · 孟老汉 — A kind old farmer who has told the story of the gourd a hundred times and never tires of it.
- The officer · 军官 — A harsh officer of the emperor's army who rounds up young men to build the Great Wall.
- The old laborer · 老伯 — A worn-out old man who has hauled stones for the wall for years and worked beside Fan Xiliang.
- Auntie · 大娘 — A lonely woman on the road north whose own son went to build the wall three years ago.
5 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Girl from the Gourd
葫芦里的女孩
Meng Jiangnu was found inside a gourd, and two families call her their daughter. But far to the north, the emperor wants young men for his wall.
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Chapter 2: The Man in the Garden
花园里的人
At dusk, Meng Jiangnu finds a stranger hiding behind the rocks in the garden. He is young, frightened, and running from the emperor's men.
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Chapter 3: The Wedding Night
结婚那天晚上
Red lanterns, red paper and a toast from two families: it is the happiest night of Meng Jiangnu's life. Then someone pounds on the door.
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Chapter 4: Winter Clothes
千里送冬衣
Months pass with no word from Xiliang. As the snow falls, Meng Jiangnu sews him winter clothes and sets out to walk a thousand li north.
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Chapter 5: The Wall Falls
长城倒了
At last Meng Jiangnu reaches the Great Wall with her bundle of winter clothes. An old laborer knows her name, and what he tells her will shake the mountains.
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Key words in Lady Meng Jiang
Behind the story
Lady Meng Jiang (孟姜女) is one of China's Four Great Folk Legends (四大民间传说), alongside The White Snake, The Butterfly Lovers and The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Most people know it as 孟姜女哭长城, “Meng Jiangnu weeps at the Great Wall.”
The legend grew slowly over many centuries. Its seed is a short record of the widow of Qi Liang (杞梁), a soldier who died in battle about 2,500 years ago. Later storytellers had her weep beside a city wall until it fell, and by the Tang dynasty they had moved her story to the First Emperor of Qin (秦始皇), who joined older walls into one Great Wall.
Did you know?
- In the ancient Book of Songs (诗经), 孟姜 means “the eldest daughter of the Jiang family” and is used for a beautiful young woman. The gourd story is a much later folk explanation of her name.
- A temple to her, the Mengjiangnü Temple (孟姜女庙), stands on a hill near Shanhaiguan (山海关), the pass where the Great Wall runs down to the sea.
- In 1924 the historian Gu Jiegang (顾颉刚) traced how her story changed over two thousand years. His study became a founding work of Chinese folklore research.