China Popular Itineraries |
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2.10 Meng diang Nšč Cried the Great Wall Down |
In the Qin Dynasty there lived at the foot of the Great Wall two families. One was named Meng and the other Jiang. They were next-door neighbors. When the Mengs planted a melon, the vine crawled across the wall between the two houses and bore a fruit in the Jiang's yard. When it was ripe the two families cut it open and found in it a baby girl, so they named her Meng Jiang Nšč, meaning the daughter of the two families. Just when Meng Jiang Na was grown up and became a young lady, a large number of labourers were drafted to everywhere to build the Great Wall. A boy named Fan Xiliang ran out of his house and rushed into the back yard of Meng Jiang Nšč to take refuge from the drafting. As Meng Jiang Nšč saw him she fell in love with him and they decided to marry. But something unexpected happened. One of the servants in Neng's house reported it to the officials, and Fan was caught and sent to the construction site of the Great Wall. Soon after he was there, Fan died of hard labor and was buried under the Wall. When winter came, Meng Jiang Nšč made thick cotton clothes and sent them to the construction site for her hus-band. After experiencing various hardships she reached the foot of the Wall but could not find her husband. Later she was told that her husband had died and buried just under the Wall. She was shocked. When she could utter her first cry, the bricks began to fall off the Wall. And to her second cry the Wall began to shake. To her third cry a section of the Wall about dozen meters long collapsed into ruin and white bones of men were exposed. But Meng Jiang Nti did not know which bones were her husband's. She bit one of her fingers through, let the blood dripping on the bones and said: ' If there were Fan Xil-iang's bones, let the blood get into them! ' Finally she recognized the bones of her husband and she hugged her husband's remains and wept for three days. Soon, the story about Meng Jiang Nšč' s crying the Great Wall down was re-ported to First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. He ordered the soldiers to arrest her and send her to his palace. Sitting in his throne the Emperor was attracted hy Meng Jiang Nšč' s beauty. He changed his mind. Instead of killing her, the Emperor took her as his imperial concubine. At first Meng Jiang Nšč refused him. Then she made three requests. First, the emperor himself should put on the mourning dress for her husband Fan Xiliang and cry three cries of ' Papa'; second, all the officials and generals of the dynasty should join the funeral; third, she should have a tour on the sea accompanied by the Emperor. But Then they were on the sea, Meng Jiang Nšč threw herself into the sea and drowned.
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