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Legends & stories |
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| The Legend of Meng Jiang Nü |
Among all legends and stories
about the Great Wall, the most well-known one is probably of a girl
called Meng Jiang Nü. Through various dynasties, the story
has been modified and developed into many different versions. The
most popular one goes as follows: It was in Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.
- 206 B.C.). Having escaped from the heavy labour work at the Great
Wall construction site, a young man called Fan Qi Liang hid in a
private garden where he ran into Meng Jiang Nü, the daughter
of the garden owner. They married but right after the wedding, Fan
Qi Liang was taken away to build the Great Wall again. Meng Jiang
Nü waited at home. Winter came but Fan Qi Liang did not return.
Meng Jiang Nü made him some warm clothes and decided to take
them to her husband. She got to the construction site but Fan Qi
Liang was nowhere to be found.
She was then told that Fan Qi Liang had died and his body was built
into the Great Wall. Meng Jiang Nü cried night and day. Her
 sorrow was so deep that the Great Wall broke down and exposed the
bones and bodies of many dead men. Meng Jiang Nü cut her fingers
and dripped her blood on the dead until her blood flowed into one.
Knowing that this was her husband, she buried him and then jumped
into water and killed herself. This is a very wide-spread legend
about the Great Wall and was even made into movies three times.
If you ever get a chance to visit Shan Hai Guan, the eastern end
of the Ming Great Wall - actually, the Ming Great Wall used to extend
further east and northward, - you can pay a visit to the temple
dedicated to Meng Jiang Nü.
Though just a legend, the story of Meng
Jiang Nü did tell one truth: Many people have given their lives
building the Great Wall, and many more defending the Wall. With
a history of over 2,000 years, the Great Wall witnessed the changes
of time, the lives of people, the happening of events, and the stories
of many individuals. So much laughter, so many tears, the Great
Wall all endured with silence. |
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| A Story About Jia Yu Guan |
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| At the western end
of the Ming Great Wall, a most well-preserved pass, Jia Yu Guan,
stands solemnly in the gobi desert. And if you ask the local guides,
they will direct you to a special brick. It is said that the designer
of the pass in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was so precise as to
be able to calculate how many bricks would be needed for the construction.
Upon completion of the pass, the surplus was only by one brick. |
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| The Widows' Tower |
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| At the Tai Ping Zhai section
of the Great Wall near Huang Ya Guan, there is a well-known tower
called the Widows' Tower. It is said that when building Huang Ya
Guan, 12 soldiers from Henan Province lost their lives. Their wives,
upon learning the news, were all heart-broken. Later, they used
the compensation they got to build the tower in memory of their
husbands. |
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| The Happy Meeting Mouth |
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| The buiding of Pan Jia Kou
Reservoir in Hebei Province resulted in a section of underwater
Great Wall. This section is called Xi Feng Kou, the Happy Meeting
Mouth. In the old days, a soldier had not returned home for a long
time. His father looked for him everywhere and what a coincidence,
they ran into each other at the Songting Hill. They were so happy
and laughed so much that they both died. Later they were burried
at the pass whose name was then changed to the Happy Meeting Pass. |
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| The "Metal Soup" Great Wall |
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On the outskirts of Beijing,
there is a famous section of the Great Wall called Huang Hua Cheng
(the yellow flower fortress). It was named after the yellow flowers
that bloom in the summer time but there is a famous story about
the building of this section in the Ming Dynasty. A general called
Cai Kai was put in charge of the construction. Several years passed
before it was completed. The central government was not happy and
General Cai was accused of the long construction period and high
investment. He was executed. Later, the emperor realised that something
was wrong. He carried out an investigation and found that the Great
Wall built by General Cai was very steep and solid. Not one crack
could be knocked out of the bricks and stones that had been reinforced
with rice soup. Knowing that the project was of extremely high quality,
the emperor established a tablet for General Cai and wrote on a
big rock under the Great Wall the "Metal Soup".
During
the Second World War, the Japanese invaders tried very hard and
eventually succeeded in blowing up a section of the Huang Hua Cheng
Great Wall. The section fell into the lake nearby and you can still
see today the Great Wall extending on both sides of the lake.
(Written by e99) |
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