Lady Meng Jiang-- A Legend of the Great Wall

A long time ago, there was a beautiful lady whose name was Meng Jiang.  She  lived a quiet life with her husband in a quiet village.  The villagers all called her Lady Meng Jiang.

One day, an officer came to the village with the First Emperor's order----" One man in each family must serve the Emperor to build the Great Wall".  Lady Meng Jiang 's husband, like many other young men in the village, had to leave home to build the Great Wall.

Lady Meng Jiang knew how hard and dangerous it was to build the Great Wall.   She worried her husband so much, she prayed for him everyday, hoping he would soon come home.  Years passed without Lady Meng Jiang receiving word from her husband.  

Lady Meng Jiang decided to go see her husband taking a new coat she just made for him.  She trudged for months on the rocky paths and over the mountains to make her way to the Great Wall, where she began to look for her husband.  As she walked along the Wall, Lady Meng Jiang asked everyone she met if they knew her husband, but nobody knew him.  Finally she found the group of workers from her village.  When she asked about her husband, they told her what she most dreaded,  lady Meng Jiang's husband had died.  She fell to her knees wailing with teas streaming down her face.  When her tears dropped on the Wall, the Wall started to crumble.  Try as they might, that portion of the Great Wall could never be repaired.  Today, when you walk along the Great Wall and come to a spot where the Wall has crumbled, you will know that is where lady Meng Jiang shed her tears.

When you visit China, you can make a trip to Temple of Lady Meng Jiang, which is located in City of Qin Huang Dao ( Northeast of China).

  Temple of Lady meng Jiang, built in 1594