The Woman Whose Tears Broke the Great Wall
Her husband was forced to build the Great Wall and never came home. When she reached the Wall, she wept so bitterly that it collapsed.
What was reported
The legend of Lady Meng Jiang is one of China's Four Great Folktales. In it, a young woman's husband is taken away soon after their wedding to labour on the Great Wall for the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang. When winter comes, she travels a great distance to bring him warm clothes, only to learn that he has died and been buried within the wall.
She weeps so long and so loudly that a section of the wall collapses, revealing his remains. In many versions, the emperor then demands she marry him, and she defies him.
Explanations offered
The story grew over many centuries from a much older tale of a grieving widow, and came to express the suffering of ordinary people under harsh rulers. A temple dedicated to her stands near Shanhaiguan, at the eastern end of the Great Wall.
- When
- Told for over 2,000 years
- Where
- Shanhaiguan, Hebei, China
- Witnesses
- Chinese folklore
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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