Meng Jiang'er sends cold clothes

"Meng Jiangnu gives her cold clothes" is one of the four major ancient Chinese folk legends, one of the four major ancient Chinese folk love legends, and one of the most widely circulated folk legends in my country. It has always been loved by people and taught orally, written in classics, orchestrated, and performed in dramas. Until today, it has been put on the screen and spread through various forms of media. It is almost a household name, known to women and children.

It is said that during the Qin Dynasty, a family named Meng planted a melon tree. The melon vines climbed along the wall to the Jiang family and produced melons. The melon is ripe, one melon can score points across two houses! When he opened it, he saw a fair and fat little girl inside, so he named her Meng Jiangnu. Meng Jiangnu grew up, and everyone in the village within a radius of ten or eight miles knew that she was a good girl who was smart and could play the piano, compose poems, and write articles. The old couple even regarded her as the apple of their eye. In the blink of an eye, more than ten years later, the old man chose a son-in-law named Fan Qiliang for the now grown-up Meng Jiangnu, and chose a good and auspicious day to get married. Something unexpected happened. On the wedding day, the bridegroom and the bride were about to pay their respects. Suddenly, several government servants burst in from outside the door. They swarmed up and took the groom Fan Qiliang away as a civil servant. It turned out that at that time, Qin Shihuang deployed a large number of civilian laborers from all over the country to build the Great Wall and worked hard day and night. Countless civilian laborers were exhausted and starved to death. In order to speed up the project, they arrested civilian laborers everywhere to supplement them, and Fan Qiliang was also assigned. He went to work as a civilian man building the Great Wall. This trip was obviously going to be a disaster, and Meng Jiangnu cried and looked forward to it all day long! But after eagerly looking forward to it for a year, not only the people did not expect it, but the letter also did not come. Meng Jiangnu was so worried that she spent several nights making cold clothes for her husband and went to the Great Wall to look for her husband in person. Her parents saw her stubborn look and couldn't stop her, so they agreed. Meng Jiangnu packed her bags, said goodbye to her two elders, and embarked on her journey, vowing never to return home if she could not find her husband. When he arrived at the Great Wall and learned that her husband was dead, he burst into tears and cried all the way across the 800-mile Great Wall. In addition, there are also legends such as "The Husband in the Back Garden", "Qin Shihuang Playing with Meng", and "Meng Jiang Traveling in the Sea".

In fact, Meng Jiangnu did exist. It is now known that the earliest temple of Meng Jiangnu was built in the Northern Song Dynasty. Inscriptions on the reconstruction of Jiangnu temples during the Northern Song Dynasty have been found in Xushui, Hebei and Tongchuan, Shaanxi. Many local chronicles describe Meng Jiangnu as a local. There are tombs of Meng Jiangnu in Linzi, Tongguan (Tongchuan), Ansu (Xushui), Shanhaiguan and Tongguan.

The story of Meng Jiangnu takes place in Qi State. Qi was a feudal state of Jiang Taigong. Anyone who has read "The Chronicles of the Kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty" will know that Meng Jiang was the eldest daughter of the Jiang family. Her story was first seen in "Zuo Zhuan". Meng Jiang was the wife of Qi general Qiliang. Liang died in battle in Ju in 549 BC. Qi Zhuanggong saw Meng Jiang in the suburbs and expressed his condolences to her. Meng Jiang believed that the countryside was not a place for mourning and refused to accept it, so Duke Zhuang went to her home to express his condolences. In addition to knowing etiquette, Meng Jiang was also good at crying. Chunyu Kun said: "Qiliang's wife was good at crying for her husband and changed the national custom." Meng Jiang's crying tune was produced in Qi. In the Western Han Dynasty, there was a record of Meng Jiangnu "crying to the city after her husband died, and the city collapsed" (Liu Xiang's "Shuoyuan" and "Biography of Lienu"). As for the location of the collapsed city wall, although there are different theories from Jucheng, Qiliang and Liangshan, they are all located in Qi, not the Great Wall of Qin. Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu" believes that it was Jucheng where Meng Jiangnu died crying. Around the Tang Dynasty, this theme evolved into the story of Meng Jiangnu searching for her husband thousands of miles away and tearing down the Great Wall, which took on its current form. "The Story of Zhou Xian" moves the story to the State of Yan. Meng Jiang was named Meng Zhongzi, and Qiliang became Qiliang. Qi Liang accidentally entered Meng Chao's back garden in order to escape from the battle of building the city. Meng's daughter Zhongzi was taking a bath. Ancient people had a very strong concept of chastity and believed that their daughter's body could only be seen by her husband, so the two became husband and wife. Later, Qi Liang returned to the Great Wall construction site and was executed and buried under the Great Wall. So Zhongzi traveled thousands of miles to search for her husband, cried when the Great Wall collapsed, and blood was dripped from the bones for examination, and her husband's remains were finally found. In ancient times, wars were frequent, corvee labor was heavy, and the grudges of husbands and wives separated were the traditional themes. Chen Lin at the end of the Han Dynasty wrote "Drinking Horses in the Great Wall Cave": "Drinking horses in the Great Wall Cave will hurt the horse's bones because of the cold water. I used to call the officials of the Great Wall, but be careful not to keep Taiyuan soldiers behind... You can't see the bones of the dead leaning on each other under the Great Wall?" "Poets of all subsequent dynasties have praised his story. Guan Xiu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote "Qiliang's Wife", which actually sang about Meng Jiangnu crying at the Great Wall. Later, this theme entered the writings of many poets, which contributed to the widespread spread of this story. From the Yuan Dynasty, the story of Meng Jiangnu began to be put on the stage. This is recorded in Tao Zongyi's "Records of Stopping Farming in Nancun" and Zhong Sicheng's "Records of Ghosts". In these operas, Meng Jiang transformed into Meng Jiangnu, and Qiliang derived names such as Qiliang, Fan Qiliang, Wan Qiliang, Fan Xilang, Fan Xilang, Wan Xiliang, and Wan Xiliang.

Fortunately, I worked with the comrades of Shucheng County Cultural Center to collect Shucheng folk songs. A folk ditty "Meng Jiangnu" sung by 69-year-old Guo Xingcun from Wenchong Village, Chunqiu Township, Shucheng County caught my attention. The original words are as follows:

In the first month of the year, plum blossoms bloom noisily, and every household celebrates the New Year. When other couples are reunited, I feel like half of the moon is missing. In February, the orchid grass fills the mountain with fragrance, and the green grass sprouts in a beautiful spring. The bees buzzed and picked the flowers, making Meng Jiang burst into tears. The peach blossoms in March are the Qingming Festival, and the swallows hang up their nests. What a joy it is to have two people come and go, but Meng Jiang is alone. In April, the gourd flowers are as white as frost, and the Great Wall is the most painful for my husband. I didn't see him and went home without a piece of writing paper. The pomegranate flowers in May are the Dragon Boat Festival. I stand in front of the door and look at my husband. There were many people coming and going, but my husband, Fan Qiliang, was nowhere to be seen. In June, the lotus pond is flooded with water flowing eastward. My sister accompanied me to find my husband, but unfortunately she died on the way. In July, water chestnuts reflect the water, and mosquitoes buzz like thunder.

Mosquitoes would rather suck the blood of slaves than come to the Great Wall to bite husbands. In August, the garden is full of sweet-scented osmanthus, and the lone wild goose brings frost under his feet. The slave is as miserable as the lonely goose, and the mandarin ducks are separated by beating them with a stick. In September, the chrysanthemums in the courtyard are all yellow, and the chrysanthemum-carved wine jars are full of fragrance. The husband of the wing comes to have a drink, but the loving couple are not yet married. In October, the reed flowers are fluttering, and the vines and vegetables are withered and old due to frost. The weather on the Great Wall is very cold, and it is very cold for slaves without clothes. Snowflakes were flying all over the winter moon, and my husband never came back after he left. The slave family gave me cold clothes, but my husband died without seeing her.

The twelfth lunar month wintersweet smells so delicious, it reminds me of the second (eldest) parents in the family. Last year there were four people celebrating the New Year, and now the young girl is Xiao Mengjiang.

I burst into tears when I thought of my parents, and watery eyes flowed down my cheeks. It's so hard for a girl to die, and her parents will live forever. Who will take the responsibility?

After the singing, the old man explained it to us in detail: "I think this song "Meng Jiangnu" is different from the one sung by others. It has thirteen sections, and the storyline has changed." This ditty gave me several surprises: First, Meng Jiangnu sent cold clothes thousands of miles away, not by herself, but accompanied by her sister. During the journey, it was windy, rainy, sun-drenched, cold, hungry, cold, and the journey was difficult. However, a flood came and drowned the young girl, adding to the tragedy of the whole story. The last paragraph of "The second (eldest) parents will live forever, who will take care of it?" The second (old) parents pointed out are not Meng Jiangnu's parents, but Fan Qiliang's parents. The second to last paragraph has "Last year's New Year's Eve" "Four, today's young girl is little Meng Jiang" supports the evidence, indicating that Meng Jiangnu has lived with her parents-in-law and sisters since she married Fan Qiliang. This is also different from the popular saying that "Meng Jiangnu bid farewell to the Meng family's parents and sent cold clothes." Third, there is the emergence of dreamy situations. In the ninth paragraph, it is written that "The husband of the wing comes to have wine." Fan Qiliang has died of exhaustion on the Great Wall and cannot have the leisure to come home to drink chrysanthemum wine. This is Meng Jiang's hallucination. She is looking forward to having sex with her husband all day long. Reunion, worried about her husband's safety. As we all know, the appearance of "chrysanthemum" not only adds to the chilly atmosphere of autumn, but also symbolizes "longevity" in traditional meanings. I think Meng Jiangnu thought of "chrysanthemum" to carve wine at this moment, which is not only the reason for the season, but also the sustenance of her good wishes. Fourth, there are local characteristics. For example, the second paragraph of "February orchids fill the mountain with fragrance" shows that Shucheng is full of orchids all over the mountains, and the famous specialty tea "Little Orchid" is world-famous. The words "ming", "xuan" and "人" in the third paragraph are all pronounced in dialects, so they can rhyme. In the tenth paragraph, "The reeds are fluttering, and the vines are old and withered due to frost." The words "puffing" and "vines (referring to lentils)" are local slangs. Fifth, set the scene in the middle scene and write about the sadness outside. The last paragraph mentions the support of the parents-in-law, which not only plays a role in summarizing, but also expands from the tragedy of love to the tragedy of family ties, forming the following: "Broken bones, tears and blood, heaven and earth roar, and mountains and rivers mourn together." "A state of great sadness, strange sadness, and shocking sadness.