We have all heard of the Great Wall of China. Some people have learned about it from school, some from other people who brought it up in a conversation and some from just a google search. The Great Wall is very iconic but, it wasn’t the only wall to be built in China.
The Great Wall is by far the most iconic wall in the world but walls all have to start somewhere. For example, the hang-t’u wall was built way before the Great Wall. These walls were earthen walls built near villages to protect the villages from the outside. Different types of walls try to replicate their model were built in order to keep villages safe. Eventually, about 1000 years later, we got to the Great Wall of China being built. After reading more about the Great Wall I came across a very interesting tale.
Meng Jiangnü was the wife to a man by the name of Wan Xlilang who was ordered to help construct the Great Wall. She missed him a lot so she went to visit him. Fearful that he had been killed, she arrived at the Great Wall of China to find out her fears were true. The emperor showed up at the Wall to get rid of her but, was struck by her beauty. He decided to make her his concubine. While agreeing to his request, she plotted for revenge. She requested that he would be buried in a golden coffin. Eventually she learned he was buried with the rites so, she threw herself into the nearby river and became a “beautiful silverfish”! Today, there are many sites commemorating her including a temple! Sometimes I do not understand Chinese tales but I found this one very interesting. I hope to grow my knowledge of Chinese tales throughout the semester
References
“ARTICLES.” The Rehabilitation and Appropriation of Great Wall Mythology | China Heritage Quarterly. October 15, 2015. Accessed September 01, 2020. http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/articles.php?searchterm=007_meng.inc&issue=007.
Waldron, Arthur. The Great Wall of China from History to Myth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Hi Stephen,
Great post! I knew very little about the Great Wall before reading the di Cosmo piece and some of the posts everybody made. From what I understand now, you are definitely right in that many walls were built over the years. However, I am still confused about what the Great Wall really is. Is it just one long piece of the walls that were built, or is it a combination of many walls built by different people over 2000+ years? I also read about Meng Jiangnu and totally agree that it was easy to understand and really interesting! One thing that I have noticed in reading other posts is that the names are sometimes slightly different depending on which story people read, which is pretty cool too.