| 
|
It
was said that 2,000 years ago when Qin Shihuang (the First Emperor of
the Qin) was building the Great Wall, a young called Fan Xiliang was forced
to work on the construction of the Great Wall even on his wedding day.
Before Fan Xiliang went away, his bride, a girl named Meng Jiangnu, took
her white jade hairpin and broke it into two halves and gave her husband
one half as a token of love. Meng Jiangnu waited for her husband at home
for five years but did not hear a word from him. One night, Meng Jiangnu
had a bad dream. She dreamed that her husband was constantly yelling:
" Cold, cold!" She recalled that her husband was wearing very
thin clothes. Very soon, she made some padded clothes and set off alone
to look for Xiliang. After walking all the way on foot, crossing mountains
and rivers, Meng Jiangnu finally got to the construction site of the Great
Wall where she was told that her husband had died and was buried under
the Great Wall. Hearing this sad news of the death of her beloved, she
sat down at the foot of the Great Wall and started crying. She cried day
and night, and her wailing made the wall fall. She finally saw her husband's
bones under the wall . This made Qin Shihuang very angry, and he ordered
Meng Jiangnu to be punished. When he saw the young lady, however, he was
immediately attracted by her beauty. He asked her to marry him. Meng Jiangnu
had to agree but asked for a grand funeral for her husband. After the
funeral, she and Qin Shihuang went for a trip on the Bohai Sea. How could
she marry the tyrant who had killed her husband? She could not, so she
jumped into the sea unseen by the guards. Now on the shore of the Bohai
Sea, beyond Shanhaiguan Pass there are two black rocky reefs. According
to legend, the round one is Meng Jiangnu's tomb and the square one is
her tomb tablet. Not far from her tomb, a temple was built on a small
hill to commemorate the lady of chastity. Visitors to Shanhaiguan Pass
should not miss the chance to see her "tomb" and temple.
|
 |