Kang's Miscellaneous Remarks on the Real Name of "Meng Jiangnv"

The legendary story of "Meng Jiangnu Crying for the Great Wall" is one of the four legends that have been circulated in China since ancient times, and it is well known to all women and children. Four legends, namely the legend of Cowherd, Weaver Girl, Meng Jiangnu crying at the Great Wall, butterfly lovers and White Snake. According to legend, Meng Jiangnv was a native of Qin Shihuang. At that time, Qin Shihuang was gathering people's strength to build the Great Wall, and Meng Jiangnv's husband Fan Xilang was arrested to build a city. Due to arduous labor, her husband was exhausted at the foot of the Great Wall. When his wife, Meng Jiangnv, heard about it, she went away thousands of miles away, lying on her body and crying. Ten days later, the Great Wall collapsed.

Meng Jiangnv, although a native of the Qin Dynasty, did not appear in the classics of the Qin and Han Dynasties. According to later research: This story was written by Zuo Zhuan? Twenty-three years of Xianggong and Han? Liu Xiang's Biography of Women? The story of Qi Liang's wife in Biography of Qi Liang's Wife evolved. What is the specific name of Qi Liang's wife? The story that Qi Liang's wife finally became Meng Jiangnu was not mentioned in the two books, and the name of Qi Liang's wife specifically became "Meng Jiangnu", which was formed during the Tang and Five Dynasties. This name was first seen in the Tang Dynasty's Dunhuang Quzi Ci and the notes made by the Song Dynasty for Mencius.

Ren Bantang's "Editor-in-Chief of Dunhuang Songs", Volume III, "Four Poems of Meng Jiangnv", said: "Meng Jiangnv will never return once she goes to Yanshan. No one sent the cold clothes, so I had to send my own clothes. Great wall road, it is really difficult to travel, and it snows in the cheese mountain. Drinking is only for the sake of getting sick from meals, and I hope to be strong and return early. Meng Jiangnv, Qin Maoliang, was annoyed by the sound of Xiao Qin Wang. ..... Under the Great Wall, crying and mourning, I felt that the Great Wall was destroyed in a pile, and there were thousands of skeletons wrapped around it, and hundreds of bones were not taught back. ..... two fists, ten fingers stained with blood. " ?

qi Liang, that is, qi Liang.

The word "ginger" was originally called "ginger", which was changed by Ren Shi.

Mencius < Gao Zi >: "The wives of Hua Zhou and Mao Liang are good at crying over their husbands, and they become national customs." Song and Sun Yishu: "Or cloud:" Qi Zhuanggong attacked Ju and died one by one. His wife Meng Jiang cried to the city and the city collapsed. "

Dunhuang Quzi is called "Meng Jiang", while Sun Ying is called "Meng Jiang", which is actually a different way of writing the same name. "Ginger" is homophonic with "Ginger".

Ming Zhan Zhan's unofficial history "Love History Meng Jiang": "Qin Meng Jiang, a rich woman, is a widow of Fan Qi Liang. On the third day, Fu went to the Great Wall for a long time and didn't return. He sent it to the Great Wall to make cold clothes. When he heard that Fu had died, he stamped his foot and cried. When the city collapses, it's hard to recognize the husband's bones. Those who bite the blood drops and can't wipe them from the bones know that they are husband's bones and return home with negative results. By the time I got to Tongguan, I was exhausted, so I knew I couldn't go home, so I put it under the skeleton rock and sat down beside it and died. Tongguan people attach importance to their righteousness and erect statues to worship them. "

"Love History" is a perfect record of what was passed down by predecessors, which further inherits and affirms the theory of "Meng Jiangnv".

Therefore, since ancient times, it has been thought that Meng Jiangnv in Meng Jiangnv's story was named Jiang, so people called her "Meng Jiangnv". Although this name is different in the Tang Dynasty's Tales of the Sages, there is a saying: "Qi Liang, when Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall in the north, took refuge and fled, because he entered the trees in the backyard of Meng Chao. Super girl Zhong Zi bathed in the pool, looked up and called Qi Liang ... ". It is called "Meng Zhongzi" in A Tale of the Sages. Although this name was early seen in the Tang Dynasty, it was not accepted by later generations. Later people all agreed with the name "Meng Jiangnv", and finally it became a universal definition.

However, although the names of "Meng Jiangnv" and "Meng Zhongzi" are different, the surname of "Meng" remains unchanged, so it seems that her surname is "Meng". In fact, she is not surnamed Meng, and the reason why she is called "Meng Jiang" lies in the theory of "Qi Qi Liang's wife". Qi, that is, Qi State in the Spring and Autumn Period, Qi Liang was a general of Qi State, and Qi State was awarded to Jiang Ziya by Zhou Wuwang at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, and his descendants were hereditary to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Jiang was not only the surname of the royal family of Qi State at that time, but also many people in Qi State took Jiang as their surname. Since Meng Jiangnu's story originated from Qi Qiliang's wife, there is a good reason to call it "Meng Jiang".

No.4 Farmer's Digest in 1986: "It is generally believed that Meng Jiangnv's surname is Meng. In fact, Meng Jiangnv is not surnamed Meng. ..... The names in ancient China were different from the present. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, women not only called their surnames, but also crowned them with "Meng", "Zhong", "Shu" and "Ji" to show their ranking. Meng, means the eldest among children. When a woman gets married, she should also be given the name of the country where she was born. Because the surname Jiang established the State of Qi, the eldest daughter of the people of Qi was also called' Meng Jiang'. Meng Jiangnv's husband is from the State of Qi. According to custom, Meng Jiangnv means eldest daughter. So what is Meng Jiangnv's last name? According to Jiang Yikui's Chang 'an Hakka in the Ming Dynasty,' Meng Jiangnv's real name was Xu, and she was from Tongan, Shaanxi'. Whether this record is reliable remains to be further verified. However, it is certain that Meng Jiangnv is not surnamed Meng. "

From the above passage, we can see that Qi Liang's wife was married by a good woman in Qi State. Because this woman is the eldest in the family, she was given the public surname "Jiang" in Qi State when she married, so she was called "Meng Jiangnv" in general, resulting in the loss of her specific surname and name.