The story of Meng Jiangnu, spread through many regions of China for more than 2,000 years, is perhaps the most popular folktale concerning the Great Wall of China.
The Great Wall of China was built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties. The most famous is the wall built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. It is estimated that between 2 to 3 million people had lost their lives building the Great Wall, and many more died by defending her.
The story of Meng Jiangnu's deep affection for her husband has moved many Chinese people and they call her cry ‘The saddest cry in the world’. In Chinese, Meng means the eldest, and Jiang apparently refers to a family name. Meng Jiangnu therefore means the Jiang family’s eldest daughter. The most complete version of story was told by Feng Menglong of Ming dynasty in his book ‘Love Tales in History’.
Meng Jiang, lived during the Qin dynasty, was the eldest daughter of a rich family. She was just married to Fan Qiliang. On the third day of her marriage, Fan was taken away to build the Great Wall. Winter came but Fan did not return. Meng made some warm clothes for her husband and decided to take them to him. She came to the construction site and was then told that Fan had died. She was so heartbroken that she stumbled, cried loudly till the earth was shaken.
The Great Wall collapsed and exposed the bones and bodies of many dead men. However, it was impossible to identify Fan’s body. Meng cut her fingers and dripped her blood on the dead one by one until her blood flowed into one. Knowing that this was her husband, she carried the body home. However, she was exhausted upon reaching Tong Guan, which was still far away from her home. She knew that she could not make it home, so she placed the dead body at the foot of a mountain and sat there silently until she died.
The people of Tong Guan were so touched by her chastity that they constructed her sculpture as a memorial to honour her.
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孟姜女的故事在中国很多地区传播超过两千年，可能是有关万里长城的故事中最出名的。
万里长城是为了保卫中国北方领土而从公元前五世纪至十六世纪由各个朝代不断建筑、重建与修理而成的。其中最出名的城墙是在公元前220年至200年间由中国的第一位皇帝秦始皇建造的。据估计，有两百到三百万人为了建造这座长城而丧失生命，还有很多人为了保护它而死亡。
孟姜女对她丈夫的深情的故事深深地感动了人们，而她的哭被称为‘天下第一哭’。
孟是排行老大的意思，姜才是姓氏，所以孟姜女指的是姜家的长女。明代冯梦龙（原刊本署“詹詹外史”）在他的《情史》（全称《情史类略》，又名《情天宝鉴》）中的《孟姜》讲得最完整：
“秦孟姜，富人女也，赘范杞梁。三日，夫赴长城之役，久而不归，为制寒衣送之，至长城，闻知夫已故，乃号顿足，哭声震地。
城崩，寻夫骸骨，多难认，啮指血滴之，入骨不可拭者，知其为夫骨，负之而归。至潼关，筋骨已竭，知不能还家，乃置骸岩下，坐于旁而死。
潼关人重其节义，立像祀之。”
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