The story of Meng Jiang, or Meng Jiang Nü, has been one of the best-known in China for centuries, although less recognized in the West. It is now regarded as China’s national intangible cultural heritage. It is continued through oral telling, literary text, folk drama, and local cultural festivals along with temples and monuments. It has also become an academic subject matter in literature, drama, history, folklore, and other disciplines, with specialized publications.

As a wonder tale, also known as a fairy tale, this story integrates the typical structural elements of folk and fairy tales, as articulated by the folklorist Vladimir Propp, and contains specific content and symbols that are distinctive and essential to Chinese culture.

Besides its entertainment as a story, it expresses the resistance of the powerless against a tyrant’s oppression. It is an example of fairy tale as an art of subversion, as discussed by Jack Zipes. Through the image of Meng Jiang, the story shows how women hold family and social responsibilities while suffering from families being broken due to constant warfare and social instability. Meng Jiang is praised for her loyalty of love, as well as her bravery, persistence, and cleverness, but her tragic ending is also symbolic of women’s continued suffering through social upheavals and injustice.

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