China
The origins of this Chinese folktale tale lie in an anecdote in the Zuozhuan, a chronicle of the Spring and Autumn period. After a warrior, Qi Liang (杞梁), was killed in battle, his Lord, Duke Zhuang, met Qi Liang’s wife on the road and asked his servant to convey his condolences to her. She replied that she could not receive condolences on the road, and Duke Zhuang visited her at home and left only when the proper ceremonies had been completed. Confucian scholar Liu Xiang later expanded this anecdote, writing that “when her husband died, she had no children, nor any relatives, and had no place to return to. She wailed over the corpse of her husband at the foot of the city wall, and the sincerity of her grief was such that none of the passers-by was not moved to tears. Ten days later the wall toppled down.” Later versions set in the Qin dynasty recount Lady Meng Jiang’s husband being pressed into service by imperial officials and sent as corvee labor to build the Great Wall of China. When she didn’t hear from him, she set out to bring him winter clothes. By the time she reached the Great Wall, her husband had already died. Hearing this news, she wept so bitterly that a part of the Great Wall collapsed, revealing his bones.