The legend of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan was bred and produced in Jiashan, Xinzhou Town, Jinshi, Hunan, and eventually added a strong cultural color to Jiashan with its strong vitality. In 2006, the legend of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan was identified as the first batch of intangible cultural heritage list projects in Hunan Province. In 2008, it was identified as an extended project of the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. There are two versions of the legend of Meng Jiangnu, written records and oral transmission. Although there are some differences between the two versions, the main story content is almost the same. Judging from the content of the written records, most of these records are derived from folk legends, but some content that conforms to Confucian ideas was changed and added during the recording process. The most representative written record is the "Biography of Meng Jiangnu" recorded by Zhuo Yun of the Jin Dynasty in the "Meng Jiangshan Records" in the sixth year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1867): Meng Jiangnu (Jiang is the surname, Meng is the ranking) was from Cigu County, Qianzhong County, Qin, and lived in Mengjiangwan, east of Jiashan and Lishui. There are fertile fields inside and a large marsh outside. The Jiang family was well-off. In addition to grain and mulberry, they could also harvest thousands of dan of fresh fish every year. Meng Jiangnu received a good and strict family education since she was a child. She was well-educated and good at needlework. There was a local custom that when the peach blossoms and water rose in March every year, ladies would hold orchids to summon the souls to eliminate bad luck. The scene was extremely lively. When Meng Jiangnu was still young, she went to watch with her father once, but she returned as soon as she arrived and said, "What's there to watch with men and women mixed together?" Her father was very surprised and said, "My Jiang family has found a wonderful woman." A few years later, the Jiang family built a house, a garden, and a lotus pond on the sunny side of Cuilu (now the southern foot of Jiashan) in the shade of the Lishui River. After the completion, the whole family moved in. At that time, Meng Jiangnu had just grown up. She was as beautiful as a flower, but she never left the house. She stayed in her boudoir quietly. Occasionally, she would take a walk by the lotus pond in the garden to relax, so her neighbors rarely saw her. To the west of the southern slope of Cuilu, there lived a family surnamed Fan. The old couple had only one son, whose name was Zhong, whose courtesy name was Xichen, and whose nickname was Xilang. Although Fan Xilang was poor, he never rested after working with his father in the fields. He was well-read, kind-hearted, and ambitious. No matter his character or talent, he was praised by everyone. At that time, Qin Shihuang was worried that the Hu people would destroy Qin, so he devoted the whole country to build the Great Wall in the north. Fan Xilang, who had just come of age, was arrested twice to serve corvée and hard labor. The first time, he served in the Great Wall for three months, and he could not bear the hardship, so he sneaked back. Unexpectedly, just as he was approaching his home, he met an official who was sent to arrest people. In a panic, he jumped into the Jiang family garden and hid in a big tree, squatting from midnight to noon. When he was about to go home, he heard a burst of laughter from the gate of the garden. A woman came to the lotus pond in the garden accompanied by a maid, ready to take off her clothes and bathe. It was the hottest time of the year. Fan Xilang was squatting on the tree and was already feeling uncomfortable with the heat. Seeing this scene, he coughed anxiously. The people in the pond heard the man coughing and were in a panic. Fan Xilang came down from the tree, blushing and muttering, "I didn't see it, I didn't see it." Meng Jiangnu saw his embarrassment and asked the maid to ask the reason. Fan Xilang told her everything about escaping from the service. Meng Jiangnu felt very sympathetic after hearing it. Seeing that he was handsome and well-behaved, and that exposing himself in the lotus pond was indecent, and that she was at the "marriageable" age, she felt amorous. So she reported to her parents and expressed her feelings. After the parents of both parties agreed, they prepared to get married in the Jiang family. That day, the Jiang family was filled with joy and guests. After the ceremony, the bride and groom were about to enter the bridal chamber. Several officials dressed as relatives and friends came to congratulate them and shouted in unison: "Fan Xilang, where are you running to!" So Fan Xilang was sentenced to three years of hard labor for escaping from the imperial mission. Since Fan Xilang went north, Meng Jiangnu came to a terrace at the highest point of Jiashan every day, looking forward to his return in the morning and evening. Morning and evening, she looked through the clouds in the sky and looked at countless stars beside the moon, but still did not see Fanlang return. This terrace was later called "Wangfu Terrace". There was a big stone next to Wangfu Terrace. Every time she looked at her husband, Meng Jiangnu would always treat it as the unjust King of Qin and pinch it hard a few times, leaving several nail marks on the stone. This stone was said to be the "Hate Stone". Every time she went to the top of the mountain, Meng Jiangnu would stick the bamboo pole she brought with her next to Wangfu Terrace. After a long time, a dense bamboo forest grew out. The bamboo leaves blocked her view. Meng Jiangnu used an embroidery needle to prick them into thin threads and let them hang down. She stared at her husband through the gaps. This bamboo was called "silk bamboo". Meng Jiangnu's desire for her husband moved the bamboo forest. One day, the elders in the bamboo said, "Meng Jiangnu, it's better to go out and look for your husband than to wait. You cut us down, tie us into a bamboo raft, and go out to look for your husband!" Meng Jiangnu took a bamboo raft, crossed Yunmeng, crossed thousands of mountains and ridges, and walked thousands of miles. Finally, she came to the foot of the Great Wall in Yulin with the winter clothes she had sewed for Fan Xilang, but learned that Fan Xilang had already passed away due to overwork. Meng Jiangnu was heartbroken and cried for three days and nights. For a while, the sky was dark, the wind was howling, sand and stones were flying, ghosts were crying, and the Great Wall collapsed for 50 miles, revealing numerous corpses. Meng Jiangnu prayed to the gods: "I want to bite my finger and drip blood on the bones. The blood flowing out is not my husband's bones, but the blood inside is my husband's bones." God really showed his power. Under the guidance of clouds like a red veil, Meng Jiangnu got a skeleton, which was soaked in blood and red as fresh. Meng Jiangnu burned winter clothes and wrapped her husband's bones, crying: "Fan Lang, let's go back!" On the way back to the Yijun section of Yan'an, Meng Jiangnu was very thirsty but could not drink. She cried bitterly. Then, the ground was pierced and a spring gushed out continuously. Later generations called it "Crying Spring". There have been two legends about the final ending of Meng Jiangnu's story in Jiashan: one is that she died of fatigue and illness on the way home (see Li Rugui's "Record of Zhenjie Temple" in the Ming Dynasty, recorded in "Zhili Lizhou Chronicles"); the other is that the King of Qin forced her to become a concubine and died by walking into fire (it is still orally passed down among the people). The legend of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan originated in the Han Dynasty and was later passed down by word of mouth among the people. The legend of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan has been integrated and influenced by the original folk customs in the area where it was spread, forming a unique Meng Jiangnu Nuo culture in the northwestern Hunan area centered on the Lishui River Basin. The "Yuanling County Chronicles" in the 44th year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1705) recorded: "Chensu witches performed divine plays and performed the story of Meng Jiangnu. The full part was divided into half according to the amount of remuneration, and the full part was performed for several days." It can be seen that the legend of Meng Jiangnu has reached a considerable scale. There are countless literary and artistic works such as ballads, operas, and folk tales based on the legend of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan. In the 1950s, the Wenxuanchu (Huaguo Opera) Troupe of Li County often performed the play "Meng Jiangnu Crying at the Great Wall", which took ten days and a half to finish. After the reform and opening up, Jinshi literary and artistic workers also created some literary and artistic works based on the legend of Meng Jiangnu, some of which were put on the stage. Later, the Jinshi People's Government published the book "Jiashan Customs", which gradually made the legend of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan known to more people. In the 1920s, the famous historian Gu Jiegang studied the Meng Jiangnu story and believed that although "the story of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan, Lizhou, Hunan, seems to have only appeared in the Ming Dynasty, it should not be underestimated", which attracted widespread attention from the Chinese academic community to Jiashan Meng Jiangnu. In the mid-1980s, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture organized a large-scale folk literature survey, and the Jiashan Meng Jiangnu legend was listed as one of the key survey projects. In 1984, the "Chinese Famous Places Dictionary" edited by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage included the "Jiashan" entry. The legend of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan is well-documented and has many historical materials, such as the Biography of Meng Jiangnu and the Monument of Meng Jiang's Former Residence in the Jin Dynasty, the Records of the Chastity Temple in the Ming Dynasty, and the Records of Lizhou in Zhili and Meng Jiangshan in the Qing Dynasty. There are also many cultural relics and historical sites related to the legend of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan, such as the Chastity Temple, Wangfu Terrace, Acacia Bamboo, Baibu Steps, Mirror Stone, and Hate Stone. These cultural landscapes are integrated with the beautiful natural scenery of Jiashan and are very ornamental. Therefore, the legend of Meng Jiangnu in Jiashan has high historical research value, literary and artistic value, academic research value, and tourism development value.