Legend of Zhao's orphan

Name of Chinese national intangible cultural heritage: Legend of Zhao's orphan

Applicant: Yu County, Shanxi Province

Project No.: 1032

Project No.: i-88

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Shanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Yu County, Shanxi Province

Protection unit: Yuxian people's Cultural Center

The legend of Zhao's orphan

Applicant: Yu County, Shanxi Province

In the spring and Autumn period, the king of Jin listened to the slander of tu'anjia, a powerful official, and more than 300 members of the Zhao family were killed. Cheng Ying and Gongsun Chujiu rescued Zhao Wu, the grandson of Zhao Dun, and drove his horse to hide in Yushan (today's Cangshan in Yuxian County) for 15 years. In order to protect Zhongliang, the local people provided water and food. Cheng Ying took the orphan of Zhao family to practice writing and martial arts, and raised a baby into a handsome young man until Zhao family's grievances were redressed.

This tragic story was first found in Zuozhuan and Shiji, and later recorded in the annals of the states of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Dayuan dayitong annals, Taiyuan annals, Daming dayitong annals and Shanxi Tongzhi.

Based on the heart stirring historical facts of 2600 years ago, and centering on the motif and plot of saving, hiding and nurturing the orphans, this paper discusses the relationship between Cheng Ying and the orphans of that year in Yu County, Shanxi Province, where Zhao Wu was hiding, and its surrounding areas, such as Canggu cave, Baoen temple, Yugu garden and nearby Cangshan village, Dawei, fan'anling, Baojian Valley, luojian mountain There are a large number of oral legends and stories popular among the common people in the areas related to the pursuit, rescue and education of the orphans, forming a "Legend Group of historical facts" based on historical events and full of fantasy. Some legends have even been handed down from generation to generation, and gradually evolved into myths. Zhao Wu was even worshipped as "king of Tibetan mountain".

The important historical and cultural value of the legend of Zhao's orphan lies in the fact that it has shaped the moral concept of neglecting life and death and valuing rannuo. It has formed the spiritual essence of loyalty culture and has become the material of Chinese and foreign writers' creation and widely spread. Ji Junxiang, a dramatist of the Yuan Dynasty, first adapted it into the drama revenge for Zhao's orphans, which became the top ten tragedies in China. Voltaire, a French writer in the 18th century, translated it into a drama "orphans in China", which was staged in Europe and caused a sensation. It is the first classical drama to go abroad in China.