Legend of Dong Yong

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Legend of Dong Yong

Applicant: Jintan City, Jiangsu Province

Item No.: 9

Project No.: I-9

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Jiangsu Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Jintan City, Jiangsu Province

Protection unit: cultural center of Jintan District, Changzhou City

The legend of Dong Yong

Applicant: Jintan City, Jiangsu Province

The legend of Dong Yong is one of the four popular folk legends in China, which was first recorded in the biography of filial son (picture) by Liu Xiang in the Western Han Dynasty.

It is said that Dong Yong sold himself to bury his father and felt filial piety. Seven fairies went down to earth to marry him. The seven fairies weaved ten brocades in one night and changed Dong Yong's three-year construction period to 100 days. The Jade Emperor found out that the seven fairies were in private and ordered them to return to heaven at three o'clock in the afternoon. The couple said goodbye to each other. A year later, the seven fairies sent their son down to earth In the past two thousand years, although the original structure of the story of "Dong Yong and the seven fairies" has not changed, the plot, characters and even ideological connotation of the story are constantly enriched and innovated.

In Zhixi Town, Jintan City, Jiangsu Province, there is Dong Yong Village (formerly known as "Dong Li"). The legend of filial son Dong Yong, seven fairies and the birth of their son crane are recorded in many places in Jintan county annals by Guangxu. There are more than 40 local relics, relics and objects related to the legend. There is Dong Yong temple in Dong Yong village of Zhixi town. The walls of the temple are painted with "twenty four filial piety pictures". The square stone bridge across the river at the east end of the village is called "Wangxian bridge". It is said that Dong Yong and his son Dong he were born on the seventh day of the seventh lunar new year. On this bridge, they hope to meet their mother. Fujia village, about two kilometers southeast of the local old locust tree, is said to be the place where Dong Yong sold himself to repay his debts.

There is an inscription in maoshanding palace more than ten miles to the west of Dongyong Village: "if you are unfilial to your parents at home, why do you have to face the emperor in Lingshan?" The author of biography of filial son, Liu Xiang, a litterateur of Han Dynasty, and Gan Bao, a scholar of Jin Dynasty, who first praised Dong Yong's deeds, had visited Maoshan or lived here before. There are also many poems about Dong Yong and the seven fairies. There are dozens of local versions of the legend of "Dong Yong and the seven fairies", and each has its own interpretation in different degrees.

The legend of Dong Yong in Shandong Province is mainly spread in Boxing County, Shandong Province. The legend of Dong Yong is recorded in Liu Xiang's biography of filial son in the Western Han Dynasty, Cao Zhi's Ganoderma lucidum in the Three Kingdoms, and Ganbao's Soushenji in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the stone carvings of the Wu family tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province, there are scenes of Dong Yonglu carrying his father and working in the field, and there are written records of "Dong Yong, qianchengren (now Boxing County, Shandong Province)". In the process of long-term word-of-mouth transmission, the legend of Dong Yong has become a popular literary theme among the broad masses, with the emergence of such far-reaching literary works as Lu Opera "sage house" and "filial son Dong Yong".

The legend of Dong Yong is rich in historical and literary implications, which can provide certain image data for the study of society, politics, economy and culture in relevant historical periods. The filial piety culture advocated by the legend is also of great practical significance to the construction of socialist spiritual civilization and harmonious society.