千年古祠——孟姜女庙
尊敬的各位领导、各位来宾，大家好！欢迎您来到山海关孟姜女庙。我是您的导游郑娜，很荣幸能够为您服务。
在中国浩如烟海的民间文学中，有四大民间爱情传说故事，它们分别是《牛郎织女》、《梁山伯与祝英台》、《白蛇传》和《孟姜女哭长城》。其中以《孟姜女哭长城》的故事流传最为广泛，时间最为久远。两千多年来，孟姜女与万喜良凄美的爱情被世人传颂，其坚贞不屈的性格、忠贞不渝的精神更被历代帝王和百姓赞颂、景仰。
我们现在看到的这座绿树掩映、红墙环绕、青砖素瓦的庙宇就是闻名遐迩的山海关孟姜女庙。作为我国唯一一座保存完整的孟姜女庙，庙中“两奇”最具特色。
第一奇就是台阶奇。眼前的108级长阶，是通往孟姜女庙的必经之路。108的含义颇多：一是佛教中认为人的一生中有108个烦恼，走过这108级石阶未来的生活就会幸福平安。二是传说孟姜女千里寻夫送寒衣曾遇到过108个灾难，修建这108级石阶就是让我们也体验和感受一下孟姜女遇到的艰辛困苦。第三，它是时间和永恒的代表，108是农历12个月、24节气和72侯三个数字相加的总和，它代表孟姜女日日夜夜、时时刻刻、永永远远都在等待和思念着她的丈夫。由此可见，这台阶寓意深刻，修建者更是用心良苦，无论谁踏上这冰冷的石阶都会小心翼翼，仿佛这些石头也是有感情的。
孟姜女庙的第二奇，就是悬挂在前殿楹柱上的这幅天下第一奇联。“海水朝朝朝朝朝朝朝落，浮云长长长长长长长消”。此联上下联共20个字，仅用了“海水朝落、浮云长消”8个不同的字，却已有20余种读法。联中不但连用了7个朝和7个长，还巧妙运用了我国古文通假字中一字多音、一字多意的特点，成为联中奇葩。此联不仅读法奇妙，更重要的是采用了“以景喻情”的手法。通过对海水和浮云变化的描写，揭示了世上万物皆变化无常，唯有孟姜女对丈夫的感情不变，对爱情的忠贞不变，孟姜女的精神永存。
光阴荏苒，千年已过，如今的孟姜女已成为人们心中的爱情女神，孟姜女庙也成为人们对爱情忠贞不渝的象征。借此机会，我祝愿每一位朋友都爱情甜蜜，生活美满，家庭幸福，愿天下有情人永成眷属！
Meng Jiangnv Temple
Good morning, everyone. I’m No. 1 contestant. I’m ready. May I start it now?
Good morning, my dear friends! Welcome to the Mengjiangnv Temple in shanhaiguan district. I’m your tour guide -----. I’m glad to be your guide today. Being an English tour guide, my dream is to share my beauties of China with friends from the world. The tour guide job makes me a strong sense of realizing self-transcendence. I’m proud of it.
You may be familiar with Shakespeare’s 'Romeo and Juliet', and you may also learn something about China’s 'Romeo and Juliet'—Liang
Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, but do you know, together with Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, there are still other three famous folk romantic
legendary in China. As one of it, the story of Meng Jiangnv Crying-- down the Great Wall is the most spread widely and last longest one. Over
the past two thousand years, Meng Jiangnv’s bravery, faithfulness and loyal spirit to love is praised by the mass and emperors.
With luxuriant tress and red walls around, now, the building in front of us is made of gray bricks and blue tiles, that’s the noted Meng Jiangnv Temple. It’s the only well-preserved temple of the type all over the counry. Any special? Let’s try to find it.
The first highlight of the scenic spot is the long steps leading to the front door. It is the only way to the mountain gate of Meng Jiangnv Temple. My dear friends, could you guess how many steps of it? If you like, and just count it!! ------Yes, you are right, there are 108 steps. Any special?
You may know that, Chinese culture is a combination of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Therefore, the teachings of Buddhism influence on Chinese thought deeply. In Buddhism, the number 108 symbolizes the sufferings in one’s lifetime. The Temple of Heaven in Beijing, there are 108 stone fence poles, circling each set of steps approaching the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Except that, just like the westerners often consider the number seven lucky, Chinese people nearly always happy to see the number 108. The number is widely associated with good luck, superiority and power to drive away all kinds of annoyances. Why are 108 so special? Dividing it by 12, the number of months in a year, we have the familiar figure 9. In Chinese culture, good
luck and superiority have long been applied to this number, the last single digit. But there are other explanations. A scholar in the Ming Dynasty(1368--1644), Liang Ying wrote in a book: “ there are 12 months in a year, 24 phases(节气) and 72 symptoms of the changes of season(72候). All together, it is 108. At last, the number finds its place in Chinese classical literature as well. There are 108heroic figures in the book Outlaws of the Marsh; in the famous A Dream of Read Mansions, careful readers will discover 108 persons intoxicated in love.
And for this way to the front gate, someone believed that Meng Jiangnv had come to look for her husband from far away, encountered 108 misfortunes. So the meaning of 108 steps here you may have your own explanation.
Well, the highlight 2:
The couplets on the columns in the front palace
Couplet is a special art of characters in China, a very special custom. It means to boost the festival or special place ambiance. Extensively, without it, no great building is perfect, no matter palace, pavilion, famous destination or ancient relics. A good couplet is good in words, in meaning and in calligraphy, also suitable to local conditions. In old times, many trades used couplets some of which were of profound meanings. Chinese couplets have some famous elegant works by masters, for example, the long couplets in Grand View Tower of Kunming, Yunnan; the long
couplets of Qingcheng Hill, Sichuan, they can totally compete with classical poetry.
The couplets on the columns in the front palace: the Chinese characters go like this “海水朝朝朝朝朝朝朝落，浮云长长长长长长长消”Some simple characters tell the different meaning according to the different reading ways. One of them means “Sea water tide, day to day tide, everyday tide and everyday ebb; Floating clouds appear, often appear, often appear and often go”.
This couplet combines landscapes with feelings and compares the ebbing and flowing of seawater and the gathering of floating clouds in the sky to the everlasting changes of things in the world, yet Meng Jiangnv’s love to her husband is unchangeable.
Dear Friends, our trip is drawing to a close. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding. Here, I wish you have sweet love, happy life and our love will last forever. Thank you!
