Dong Yong

In Chinese folklore, Dong Yong is one of the Twenty-four Filial Exemplars who sold himself into servitude to bury his dead father. Touched by his filial piety, a celestial maiden (usually identified as the Seventh Fairy in modern times) came to Earth, married him and changed his fortunes. Dong Yong was possibly a real person from the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), and a pictorial relief bearing his name has been found in the second-century site of Wu Family Shrines in Shandong Province. His legend probably began with a poem by Cao Zhi (192–232) and a "canonical" tale in the fourth-century text In Search of the Supernatural. Due to local belief that Dong hailed from their place, the city of Xiaogan in Hubei Province derived its name from his story. However, the legend's earliest versions are all set in Shandong. Historicity Historical records from the Han dynasty do mention a certain Dong Yong who was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Gaochang in 26 AD, after his father was deprived of the inherited title in 1 AD. His great-grandfather Dong Zhong had been the first Marquis of Gaochang in his family. The earliest evidence of the "filial Dong Yong" comes from the Wu Family Shrines in Jiaxiang County, Shandong, dated to 151 AD, which contains a pictorial relief showing Dong Yong caring for his father in the field.