山西省陽泉市盂縣藏山-趙氏孤兒｜Cangshan Mountain and Story of " the Orphan of Zhao"

Zhao Dun is a high official at Duke Ling’s (r. 620–607 BCE) court in the state of Jin. His political archrival, army general Tuan Gu, wins the trust of the Duke, who condones the general’s eliminating the entire house of Zhao, which numbered over 300 people. Because Zhao Dun’s daughter-in-law, Princess Zhuangji, is the Duke’s sister and is pregnant, she is spared. After she gives birth to a son, the general tries to kill the baby, but Cheng Ying, a family friend and physician, smuggles the newborn out. The princess and General Han Jue, the palace gatekeeper sent by Tuan Gu, both commit suicide to ensure the secrecy of the orphan’s whereabouts. Finding his target missing and the witnesses dead, Tuan Gu orders all newborn babies killed. To save the orphan, Cheng Ying plots with Gongsun Chujiu (a retired minister and old friend of Zhao Dun) to give Cheng Ying’s own newborn son to Gongsun Chujiu and then reveal Gongsun Chujiu as the offender hiding the orphan of Zhao. Tuan Gu kills both Gongsun and the supposed orphan, takes Cheng Ying and his wife as his protégés, and adopts their son (the orphan of Zhao) as his own. Twenty years later, the orphan, now an adult, learns the truth about his family from Cheng Ying. With the help of another veteran general, Wei Jiang, the orphan seizes Tuan Gu and puts him to a painfully slow death. The orphan inherits all the titles and positions of his father and grandfather, and appropriate awards are handed out to others.