The Legend of Two Qiao
Mr. Qiao was a native of Wan County, Lujiang (now Qianshan) during the Eastern Han Dynasty. He had two daughters, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao. It was said that the two Qiaos were well-educated, intelligent, and beautiful. Dressing up was an important daily task for the sisters. After each makeup, they would throw the remaining makeup into the old well in the courtyard. Over the years, the water in the well took on the color of rouge and had the fragrance of rouge, so the well was called the Rouge Well. In the fourth year of Jian'an, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu led their troops to conquer Wancheng and sent people to invite Qiao Gong to marry them. They got Qiao Gong's permission. Thus, there was the eternal story of Sun Ce marrying Da Qiao and Zhou Yu marrying Xiao Qiao. The two Qiao sisters also became the objects of people's singing. For example, Du Mu's poem "Red Cliff" said: "The east wind is not with Zhou Lang, and the two Qiao sisters are locked in Tongque Spring; Huang Tingjian wrote a poem: "Qiao Gong's two daughters are beautiful, and the autumn water blooms lotus flowers together." The elegant and bold poems show delicate tenderness, and the two Qiao sisters are not stingy in the words. In the suburbs of Qianshan County, the physical remains of the legend of the two Qiao sisters have been discovered, including Yanzhi Well (the Qianshan County People's Government announced it as a key cultural relic protection unit in October 1986), stone railings and stone tablets (collected by the County Museum). The six characters "February of the first year of Jiankang" engraved on the stone railing are clearly discernible. Their profound cultural connotations and the legend of the two Qiao sisters related to them have been vividly passed down to this day. Information source: Anhui Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center Information source: Anhui Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center