MÈNG Zōng 孟宗 of the Three Kingdoms 三国 period (period 07) was also called Gōngwǔ 恭武. His father died when he was small, and his mother was very ill. Mèng Zōng tried to sustain his mother and himself by gathering firewood to sell. One winter Mèng Zōng’s mother became very sick and had no appetite. She grew very weak. However she longed to eat a soup made with boiled bamboo shoots. Mèng Zōng had no means to give her such a thing, and he went out to the bamboo grove where, seizing a bamboo stalk for support, he broke down in tears.
His filial piety moved heaven and earth. Suddenly the earth cracked open and many stalks of bamboo shoots appeared. Mèng Zōng gathered them and returned home to make soup for his mother. When she had eaten it, she recovered.