Tomb of Huang Daopo

Tomb of Huang Daopo

The Tomb of Huang Daopo is a designated Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relic Protection Unit and also serves as a patriotic education base.

The Tomb of Huang Daopo is located at No. 13, Dongwan Village (the former site of Wunijing Town), Huajing Town, on the north side of the outer ring service road near Xupu Bridge. It faces south and covers an area of over 1,000 square meters, with a two-tiered platform stairway within the tomb compound. A 50-centimeter-high marble protective wall surrounds the grave mound, which features an oval-shaped stone-ringed earthen tomb. In front of the tomb stands a white marble gravestone, the front of which bears the handwritten inscription “Tomb of Huang Daopo of the Yuan Dynasty” by Wei Wenbo, former Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China. The back of the gravestone is inscribed with an epitaph. In front of the gravestone is a long rectangular stone offering table and stone benches. The surroundings of the tomb are planted with evergreen trees such as pine, boxwood, pagoda tree, and podocarpus. The tomb is enclosed by white walls on three sides, giving the entire burial site a simple yet solemn appearance.

Huang Daopo, also known as Huang Po, Huang Siniang, or Qiaogu, was born during the transition from the Song to the Yuan Dynasty in Wunijing Town. Coming from a poor family, she was forced to become a child bride at the age of twelve or thirteen. Later, she wandered to Liuzhou (Hainan Island), where she spent several decades. There, she learned cotton planting and weaving techniques from the Li ethnic group. After returning to her hometown in her later years, she actively engaged in the cotton textile industry. Combining the skills she had acquired in Hainan with traditional Han Chinese weaving methods, she improved textile tools and passed on advanced techniques to local women. This greatly expanded the market for local cotton textiles and promoted the development and prosperity of the textile industry in the Songjiang area. By the Ming Dynasty, the Songjiang region had become a national hub for cotton cloth production.

Huang Daopo was an outstanding female textile technology innovator in ancient China. She was from Wunijing, Songjiang Prefecture (now Huajing Town, Xuhui District). Legend has it that she wandered to Yazhou (now Hainan Province), where she learned the complete set of cotton textile techniques from the Li people, refined and innovated upon them, and returned to her hometown during the Yuanshun era to teach these skills. Her contributions to the development of China’s textile technology were groundbreaking and helped establish Shanghai as the center of China’s cotton textile industry at the time.

Originally built during the Yuan Dynasty, the tomb has undergone many changes over the centuries. In 1957, it was restored by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, and a memorial stele was erected. The front of the stele is inscribed with “Tomb of Huang Daopo, Textile Artist of the Yuan Dynasty,” while the back provides a detailed account of her life. The tomb was renovated again in 1962, when a white marble stele was installed, and further restorations have taken place in recent years. The surrounding area is planted with pine, boxwood, pagoda tree, and podocarpus, enclosed by a decorative wall with flower-patterned windows and tiled eaves. The tomb platform is paved with blue bricks, featuring an oval-shaped earthen tomb at its center. In front of the tomb are an offering table and stone benches, with the 1957 stele positioned to the right front, the 1962 stele in the middle, creating a solemn and respectful atmosphere. In 1984, the site underwent another major renovation, covering an area of one mu (approximately 0.165 acres). It now features a circular stone-ringed earthen tomb, a blue brick floor, and three-sided enclosing walls. A white marble stele inscribed with “Tomb of Huang Daopo of the Yuan Dynasty” in the handwriting of Wei Wenbo stands in front of the tomb. In 1987, it was listed as a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit.

Huajing Town: Originally known as Longhua Township, Huajing Town was transferred from Shanghai County to Xuhui District in 1992. In 1998, Longhua Township was abolished and Huajing Town was established. The area includes 15 administrative villages (five within the town proper and ten distributed across six subdistricts, with administrative authority transferred to the respective subdistricts), 11 neighborhood committees, and 446 resident groups. As of June 30, 2006, the town had a total resident population of 64,303, including 60,517 permanent residents—of which 27,521 were registered residents, 18,846 were migrant workers, and 75 were... More details about Huajing Town++