Stone Carvings at the Jinjiacun Tomb

Stone Carvings at the Jinjiacun Tomb

The Stone Carvings at Jinjiacun Tomb are a Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Stone Carvings at the Jinjiacun Tomb: Located in Jinjiacun, Jianshan, Houxiang Town, Danyang.

From the road next to Jing’an Tomb, go straight north for about 5 kilometers to a T-junction, turn left and go about 600 meters—the tomb site is on the left side of the road. Drive into the village and find a parking spot. Walk straight south to a large field surrounded by fencing. Follow the field ridges to the southernmost end, where the stone carvings are located. These carvings are quite hard to find because the field is low-lying and surrounded by higher ground, making them invisible from the outside. Zhu... (text cut off) due to the low terrain, no one could see them. Therefore, the book "Dunhuang Painting Art" does not have photos of this site, nor can it compare the erosion changes here.

According to the "Chinese Cultural Relics Atlas · Jiangsu Volume," in April 1977, the cultural relics department salvaged and repositioned the Tianlu (heavenly deer) and Qilin (mythical unicorn) figures, which had been submerged in a pond and buried in soil. The eastern figure is the Tianlu, measuring 2.38 meters long, 2.25 meters high, with a neck height of 1.2 meters and a body circumference of 2 meters. Its head is damaged, three feet are missing, and it shows severe weathering. The western figure is the Qilin, 2.13 meters long, 1.9 meters high, with a neck height of 1.05 meters and a body circumference of 1.65 meters. Its snout and left rear foot are missing. It is judged to be the tomb of an unnamed emperor from the Qi or Liang dynasties.

This site has been named the Southern Dynasties Stone Carvings at Jinjiacun by the cultural relics authorities, indicating that there is no unified recognition or final confirmation as to whose tomb it belongs to. Some books directly identify it as the tomb of Xiao Baoyan, the deposed emperor of Qi, which is not appropriate—for example, the book "Imperial Tombs of the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, and Sui."

According to "Imperial Tombs of the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, and Sui": The tomb of Xiao Baoyan, the deposed emperor of Qi, is in Jinjiacun, Jianshan Township, Danyang, approximately two li (measured as two kilometers) southeast of Emperor Jing’s Xiuan Tomb. It was built at the southern foot of Datou Mountain, backed by Datou Mountain, with Bald Mountain to the east and West Mountain to the west, each about 80 meters away. The tomb mound is now a round earthen heap, roughly the same size as the mound of Xiao Baorong’s Gong’an Tomb. Locals call it the “Royal (King) Tomb Mound.” The tomb faces south, with a vast open area in front. Six hundred meters in front of the tomb is a pond, 30 meters long from east to west and 20 meters wide from north to south. Two hundred meters in front of the pond is a pair of stone beasts, positioned directly facing the tomb chamber, all aligned on a central axis. In August 1968, the Nanjing Museum conducted a clearance. At that time, the western stone beast was deeply buried underground, with only its head exposed; the eastern stone beast had also toppled into a small pond to the left and was submerged in water. According to locals, they were originally standing upright on the bank of the pond, symmetrically placed about 32 meters apart. After the clearance, in 1976, the Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Management Committee funded the restoration, re-erecting the two stone beasts to their original ground positions. The two beasts are carved with vigorous strength and a majestic presence. The western beast has a single horn, an open mouth with a protruding tongue, carved wings, and is the male beast, measuring 2.13 meters long and 1.90 meters high. The eastern beast has two horns, is larger than the western one, stands proudly with its head raised, also has an open mouth and tongue, and a hanging tail, also male, measuring 2.38 meters long and 2.25 meters high.

Regarding the positional relationship between the stone carvings and the tomb, the record in Suzuki Hiroshi’s "Tombs of the Six Dynasties" differs slightly: the Jinjiacun Southern Dynasties Tomb (as he refers to it) is backed by a small hill called Huangni Mountain (elevation 167.2 meters). Twenty meters in front of the tomb is a pool 30 meters east-west and 20 meters north-south, and another 200 meters ahead is the pair of stone beasts. The beasts, the pool, and the tomb chamber are almost in a straight line, with the spirit way lying in the gently sloping valley about 80 meters wide.

Based on the tomb distribution map of Jinjiacun drawn from cultural relics data, it can be seen that "Tombs of the Six Dynasties" is relatively more accurate. Due to time constraints at the time, the location of the tomb itself was not sought out. On the map, the mountain where the tomb is located is being heavily quarried, causing severe damage. It is unknown whether the tomb remains intact.

These stone carvings were previously named the Stone Carvings of the Unnamed Tomb of the Jin-Wang-Chen Period, indicating that the carvings are located near Jinjia, Wangjia, and Chenjia villages in Jianshan—not in a place called Jin-Wang-Chen Village, as some netizens mistakenly assume based on the name. I have also marked the locations of the three villages on the map.

Regarding the identity of the tomb owner, the Nanjing Museum, in "Two Southern Dynasties Tombs in Huqiao and Jianshan, Danyang, Jiangsu," believes it is very likely the tomb of Xiao Baoyan. Meanwhile, Japanese scholar Suzuki Hiroshi, in his book "Tombs of the Six Dynasties," identifies it as the Xing’an Tomb of Xiao Luan, Emperor Ming of Qi. Whose tomb is it? It is possible that doubts about the identity of the tomb owner arose as early as the Song Dynasty, as it is not recorded in Song-era local chronicles.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units