Gao Zizhishui

Gao Zizhishui

Gao Zizhishui is a cultural relic protection unit of Wuxi City.

Gao Zizhishui is the site where Gao Panlong drowned himself. It is located behind Shuiqu Alley in the city of Wuxi, within the former site of the old Jiangnan Middle School in Wuxi. Before liberation, both the Zhi Pond and the memorial shrine were destroyed. During the Cultural Revolution, it was damaged once again. In 1978, after being cleared and restored on the original site, the pond regained its former appearance. On August 16, 1957, the Wuxi Municipal People's Committee designated it as a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit.

In the sixth year of the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty (1626), Wei Zhongxian seized power and caused chaos in the government. Under false imperial orders, he arrested and persecuted members of the Donglin Party. He sent his trusted aides to Jiangnan to capture them. On March 14 of the same year, Gao Panlong, who had already been stripped of his official rank and returned to his hometown, and who was the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and a leader of the Donglin Party, sensed that he could not escape persecution. Late at night, he hastily wrote a “Letter of Farewell” and a “Note to Friends,” left them on his desk, and then went to the back garden at dawn. Following the example of Qu Yuan, he drowned himself in the pond, ending his life at the age of 65. In the seventeenth year of the Shunzhi era of the Qing Dynasty (1660), Gao Panlong’s grandnephew, Gao Shiqin, built a three-bay house on the pond where Gao Panlong sacrificed himself, naming it “Zhi Shui Shrine” (Stop-the-Water Shrine), which became a dedicated memorial site for Gao Panlong.

Before liberation, both the Zhi Pond and the shrine were gone. In 1953, the Wuxi Municipal People’s Government strengthened the protection of cultural relics and excavated the area to restore the pond to its former state. At the same time, they invited Guo Moruo to inscribe the four characters “Gao Zi Zhi Shui” (“Gao’s Stop-the-Water Site”), which were then carved on a stone tablet and placed beside the pond. During the Cultural Revolution, Gao Zizhishui suffered further damage. The stone inscription was broken and sunk to the bottom of the pond. In 1978, after being cleared and restored on the original site, the pond regained its former appearance. On August 16, 1957, the Wuxi Municipal People's Committee designated it as a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit.