Tomb of Wei Liaoweng

Tomb of Wei Liaoweng

The Tomb of Wei Liaoweng is a cultural relic protection unit of Suzhou City.

The original scale of the Tomb of Wei Liaoweng was grand, featuring a spirit way, a spirit way stele, and a stone memorial archway. According to the *Hushu Pass Annals*, “The tomb of Wei Wenzhen Gong (Wei Liaoweng) is located in Jinpingwu on Gaojing Mountain. He was buried here in the first year of the Jiari era, and the spirit way stele was composed by Shi Shengzu.” It has been destroyed and repaired multiple times over the years. In the first year of the Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty (1851), Ni Liangyong, the Provincial Administration Commissioner of Jiangsu, once erected a seven-foot tomb stele for Wei’s grave, inscribed with “Tomb of Wei Liaoweng, Duke of Qin, Posthumously Honored as Grand Tutor, Duke Wenzhen of the Song Dynasty, Former Minister of State and Participating Chancellor.” It was later destroyed. After the Xinhai Revolution, Mr. Wu Yinpei of the Suzhou Tomb Preservation Society re-erected a stone tablet inscribed with “Tomb of Wei Wenzhen Gong of the Song Dynasty.” During the Cultural Revolution, the tablet disappeared without a trace, and even the exact location of the tomb could no longer be found. In 1984, during a cultural relics survey, the Wu County Cultural Relics Management Committee discovered Wei Liaoweng’s epitaph plaque in front of a small hill in Jinpingwu. It was found that the tomb mound had been damaged, but the long-lost tomb of Wei was finally rediscovered and has since been properly protected.