Qijiguang Shrine in Jiaojiang

Qijiguang Shrine in Jiaojiang

The Qijiguang Shrine in Jiaojiang is a national key cultural relic protection unit, a patriotic education base, and a national defense education base.

The Qijiguang Memorial Hall is located at the southwestern foot of Dongshan Mountain in the urban area of Jiaojiang. Covering an area of 2,010 square meters with an exhibition space of 640 square meters, it is a key cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province and also serves as a base for patriotic and national defense education in the province.

Qijiguang (1528–1587), courtesy name Yuanning, art name Nantang, was a native of Penglai, Shandong. Born into a military family, he studied and trained in martial arts from a young age, and at the age of seventeen inherited his father’s position as an officer in the Dengzhou Guard. He was specifically tasked with maritime defense against Japanese pirates in Shandong, later serving as a regional commander in Taizhou, Jinhua, and Yanzhou of Zhejiang. He was stationed at Haimen Guard. During his four years in Taizhou, he fought across the region, achieving nine victories in nine battles—including at Taozhu, Haimen, Xinhe, and Taiping—inflicting major defeats on the pirates. Over the following four years, after quelling pirate activity in Fujian and Guangdong, he secured victory in the war against the Wokou, ending more than two centuries of pirate incursions. In memory of Qijiguang’s achievements, the people of Haimen built the Qigong Shrine at the site where the Qijia Army was stationed within the Chenghuang Temple during the Ming Dynasty, offering incense in his honor. After the liberation, the Communist Party and the people’s government placed great importance on protecting cultural relics and historical sites, allocating funds multiple times for renovations. In January 1987, the Qijiguang Memorial Hall was officially opened to the public.

The memorial hall faces south and features a screen wall at the front inscribed with the name “Qijiguang Memorial Hall,” written by the late renowned calligrapher Sha Menghai. The front hall is a five-bay double-eaved hip-and-gable roof structure, with two couplets on the front porch pillars: “Renowned through the ages, immortalized in texts; tested in a hundred battles, famed for valor” and “Sweeping away the Japanese pirates, bringing peace to the seas; safeguarding our people, blessing Jiaojiang.” The main gate of the front hall bears a couplet from Qijiguang’s own poetry: “Achievements and fame darken my temples; books and swords lighten my load.” Facing the entrance, a wooden screen displays Qijiguang’s famous poem “Composed on Horseback”: “Riding north and south to serve my lord, riverside blooms and frontier moons mark my life. Three hundred sixty days a year, most spent with spear in hand atop my steed.” These 28 characters vividly depict Qijiguang’s lifelong dedication to battle and patriotism. The main hall is a five-bay single-eave hip-and-gable roof structure, flanked by three smaller side chambers on each side. Inside the hall stands a statue of Qijiguang in military attire (sculpted by Wang Zhuoyu), his expression reflecting deep concern for the nation and its people, as if gazing out over the vast waters of Taizhou Bay.

The side chambers on either side of the main hall house two exhibition rooms, which use a combination of documents, cultural relics, charts, photographs, and models to showcase Qijiguang’s history in resisting the Wokou. The first exhibition room includes timelines of Qijiguang’s life, his deployment at Haimen Guard, the establishment of the Qijia Army, and the great victory in Taizhou. It also introduces the strict discipline of the Qijia Army: “If one man from each squad charges ahead and the other eight do not follow to rescue him if he falls in battle, all eight will be executed.”

The second exhibition room features a model of the Qijia Army’s “Mandarin Duck Formation.” At the time, Qijiguang, based on the geography of eastern Zhejiang and the tactics of the Wokou, pioneered this battle formation. He achieved repeated victories using this method. The room also covers his campaigns in Fujian, his comrades-in-arms, the people’s resistance against the pirates, important military treatises, the hero’s later years, and the people’s remembrance. Also displayed is a model of the Qijia Army’s warship.

The Qijiguang Memorial Hall is built along the slopes of Dongshan Mountain, with its main hall and side rooms ascending the hillside. Though modest in size, the architecture carries a majestic presence. Located in the old urban area of Jiaojiang, as the former site where Qijiguang and his troops were stationed during the Ming Dynasty to resist the Wokou, it forms part of the Jiaojiang estuary coastal defense heritage site together with Dongshan Mountain, Niutoujing Mountain, and the eastern gate and ruins of the nearby Haimen Guard city.

The front hall of the Qijiguang Shrine is a five-bay structure with an upper floor. The statue of Qijiguang in the hall was created by Wang Zhuoyu, Vice Chairman of the Zhejiang Artists Association and Director of the Sculpture Department at the China Academy of Art. The plaque above reads “Mighty Guardian of the Seas,” while the couplet on the front golden pillars was inscribed by General Zhang Aiping: “Drawing the sword, its light chills the pirates’ hearts; lifting the clouds, my finger points to the moon at the heart of the sky.”

The main hall, side halls, and viewing towers are interconnected, collectively exhibiting “The Historical Relics of Qijiguang’s Resistance Against the Wokou.” The main hall serves as the central exhibition space, while the east side hall and east viewing tower form the first exhibition room, and the west side hall and west viewing tower make up the second. This exhibition uses documents, cultural relics, charts, photographs, and models to recreate the glorious history of the Qijia Army’s fight against the Wokou.

Outside the east gate of the main hall, within the surrounding wall and leaning against the eastern wall of the main hall and the northern wall of the east side hall, stand nine white stone steles engraved with calligraphy works by Huang Songtao, Liu Yi, Liu Yefeng, Ge Jieping, Zhu Jia, You Shou, Zhou Zhaoyi, Ren Zheng, and Qian Juntao. Among them, the work by Huang Songtao is particularly striking, with bold and vigorous strokes. The memorial hall also houses a white marble statue of Qijiguang.

On October 7, 2019, the Qijiguang Shrine in Jiaojiang was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relic Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relic Protection Units