Tomb and Memorial Temple of Zhao Bian

Tomb and Memorial Temple of Zhao Bian

The Tomb and Memorial Temple of Zhao Bian is a cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province.

Zhao Bian, a native of Quzhou, Zhejiang, styled himself Yuedao and was also known as Zhifeizi. He was posthumously honored with the title Qingxian Gong. Born in 1008 AD and passing away in 1084 AD, he lived to be 76 years old. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 27 and served through the reigns of Emperors Renzong, Yingzong, and Shenzong of the mid-Northern Song Dynasty. He successively held local official positions in Zhangde, Henan; Chongan, Fujian; Sixian, Anhui; Chengdu, Yizhou, and Maizhou, Sichuan; Ganzhou, Jiangxi; and Hangzhou, Shaoxing, and Chun’an, Zhejiang. Later, he rose through the ranks to become Palace Attendant Censor, Vice Chancellor (参知政事), and Minor Tutor to the Crown Prince.

Zhao was born in Xiaotili (now Shawan Village), two kilometers east of Quzhou city. After his death, he was buried in Dongshanjian Village, Lianhua Town, twenty kilometers from Quzhou Prefecture City. His tomb’s approach features standing stone statues of civil and military officials, symmetrical stone horses, tigers, and sheep, as well as the Spirit Way Stele of Zhao Qingxian Gong, inscribed with text personally written by Su Dongpo. To commemorate his noble character, descendants built the Qingxian Gong Memorial Temple in his hometown Xiaotili during the Southern Song Dynasty, erected a statue of Qingxian Gong, and established the Qingxian Academy on what is now the site of Shuyuan Middle School. Part of the memorial temple has been restored and it is now a municipal cultural relic protection unit and an integrity education base.

Over his 45-year official career, Zhao Bian did not accumulate personal wealth. Most of his salary and family assets were used to aid disaster victims and support the poor and orphaned. Dedicated to the nation and the people, he put public service above all and remained incorruptible throughout his life. Especially when serving as a Palace Attendant Censor, he dared to remonstrate openly, “impeaching the powerful without fear and recommending the worthy regardless of status,” earning him the reputation of the “Iron-Faced Censor.” In history, he is as renowned as Lord Bao and can be called a “peerless clean-handed official.”

Every day before sleeping, he would burn incense and pray to heaven, reflecting on his deeds and reminding himself daily to “not seek comfort for oneself, but wish all beings to be free from suffering,” striving to do good for the country and its people. The people of Ganzhou said: “The virtue you cultivated in life blesses us even now; it is your gift.” Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty named his tomb stele “Aizhi” (loving and upright) and ordered the great minister Su Shi to compose the text of the Spirit Way Stele of Zhao Xian Gong. Zhao was appointed to Sichuan five times as an envoy, and among those trusted and beloved by the people of Shu, none compared to him. As a result, he was appointed as Grand Master and Prefect of Chengdu. In the “Su Shi Collection · Eulogy on Zhao Qingxian Gong,” it states: “His ambition was like that of Boyi, his purity divine”; “As pure as jade, as clear as ice”; “In this world there is his likeness, like the moon reflected in water—exhibited for all to see, inspiring future generations.” The eminent scholar and prime minister Han Qi referred to Zhao Bian as “a model for the people.”

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Zhejiang Province