Tomb of Wu Zhen

Tomb of Wu Zhen

The Tomb of Wu Zhen is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Tomb of Wu Zhen is located in Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, dating back to the Yuan Dynasty. It faces south and is 2.3 meters in height with a diameter of 5.2 meters. The base is octagonal and constructed from stone slabs, the edges of which are carved with ruyi patterns. Three layers of stone slabs are stacked on top of the stone tomb, and the structure is crowned with earth and planted grass.

In front of the tomb is a stele inscribed in seal script by Xie Yingxiang, the magistrate of the Ming Wanli era, that reads "This painting hides the tomb of the noble hermit Wu Zhonggui." The stele is 1.36 meters high, 0.62 meters wide, and 0.22 meters thick. There is also a stele inscribed with Wu Zhen’s own title “Pagoda of the Plum Blossom Monk,” though only the lower half remains, now housed inside the Plum Blossom Hermitage. Approximately 1 meter southeast of the tomb lies the Plum Blossom Spring. At the end of the front pathway is the Plum Blossom Pavilion, featuring a hip-and-gable roof and measuring three bays in both width and depth. Inside the pavilion stands a stele inscribed with the running script "Record of Renovating the Tomb of the Plum Blossom Taoist" written by Chen Jiru in the first year of the Taichang era (1620) of the Ming Dynasty. The stele is 2 meters high, 0.94 meters wide, and 0.23 meters thick. To the west of the pavilion is the Inkstone-Washing Pond, restored in 1986. The eastern corridor houses eight stone engravings of Wu Zhen’s bamboo paintings (known as the "Eight Bamboo Steles"), recarved in 1685 during the Qing Kangxi era by Qian Shigeng based on the original rubbings. The western stele corridor displays three stone tablets engraved with Wu Zhen’s cursive script version of the "Heart Sutra," two tablets with colophons by Liu Yong and the Eleventh Prince (Yongxing) as well as Qian Yue, one tablet with "Record of the Renovation of the Plum Blossom Hermitage" written by Liu Zhen in 1780 (the 45th year of the Qianlong era), and two tablets with "Appeal for the Renovation of the Plum Blossom Hermitage" written by Cao Tingdong.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units