Tomb of Quan Zuwang

Tomb of Quan Zuwang

The Tomb of Quan Zuwang is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Tomb of Quan Zuwang is located at the southern end of Wangjiaqiao Nursery in the southern suburbs. Quan Zuwang (1706–1755), from Yin County, Zhejiang Province, was an important figure of the Eastern Zhejiang School of Historiography. He passed the imperial examination in the first year of the Qianlong reign (1736) and became a Hanlin Academy bachelor. However, unwilling to take up the lowly position of a county magistrate, he returned to his hometown the following year and never held office again. He had profound scholarship and a particular passion for collecting classical texts and ancient stone rubbings. After returning home, he authored three volumes of Guxue Jiwen, revised the Nanglei Huangshi Song-Yuan Xue’an, proofread the Shuijingzhu seven times, continued compiling Yongshang Qiujiu Shi, and wrote works such as Jing Shi Wen Da and Han Shu Di Li Zhi Ji Yi, adding many valuable treasures to China’s cultural heritage.

The burial site was originally part of the Quan family cemetery and is a component of the Zuguanshan tomb cluster. The tomb faces southwest and is situated on a stretch of green grass. It has a rectangular layout, measuring 730 cm in width and 420 cm in depth, enclosed by long stone slabs forming a wall 122 cm high. The gravestone is the original one, standing 122 cm tall, with an inscription reading “Tomb of Grand Historian Quan from Xieshan.” On both sides of the offering platform stand two stone steles inscribed with “Biography of Mr. Quan Zuwang” and two square stone pillars, each carved with a pair of endearing lions—these are tomb guardians.

Not far to the northeast of the tomb lies the grave of Quan Shaowei, Quan Zuwang’s sixth-generation ancestor. The structure of this tomb is largely similar to that of Quan Zuwang’s, also rectangular with a slightly shallower depth.