Tomb of Yue Fei

Tomb of Yue Fei

The Tomb of Yue Fei is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Tomb of Yue Fei is located within the Yue Fei Temple at the southern foot of Qixia Mountain in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

The tomb complex lies to the west of the Hall of Loyalty and Martyrdom. The tomb is circular, built with stone and covered with green grass. The gravestone is inscribed with the words "Tomb of King Yue of E, of the Song Dynasty." Adjacent to it is the tomb of his son, Yue Yun. In front of the tomb stands a memorial archway, on the screen wall of which is engraved the four characters "Serve the Country with Utmost Loyalty," which were Yue Fei’s lifelong motto. The sides of the tomb path feature Ming Dynasty stone sculptures of civil and military officials, stone horses, tigers, and sheep. Below the steps of the tomb path are the kneeling statues of the four traitors who betrayed Yue Fei—Qin Hui, Lady Wang, Moqi Xie, and Zhang Jun—with their hands bound behind their backs, forever bowing in remorse. The doorframe of the memorial archway bears an inscribed couplet: “The green hills are lucky to bury the loyal bones; the innocent white iron was cast into statues of traitors.”

After Yue Fei was executed, the prison guard Kou Shun carried his body out of Lin’an City and buried it by the northern shore of Jiucu Congci Temple. In the 32nd year of the Shaoxing era (1162), Emperor Xiaozong ascended the throne and reburied Yue Fei’s remains with proper rites at the southern foot of Qixia Mountain. Over the dynasties, the tomb has been renovated multiple times. The current structure dates back to its 1979 restoration.

Within the tomb complex, there are northern and southern stele corridors displaying 127 stone tablets engraved with Yue Fei’s calligraphy and poems written in his memory by later generations, all of significant historical and cultural value. In 1961, the Tomb of Yue Fei was listed as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units