Tomb of Cao Chengying

Tomb of Cao Chengying

The Tomb of Cao Chengying is a cultural relic protection unit of Xuancheng City.

Cao Chengying was a renowned talented woman during the Republican era. Naturally beautiful and intelligent, she was eager to learn, but unfortunately, she was born in the wrong time, and her acquired knowledge could not be fully utilized. At that time, academia in China was heavily influenced by politics. The biological community adhered to the cytogenetics of Michurin-Lysenko, while Weismann-Morgan genetics was denounced as idealism and anti-Darwinism. The genetics Cao Chengying studied in the United States belonged to the latter school, so she shifted her research to potatoes and sorghum. She achieved outstanding results in the study and improvement of potato cell genetics, cultivating a high-yield potato variety widely planted in the northeastern region. Cao Chengying had a natural affinity for literature. While studying in Hangzhou, she joined the Chen Guang Society, an organization formed by literary figures such as Wang Jingzhi, Feng Xuefeng, Wei Jinzhi, and Rou Shi, and received support and help from Hu Shi. She wrote a large number of poems throughout her life, some of which were published in the Women’s Monthly.

Cao Chengying was one of the four bridesmaids at Hu Shi’s wedding. Later, she had a deeply moving love affair with Hu Shi in Hangzhou. Perhaps due to the sentiment that “no water is comparable after one has seen the ocean,” she remained unmarried for the rest of her life. In 1937, she returned to China from Cornell University in the United States with a master’s degree in genetics and breeding. She subsequently taught at several universities across the country. In 1969, during the height of the Cultural Revolution, she was sent back to her ancestral home in Jixi as a “bourgeois academic authority.” On January 18, 1973, Cao Chengying passed away in Shanghai at the age of 71 due to illness.

After her death, Cao Chengying was buried in Xuancheng, Anhui. Today, her tomb has become a site of reverence for many literati. It is said that, according to the will of this female agronomist, her grave was built beside the road east of Wangchuan Village in Jixi. Perhaps Cao Chengying wished to quietly wait and patiently watch here—if one day Hu Shi returned to his hometown of Shangzhuang Village, he would surely pass by, and she would be ready to welcome him with open arms... Cao Chengying once expressed her feelings in these words: “The fish sinks, the wild geese vanish, and it’s been so long; I wonder if you are well?” She admitted that “my youthful appearance and black hair have all faded, leaving only my persistent love behind.” Until her death, Cao Chengying never knew that Hu Shi had passed away 11 years earlier on the other side of “that shallow strait”... This may be yet another memorable coincidence: Cao Chengying was 11 years younger than Hu Shi, and Hu Shi passed away 11 years before her.

The tombstone is inscribed with the words “Tomb of Mr. Cao Chengying.” Behind the tombstone is a “Tomb Epitaph of Cao Chengying,” which reads: “Milk name Lijuan, courtesy name Peisheng. Master’s graduate from Cornell University, USA. Served as professor at Anhui University, Sichuan University, Fudan University, and Shenyang Agricultural College. Member of the Jiusan Society. Poet, and China’s first generation of female agronomists.” Simple words—but who can fathom the profound affection hidden within such simplicity?

Not far away, over a small river, there is an arched stone bridge called Yanglin Bridge. Some say it was funded and built by Cao Chengying after returning to her hometown. Did Cao Chengying build this bridge in her later years hoping to gaze at Hu Shi across the waters—or did it hint at their lifelong separation by water? There are obviously no answers to these questions. But back then, Hu Shi once quoted a line from Yang Wanli’s poem to praise the scenery at Yanglin Water Mouth: “Ten thousand mountains forbid a stream to rush; / The babbling stream protests night and day. / But once past the mountain’s foot ahead, / Out it bursts into the open plain.” Seen this way, “Yanglin Water Mouth” and “Yanglin Bridge” carry extraordinary meaning between Hu Shi and Cao Chengying.

Perhaps in this world, not all who love can become life partners. Maybe it is precisely because of such fruitless love and the bittersweet journey of emotions that there are stories of missed opportunities and fleeting moments, and splashes of love in the river of life.

Cao Chengying (1902–1973), courtesy name Peisheng, was from Wangchuan Village, Jixi. She was the first female professor in China’s agronomy field, a member of the Jiusan Society, and once served as a member of the Shenyang Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

For several generations, Cao Chengying’s family had run businesses in tea, calligraphy, paintings, and the Four Treasures of the Study in Wuhan’s three towns. As a well-known Huizhou merchant family, their “merchant yet scholarly” ethos placed great emphasis on the education of their children. Her father, Cao Qirui, once hired a scholar to set up a “private school” to educate his children.

As a child, Cao Chengying was intelligent and beautiful, but physically frail. From a young age, her parents had arranged her betrothal... More details about Cao Chengying ++

Wangchuan Village: Located in the hinterland of northern Ling County, Jixi, Wangchuan Village is 35 kilometers from the county seat. Backed by Dahuishan Mountain, the Kunxi River, originating from the foothills of Dahuishan, flows eastward through the village. Surrounded by mountains and featuring flat terrain, it currently administers natural villages including Wangchuan, Hui chuan, Baojia, Shanglian, and Shijia, with ten villager groups and eight villager subgroups. The population is 3,950, covering a total area of 24 square kilometers, including 3,300 acres of arable land and more than 21,000 acres of mountainous land. The village committee is located in Wangchuan Village, an ancient settlement with a thousand-year history where the Cao family residents make up 80% of the population. It is one of the key towns of the Huizhou merchants’ birthplace, historically known for valuing Confucian teachings and education, with a rich cultural heritage... More details about Wangchuan Village ++