Tomb of Lin Shusen

Tomb of Lin Shusen

The Tomb of Lin Shusen is a cultural heritage site protected at the municipal level in Fuzhou.

The Tomb of Lin Shusen is backed by Qipan Mountain, faces Min’an Town, with the surging Min River to the left flowing eastward, and the thousand-year-old Tang Dynasty Hui Long Bridge to the right.

A stone stairway dozens of meters long beside the stream leads directly up the mountain. The tomb faces south and is built in a traditional “ruyi” (scepter) shape, constructed with rammed earth. It is 8.9 meters wide and 22 meters deep, with four layers of terraces. The surrounding area is protected by a retaining wall made of granite stones. In front of the burial mound stands a granite tombstone, which is 1.66 meters high, 0.83 meters wide, and 0.16 meters thick. The inscription on the tombstone, carved in intaglio, reads: “Eastern Yue, General Lin Shou Ting, Duke of the Army, his beloved wife Madam Chen, eldest son Ding Nan, second son Xuan Nan, second daughter-in-law □ Madam — their eternal resting place. The year of Yimao in the Republic of China.” On both sides of the tombstone are decorative screens engraved with a poem by Lin Shu, written in running script, with characters approximately 4 cm in size.

At the center of the retaining wall behind the burial mound is a large “Fu” (blessing) character, 0.59 meters in diameter. The tomb pillars are inscribed with a couplet: “In the hall, the yellow robe was bestowed upon the imperial guard; in the Central Shaanxi, the red flag flew first before the double pupils.” The sides of the tomb pillars are adorned with bas-reliefs of bats and the “longevity” (shou) character design. On both sides of the burial mound are tomb mirrors engraved with the characters “Dragon Roar” and “Tiger’s Roar,” in clerical script, each character about 0.25 meters in size. The tomb screens are inscribed with eight regular script characters: “Breezes are Clear, the Moon is Bright,” and “Mountains are Bright, Waters are Beautiful.” The horizontal screen on the terrace was written by Lin Sen and details the life of Lin Shusen in cursive and semi-cursive script, with characters about 0.065 meters in size.

In May 1986, the tomb was relocated to the top of Min’an Stream in Tingjiang Town, his hometown.

On November 5, 1992, it was designated as a municipal-level cultural heritage site in Fuzhou.

Tingjiang Town: A town under the jurisdiction of Mawei District, Fuzhou. A famous hometown of overseas Chinese. In 1958, it was established as Tingjiang Commune, changed to a township in 1984, and to a town in 1989. Located on the northern bank of the Min River estuary, it is 28 kilometers from downtown Fuzhou. Covering an area of 106.7 square kilometers with a population of 34,000, it administers 19 village committees including Chang’an, Dongqi, Yingyu, Xianglu, Changbing, Dongjie, Xiangyang, Aoxi, Hushan, Shengmei, Tingtou, Xibian, Hongtang, Min’an, Dongsheng, Kangban, Qianyang, Baimei, and Niuxiang, as well as 2 neighborhood committees: Tingtou and Min’an. Scenic spots and historical sites include the Tingtou North Shore Fort and the Min’an Hui Long Bridge, the Min’an Patrol Inspectorate, and the Luantou Yishan Courtyard... Tingjiang Town detailed information++