Tomb of Xie Jin

Tomb of Xie Jin

The Tomb of Xie Jin is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangxi Province.

Xie Jin was initially buried in Bayi, Ren Shou Township (present-day Laoqiao Town), Jishui County, at Baxi (about 4 km north of the county town). In the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, Magistrate Luo Huangshang, fearing that erosion of the riverbank might endanger the tomb, ordered its relocation to Dongshan Pavilion outside the eastern gate of the county (now within the compound of the Jishui Meteorological Bureau).

Xie Jin was falsely accused and executed, and his family secretly returned his coffin to their hometown, initially burying him in Bacun Village, Laoqiao Town. In the 40th year of the Jiajing reign (1561), Magistrate Luo Huangshang, following an imperial decree, relocated Xie Jin’s tomb to Dongshan Pavilion outside the eastern gate of the county town, with the grave site facing west. In 1957, the Provincial Cultural Bureau listed the Tomb of Xie Jin as a key provincial cultural heritage site and allocated funds for its restoration. Later, it was damaged due to earth excavation for the construction of the Changgan Highway (National Highway 105) and was moved to the west side of the current Meteorological Bureau. In 1985, the government allocated funds for further repairs.

The rear tomb stele is inscribed with “Preface to the Collected Works of Scholar Xie,” written by Luo Hongxian, a native of the county, discussing Xie Jin’s character and achievements. The stele is a nearly 2-meter-high, nearly 1-meter-wide white hard bluestone. The text is an impassioned and beautifully composed essay, written in intaglio regular script. The calligraphy is neat, elegant, and gracefully fluid, created by Yi Ling Yu Zhuan, the magistrate of Jishui County during the Ming Dynasty.

Xie Jin (1369–1415), courtesy names Dashen and Jinshen, art name Chunyu, also known as Xi Yi, posthumously honored as Wen Yi, was a Han Chinese from Jishui County, Ji’an, Jiangxi Province, and the younger brother of Xie Lun. He was the first Grand Secretary of the Cabinet in the Ming Dynasty.

Xie Jin (xiè jìn), born on the seventh day of the eleventh month in the second year of the Hongwu reign (December 6, 1369), came from a scholarly family in Jianhu, Jishui. He passed the imperial examination in the 21st year of the Hongwu reign and rose to the position of Hanlin Academician.

His grandfather, Xie Ziyuan, passed the imperial examination in the fifth year of the Zhizheng reign of the Yuan Dynasty (1345), served as a magistrate in Anzhou, later became a scribe at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and held positions such as Director of the Chengwu Department and Magistrate of Dongguan County... More details about Xie Jin++

Further reading:

· Third Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units