The Stele of the Five Rites

The Stele of the Five Rites

The Stele of the Five Rites is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Commonly known as the Five Rites Stele, it is located at the Daming County Stone Carving Museum. The stele is inscribed with the "New Discussions on the Five Rites," written by Emperor Huizong of Song (Zhao Ji) in the second year of Daguan (1108), and is therefore also called the "Imperially Commissioned Daguan Five Rites Record" Stele. Originally erected in the fifth year of the Tang Dynasty's Kaiyuan era (840),

it was initially a stele for He Jintao, the military governor of Wei-Bo during the Tang Dynasty, and was both composed and inscribed by Liu Gongquan. In the second year of Daguan during the Song Dynasty (1108), Emperor Huizong, aiming to maintain and consolidate his rule, established the Five Rites—Ceremonial, Guest, Jubilation, Military, and Mourning—as the state system of his era. He wrote the "New Discussions on the Five Rites" and issued an edict for local governments across the country to carve the text onto stone tablets and erect them for nationwide implementation, with penalties for non-compliance. In the seventh year of Zhenghe (1117), Liang Zimei, the prefect of Daming Prefecture, erected the stele in Beijing (present-day Daming). Lacking a suitable stone, he destroyed the Tang-era virtue stele of He Jintao, ground away its original Tang Dynasty inscriptions, and replaced them with the "Stele of the Five Rites." Traces of Liu Gongquan’s calligraphy can still be seen on the sides. The stele is made of limestone and consists of four stacked parts from bottom to top: the base, the tortoise pedestal (bixi), the main body, and the stele top. The entire stele stands 12.34 meters tall, 3.04 meters wide, and 1.08 meters thick, weighing 140.3 tons, making it currently the largest ancient stele in China. In November 1956 and April 1966, former Premier Li Xiannian and then-Premier Zhou Enlai visited the stele. This ancient stele, created under the patronage of two emperors, preserves the authentic works of master calligraphers from two dynasties, and is an important source for studying the history, politics, and calligraphy art of the Tang and Song periods.

On May 25, 2006, it was announced by the State Council as part of the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further reading:

· Second Batch of Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units