Tomb of Lu Ruiying

Tomb of Lu Ruiying

The Tomb of Lu Ruiying is a cultural relic protection unit of Tonggu County.

The Tomb of Lu Ruiying is located in Jinxing Village, Wenquan Town, Tonggu County, Jiangxi Province.

Lu Ruiying, also known as Yile and styled Heshou (1750–1839), was a native of Yongning, Tonggu. He held the military rank of Vice Wing Commander (a third-rank official), and his tomb is situated behind the Crab-Shaped House in Jinxing Village, Wenquan Town.

The tomb stands 2.25 meters tall and 5.8 meters wide, featuring a grand structure with eight pillars and five stelae arranged in the shape of a memorial archway. The central main stele bears the inscribed title and name, while another horizontal stele above it is inscribed with the words “Honored Seven Times.” The left stele is engraved with “Four Generations Honored,” beneath which are the names and titles of his four sons. The right stele is inscribed with “Five Generations Under One Roof,” below which are the names of his grandsons. The left and right side stelae feature a 1,600-character epitaph. The stone pillars are engraved with two couplets; the inner one has faded due to severe weathering of the granite and is barely legible, while the outer couplet reads: “Lake lanterns hover above the moon’s abyss; cloud pathways arch without roots.”

Lu Ruiying was the initiator of renaming “Kuiguang Hall” to “Kuiguang Academy,” an act recorded in the “Record of Kuiguang Academy.” As the earliest academy established in Tonggu, Kuiguang Academy also served as the foremost institution of higher learning for the Hakka people. It played a significant role in cultivating a large number of talents to revitalize Tonggu.

Lu Ruiying had four sons: his eldest, Biqing, became a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) and served as a Deputy Brigadier General in the Guangdong Camp; his second son, Jilin, also a Jinshi, was appointed as a defender in Anhui; his third son, Biyuan, another Jinshi, served as a Brigadier General in Guangdong, later becoming the Acting Commander of the Chenghai-Shunde Regiment and the Commandant of Shunde, contributing to the nation during the Opium War; and his fourth son, Yang, a scholar, served as a Qianzong (military officer) in Kaiping, Guangdong. The feat of “one mother, three Jinshi” is not only unique in Tonggu but also rare throughout the province and even the country. Moreover, Lu Ruiying meticulously passed on his martial knowledge and wisdom to his nephews. As a result, his nephew Hongzhang became a Jinshi and served as a defender in Dacheng Camp, Zhili; Chaoguang, the top scholar in the provincial examination, served as a defender in the Guangdong Camp and acting Brigadier General; and Zhiyong, a Juren (successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level), successively served as a Qianzong in Xiushui and Yifeng. Therefore, he made tremendous contributions to Tonggu.

As such, his tomb holds significant reference value for the study of Tonggu’s history, Hakka culture, and the structure and form of mid-Qing dynasty tombs. The tomb was listed as one of the third batch of key cultural relic protection units of Tonggu County in April 2006.