Huang Tingjian's Tomb

Huang Tingjian's Tomb

Huang Tingjian's Tomb is a cultural tourism attraction.

Huang Tingjian’s tomb is located to the southwest of Shuangjing Village, with the burial mound facing south. Huang Tingjian (1045–1105) became a Jinshi (advanced scholar) in the fourth year of the Zhiping era (1067) during the Northern Song Dynasty. In September of the fourth year of the Chongning era (1105), he died in exile in Yizhou (now Yishan County, Guangxi). His tomb was relocated and reburied in the third year of the Daguan era (1109) by Su Xiangu and Jiang Wei, who escorted his coffin back to be interred west of the ancestral tomb in Shuangjing. Since the Song Dynasty, the tomb has undergone multiple renovations and was designated as a Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit in 1959. In 1982, the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Government allocated funds for a comprehensive restoration. After restoration, the tomb mound stands 1.93 meters high with a diameter of 20.76 meters. Prior to the symposium commemorating the 960th anniversary of Huang Tingjian’s birth, the county government further funded the renovation of the tomb site. The southern side of the tomb faces open fields and the distant Xiu River. Above the southern gatehouse is the handwritten inscription “Valley of the Mountains Garden” (山谷园) by Shen Peng of the China Calligraphers Association, flanked by a couplet reading: “Surrounded by verdant hills and rippling blue waters, this place is hailed as the cradle of poetic souls; renowned for historical records and immortal brushwork, the master’s techniques shine through the ages.” The site is enclosed by a cement wall, surrounded by a ring of tall poplar trees. Legend has it that in the 1950s and 60s, the tomb area was filled with large, embracing pine and cypress trees, but sadly, they were all cut down during the Cultural Revolution... Facing the entrance is a stone statue of Huang Tingjian, with the ground around it paved with Yuhua stones from Nanjing. However, legend says there used to be a short wall similar to a screen wall at the front, with a small engraved portrait of the poet in the center. To the upper right of the portrait is inscribed a gatha composed by the poet himself and written by Wang Fanggang: “Like a monk yet with hair, like a layman yet free of dust. Dreaming within a dream, seeing beyond one’s own form.” On both sides are the couplet: “Reading Huangting brings flavor, laughing at white hair brings no shame.” Behind the engraved portrait is a hemispherical tomb mound. In front of the tomb are four pillars and three stelae; the two side stelae bear inscriptions about the poet’s life, while the central stele is inscribed with “Tomb of Huang Wenzhenggong, Posthumously Honored in the Song Dynasty.” This stele was erected in the sixth year of the Republic of China (1917) by the then magistrate of Xiushui and went missing during the Cultural Revolution, but was recovered when the tomb was restored in the 1980s. The tomb’s pathway is winding, with stone benches and planted flowers and trees. To the left of the tomb site is a field ditch and vegetable garden, where clusters and patches of beautiful small flowers—the medicinal chrysanthemum—bloom abundantly. Another section is a lush green tea plantation.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units