Tomb of Zhong Jun

Tomb of Zhong Jun

The Tomb of Zhong Jun is a cultural relic protection unit of Shandong Province.

The Tomb of Zhong Jun is located to the west of Niushan Mountain in present-day Linzi and is a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit. Eight villages around the tomb site are all named “Zhong Village,” such as Lijia Zhong Village and Qijia Zhong Village.

The *Book of Han* records the deeds of Zhong Jun as well as his work *The Writings of Zhong Jun*. Qing scholar Ma Guohan’s *Collected Writings from the Jade Scriptures Mountain Studio* compiles eight of Zhong Jun’s articles, while the rest have been lost.

Zhong Jun (140 BC – 112 BC) was a renowned statesman and diplomat of the Western Han Dynasty, hailing from Zhonggong in Licheng. At the age of 18, he was selected as a doctoral disciple. Recognized by Emperor Wu of Han, he was appointed as an imperial attendant and attendant official. He participated in court affairs and was later promoted to the position of censor. He once impeached the scholar Xu Yan for inciting local private salt and iron production, successfully served as an envoy to the Western Regions, the Xiongnu, and the Southern Yue. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, relations between the Southern Yue and the Han were sometimes good and sometimes strained. Zhong Jun requested Emperor Wu to grant him a “long cord” to serve as an envoy to the Southern Yue. If they refused to submit, he would capture the Southern Yue king with the long cord. The story of “requesting a cord in one’s youth” became a famous historical tale. When Zhong Jun arrived in the Southern Yue, he eventually persuaded the Southern Yue king Zhao Xing and the queen dowager to agree to submit to the Han and to offer annual tribute to the court. Emperor Wu immediately bestowed seals and ribbons upon the Southern Yue king, ordering them to adopt Han laws and regulations, and temporarily left Zhong Jun in the Southern Yue to maintain order. Soon after, Lü Jia, the prime minister of the Southern Yue, launched a rebellion, and the Southern Yue king, the queen dowager, Zhong Jun, and their entourage were all killed. Upon learning of Lü Jia’s rebellion, Emperor Wu dispatched troops on two fronts to attack the Southern Yue, executed Lü Jia, divided the region into nine commanderies, and placed them under the direct rule of the Western Han government. The *Jinan Prefecture Annals* recorded: “Zhong Ziyun (Zhong Jun) of the Han Dynasty died while serving as an envoy to the Southern Yue at the age of over twenty, and was later buried in Jinan Commandery.”