Memorial Hall of Xin Qiji

Memorial Hall of Xin Qiji

By the Xiaoqing River in Jinan lies a town called Yaoqiang, the hometown of the renowned Song Dynasty poet and statesman Xin Qiji. It was from here that he rose up and mustered forces to resist the Jurchen invaders. Xin Qiji holds a very unique place in the history of Chinese literature. Unlike typical literati of the feudal society, he was not only a famous patriotic poet but also an outstanding military general and national hero.

Xin Qiji was a native of Licheng, Jinan, born in 1140. At the age of 21, when the Jurchen armies launched a massive southern invasion, the people of Shandong rose in resistance. Xin Qiji gathered a force of two thousand men and joined the peasant rebellion army led by Geng Jing, serving as “Director of Records.” He fought bravely against the Jurchen invaders.

After moving to the Southern Song court, he was prevented from pursuing his anti-Jin cause and was marginalized and persecuted by the pro-peace faction. He spent twenty years in retirement in Yanshan and Shangrao, Jiangxi, before passing away in frustration and grief.

Throughout his life, Xin Qiji was unable to fulfill his ambition of resisting the Jurchens, so he used poetry — particularly the ci poetic form — as a weapon for struggle. Through his ci, he expressed deep patriotism and inspired the people’s will to resist the invaders. His works cover a wide range of themes, are rich in content, profound in imagery, and diverse in style, but patriotism remains the unifying thread. Artistically, his style is bold and vigorous. In the world of ci poetry, he is often mentioned alongside Su Shi. He inherited and further developed Su Shi’s bold style, helping to establish it as a dominant trend in ci literature.

To commemorate this eminent figure and promote patriotic education, in recent years, the Licheng District government has restored Xin Qiji’s former residence and built the Memorial Hall of Xin Qiji in Sifengzha, Yaoqiang Town. This group of Song-style buildings features a grand entrance in the form of a four-pillar, three-gate stone memorial archway. The horizontal plaque above the main gate bears five large characters — “Former Residence of Xin Qiji” — calligraphed by the esteemed Chinese calligrapher Wu Zhongqi. Passing through the stone archway leads to a hexagonal stele pavilion. The front of the stele is engraved with a portrait of “Jiaxuan,” while the inscription below reads: “Xin Gong Jiaxuan, named Qiji, styled You’an, was born on the eleventh day of the fifth month in the tenth year of the Shaoxing era of Emperor Gaozong of Song, at the hour of Mao, in Sifengzha Village, Licheng County, Jinan Prefecture.” The back of the stele is inscribed with “The Official Career of Jiaxuan, Vice Minister of War, Awarded the Purple Gold Fish Pouch.” Behind the pavilion stands a majestic statue of Xin Qiji, 2.8 meters tall, carved from the local “Xiuchuan Green” granite of Licheng.

Location: Sifengzha, Yaoqiang Town, Licheng District, Jinan City