Jishan Cave Tombs

Jishan Cave Tombs

The Jishan Cave Tombs are a cultural tourism attraction.

Jishan is located southeast of Liangjiazhong Village in Qiling Town, 10 kilometers south of the ancient Qi capital. With an elevation of 171 meters, it is composed of limestone and has historically been a famous mountain in the Qi State. Today, it serves as the boundary mountain between Linzi District of Zibo City and Qingzhou City.

According to the *Qicheng* (引自 *Qiji Bu*), the mountain was named Jishan because there was a Temple of Houji on it during the Spring and Autumn period. Houji was the ancestor of the Zhou people. In mythology, Houji was born after Jiang Yuan, a daughter of the Tai clan, became pregnant by stepping on the footprint of a giant. Since he had no father, he was once abandoned and was also called Qi (meaning "abandoned"). He was skilled in growing grains and served as an agricultural official during the eras of Yao and Shun, teaching farmers how to cultivate the land. He is considered the earliest person to grow millet and is revered as the “God of the Five Grains.” The ancient Qi capital had a Jimen (Gate of Millet), also named after this mountain. The Temple of Houji collapsed in the mid-Warring States period. During the reign of King Xuan of Qi, a Confucius Temple was built here, hence Jishan is also known as “Kongfu Mountain” or “Fuzi Mountain.” On the eastern part of the mountain top, there is a square pool about 3 meters wide and 2 meters deep. On the northern wall of the pool, there are two sets of stone niche carvings, arranged side by side from east to west. The western niche contains a carving of a man sitting cross-legged, with two attendants holding tablets and standing respectfully outside the niche. The eastern niche depicts a woman standing cross-legged, with a male attendant on the left and a female attendant holding a fan on the right. Between the two niches, there is an inscription reading “Kong Daifu” (Master Kong). The western wall features two unfinished human faces, carved roughly and crudely. Later research revealed that this site is actually the vertical shaft of a Han Dynasty tomb, and the locals used the stone walls at the entrance to create these carvings. Therefore, the carvings cannot be earlier than the Han Dynasty. To the west of this Han tomb, there was a stele erected during the Qing Dynasty’s Kangxi era for the renovation of the Confucius Temple, which was moved to the Qingzhou Museum in 1983. To this day, a broken stele from the sixth year of the Republic of China (1917 AD) still remains on Jishan. It is split into two pieces, with the inscription “Respectfully erected in the middle of the lotus month, the year of Dingsi, in the ninth year of Xuantong.” Around the turn of the century, another stele for the renovation of the boundary was erected next to the broken one, with content similar to the broken stele. There are also several ancient cypresses on the mountain whose exact planting dates are unknown. Together with the tombs on the mountain, they form a major landscape in the Linzi area.

In September 1983, local residents were blasting rocks on Jishan when a loud noise revealed a Han Dynasty stone tomb in the cliff, containing many burial objects. The villagers of Liangjiazhong Village safeguarded the main artifacts and reported the discovery to the district cultural bureau. During this time, a few individuals entered the tomb chamber to search for burial objects, causing some artifacts to be scattered and their locations to become unclear. With the assistance of cultural management personnel, over 70 lost artifacts were recovered, including bronze tripods, bronze mortars, perforated bronze dou vessels, and stone chimes. Among the unearthed artifacts, a particularly rare set of miniature gilded bell chimes consisted of 14 pieces—5 yong bells and 9 nian bells. These bells were similar in shape but varied in size, all covered entirely in gold, with spiral patterns on both sides. Each side had 18 studs, and the zhong part was inscribed with characters. The heaviest piece weighed 341.1 grams, the tallest was 16 cm, while the shortest and lightest was 6.6 cm tall and weighed 75.2 grams. The Qi History Museum collected 12 of these chimes, and the other two are housed in the Qingzhou Museum. After examination, researchers determined that this was a Han Dynasty noble’s stone cave tomb with a north-south oriented chamber. The method of tomb construction likely involved first carving a vertical shaft 10 meters deep and 3 meters square, then digging an 80 cm-long, 110 cm-wide, and 172 cm-high north-facing horizontal entrance 10 meters down. Inside the entrance was a tomb chamber approximately 388 cm long, 370 cm wide, and 200 cm high. Around the upper edge of the tomb chamber, 31 evenly spaced stone tenons were carved about 5–10 cm from the ceiling, each fitted with an iron nail. The coffin had decayed. It is said that the first witnesses saw brightly colored gauze curtains in the tomb chamber, but they quickly turned to dust and vanished.

After the discovery of the Jishan cave tombs, national and provincial cultural authorities visited the site twice and found that there were many other Han Dynasty tombs on Jishan and the adjacent Jing Mountain. The legendary stone wellhead that was said to have been dug to break the “royal qi” of Linzi was actually the entrance to a vertical tomb shaft. The tombs on Jishan and Jing Mountain together form the “Jishan Cave Tomb Group,” which became an important part of the provincial-level protected cultural heritage site “Linzi Tomb Cluster.” In 1986, the provincial archaeological research institute excavated Tomb No. 2 and Tomb No. 3 in the cluster. In Tomb No. 2, only a neatly arranged set of miniature chariot and horse fittings was found 8 meters deep, while both tomb chambers were empty—the reasons for which remain unknown. Records indicate that in the same year, tomb robbers continued digging from the vertical shaft of the 1983 blasted tomb and discovered that the shaft was deeper than 10 meters. Archaeologists then organized an excavation and dug down 20 meters, finding a southern-facing tomb chamber with no burial objects, suspected to be a decoy chamber. The real tomb chamber was the one blasted at a depth of 10 meters that turned north. The blasting by quarry workers split the over ten-meter-high vertical shaft and the connected north-south horizontal chamber into two halves. The outer part instantly turned into a pile of rubble, while the part closer to the mountain formed a cross-section. Visitors looking down from the horizontal entrance can see the vertical shaft, which extends continuously downward for about 10 more meters, with faint water reflections visible at the bottom. The total depth of the vertical shaft is about 20 meters, and its fine and regular craftsmanship showcases the astonishing skill of artisans nearly 2,000 years ago. The cultural relics and archaeology department designated this tomb as Jishan Tomb No. 1.

The Jishan Cave Tomb Group is unique for its carved stone chambers, a feature rarely seen in the world and uncommon in China. The People’s Government of Shandong Province listed it as a provincial-level protected cultural heritage site, and the local government erected a granite marker at the northwest corner of Jishan. Today, protective measures have proven effective—quarrying on Jishan has long ceased, and newly planted trees near the quarry have grown lush. Relevant departments plan to protect, develop, and utilize one of the tombs. This is a tomb with a 24-meter-deep vertical shaft, featuring interior murals. After further excavation and organization, it will be opened to visitors along with other attractions. At that time, visitors will be able to descend through the vertically carved shaft in the mountain to enter the interconnected stone cave tombs, closely observing the ancient craftsmanship of tomb carving and experiencing the distinctive tomb culture in detail.