Sangling Terrace

Sangling Terrace

Sangling Terrace is a cultural tourism attraction.

A view of Liangyuan – Sangling Terrace, located nine kilometers northwest of Shangqiu Ancient City. It earned the name “Sangling Terrace” because the burial mounds of three dukes of the Song State during the Western Zhou Dynasty—Duke Hui of Song, Duke Ai of Song, and Duke Dai of Song—stand as three towering peaks side by side. The easternmost tomb belongs to Duke Dai of Song, who is an ancestor of Dai Li.

In the early Western Han Dynasty, Prince Xiao of Liang, Liu Wu, built a detached palace on the terrace, and remnants of its roof tiles can still be found today. Four years after the death of Song, the Minister of Personnel during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, he was granted imperial permission to be reburied in front of Sangling Terrace. Covering more than 770 acres, Sangling Terrace features sacred pathways lined with towering poplars and ancient cypresses, as well as numerous stele pavilions, creating a solemn and majestic atmosphere. In front of the tombs stands the ancestral shrine of the Song clan, along with memorial steles, memorial archways, and lifelike stone statues such as stone figures, stone horses, and stone sheep, resembling an open-air grand stone sculpture museum.

Three hundred years ago, Jia Kaijong, a close friend of Hou Fangyu, visited Sangling Terrace many times and wrote a widely loved poem titled “Sangling Terrace”:

A solitary terrace stands by the Song city’s bend,

Where ancient woods sprawl and a path winds.

Hidden caves run deep, sheltering beasts untamed,

While cliffs rise steep, moss-covered and famed.

The Song lineage recalls tombs of old,

And Liang’s past splendor lingers, cold.

Often I roam fields, seeking joys anew,

Cloaked in straw cape and hat, through rain I pursue.