Tomb of Li Shixu (including imperial stele and pavilion)

Tomb of Li Shixu (including imperial stele and pavilion)

The Tomb of Li Shixu (including imperial stele and pavilion) is a cultural relic protection unit of Henan Province.

Li Shixu (1772–1824), courtesy name Jinghe, art name Zhanchi, was a native of Luoshan County. Raised in poverty, he studied diligently and became a Jinshi (advanced scholar) in the first year of the Jiaqing reign. In the same year, he was appointed magistrate of Xingzi County in Jiangxi, and soon after took office as magistrate of Nanchang. During his tenure, the embankments such as Fucang and Anle around Poyang Lake suffered annual breaches, leaving farmlands barren. Disguised and traveling lightly, he conducted on-site inspections of the water conditions, formulated plans to dredge rivers, reinforce embankments, drain floodwaters, and clear silt, and even took the lead in donating funds for dike construction. In the 13th year of Jiaqing, Li Shixu was transferred to be prefect of Zhenjiang. Based on maps and public opinion, he dredged silt from Lianhu Lake in Danyang and initiated the construction of three large sluice gates. Upon completion, the lake became navigable and flooding was reduced. In the spring of the 16th year of Jiaqing (1811), Li Shixu was appointed as an official of the Huaihai Circuit. To dredge the river mouth, he overruled opposition and changed the plan from digging a new river and building a long dike to “confining the water to attack the silt,” which cleared the silt at the estuary and redirected the river back to its original course to the sea. Both Bai Ling, Viceroy of Liangjiang, and Emperor Jiaqing highly commended this. That year, Li Shixu was promoted to the post of Superintendent of the Southern Rivers. In office, he studied diligently and adopted the “dividing the waters” theory to build large dams at locations such as Shibalitun, Miaojia Mountain, and Hu Mountain northwest of Xuzhou, shifting the strategy from “confining the water to attack the silt” to “double-gate clamping,” using the full force of the river to combat silt. He also replaced fascine mattresses with riprap slope protection. This approach shortened the construction period, achieved remarkable results, and saved 300,000 taels of silver. The Eastern Canal in Qinghe County bordered the Yellow River, and during flood season, hundreds of thousands of people on both banks were forced to flee their homes. Li Shixu built a levee between the Yellow River and the single dike, using two protective barriers to jointly resist the floodwaters. On January 21, 1824, Li Shixu passed away from overwork while in office at the age of 52. His lifetime works include the 120-volume Southeastern River Channels Digest, the 156-volume Continuation of the Water Guide Golden Mirror, the 10-volume Commentary on the Book of Changes on the River, and multiple volumes of the Collected Works of Zhanchi, all of which have become celebrated texts in China’s hydraulic engineering history. In 1824, upon Li Shixu’s death, Emperor Daoguang honored his achievements by posthumously granting him the title of Minister, elevating him to Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, conferring the posthumous name Xiangqin, and enshrining him in the Temple of Virtuous Officials.

After his passing, Li Shixu was buried in Liudian Village, Dingyuan Township, Luoshan County, his hometown. To commemorate the achievements of this water management hero, Emperor Daoguang ordered the construction of an imperial stele pavilion 500 meters north of the tomb. The pavilion has a width of three bays, a depth of six rafters, measures 8.8 meters in length and 6.8 meters in width, covering an area of over 50 square meters. Outside, it features gray tiles, upturned eaves, and flying corners; inside, it is adorned with carved beams and painted rafters. Twelve tree-trunk-thick wooden pillars rest on stone drums, and the rafter eaves are painted and decorated with bas-reliefs and openwork carvings, creating an elegant and classic Qing Dynasty architectural style. Inside the pavilion stand three three-meter-high blue stone imperial stelae. The central stele is the spirit way stele, the left one bears the emperor’s poetic elegy, and the right one the imperial sacrificial text, all briefly recounting Li Shixu’s life and deeds. From Beijing to the stele pavilion, a clean official stele was erected every fifty li, where civil officials were required to dismount and military officers to dismount from horseback upon encountering the tablets. In the late 1950s, when Chairman Mao Zedong’s southern inspection train passed through Xinyang, he mentioned this water management hero, Li Shixu, during a conversation with the responsible officials of the Xinyang Prefectural Committee aboard the train.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Henan Province