Tomb of Meng Haoran

Tomb of Meng Haoran

The Tomb of Meng Haoran is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Tomb of Meng Haoran is located in Dongfeng Forest, Xiangyang City. The original tomb was surrounded by many ancient trees and was an elongated earthen mound. To the north of the mound lies a small stone tablet nearly buried in the earth, inscribed with “Tomb of Meng Haoran.” A folk saying from the late Qing Dynasty goes: “Shaped like a snake, growing longer and longer, dark green and lush.” (Note: “Dark green” refers both to the lush vegetation around the tomb and puns on “overthrow the Qing.”) In 1928, Yue Sen, commander of the 49th Division of the 14th Army of the National Revolutionary Army, visited to pay his respects and replaced the original tablet with a new one measuring six feet in height, two feet in width, and four inches in thickness, inscribed with the regular-script characters “Tomb of Meng Haoran.” In June 1955, the county's Department of Culture requested funding from the provincial Department of Culture for the restoration of Meng’s tomb, and the county government oversaw the reconstruction. During this time, the mound was excavated for inspection. Beneath the earthen hill was a coffin chamber, inside of which only a streak of black substance resembling dust and several rusted horse nails remained. According to Luo Xiongfei, who participated in the restoration in the 1950s, during a conference on folk literature creation, a farmer surnamed Wang mentioned that Meng Haoran had been buried by people of the Wang clan.

The restored tomb faces south and covers an area of 300 square meters. Along the edge of the stone foundation, an octagonal stone railing about one meter high was built. The tomb itself is located in the center of the stone base, approximately 1.5 meters high, and is entirely constructed of block stones. Atop the tomb stands a 2.5-meter-high stone stele in the shape of a frustum, inscribed with the words “Tomb of Meng Haoran,” personally written by Guo Moruo in intaglio script. The front of the tomb bears an epitaph composed by Guo Moruo; the left side is inscribed with a message by Wang Renzhong, then Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee: “Meng Haoran was a great poet and philosopher of China”; the right side features an inscription by Li Zhongqiu, then County Magistrate, titled “Record of the Tomb of Meng Haoran”; and at the back is placed the original tablet. The mausoleum is surrounded by lush pines and cypresses, alongside rare flowers and plants.

In 1971, the Hubei Generator Factory built a plant at this site and accordingly relocated the tomb 300 meters eastward while preserving its original design. Workers planted trees around the tomb and carried out maintenance and repairs. In 1991, heavy rain triggered a landslide, causing the tomb to collapse.

In October 1996, the county Party committee and the county government planned another restoration of Meng’s tomb, which was completed in April 1997. The tomb was rebuilt within the Jiugong Horticultural Farm, expanded according to the original design, standing 9.5 meters high, with the tombstone itself being 4.8 meters tall. The entire tomb is constructed from marble varieties including Guangxi White, Mongolian Black, and Shinan Green, and features an additional inscription titled “Record of the Reconstruction of the Tomb of Meng Haoran,” authored by Xiong Chuanjing, then Secretary of the County Party Committee, and Ruan Yingzi, then County Magistrate.

Meng Haoran (689–740), also known as Meng Shanren and commonly referred to as Meng of Xiangyang, was a poet of the Tang Dynasty and honored as a “poetic master.” Meng Haoran is a representative figure of the pastoral-reclusive and landscape-travel poetry schools. His poetry is simple and natural, excelling in five-character ancient-style verse. Representative works include “Spring Dawn,” “Passing by an Old Friend’s Farmhouse,” “Thoughts on a Cold River Morning,” and “Viewing Lake Dongting and Presenting It to Minister Zhang.” The poetic school formed during the High Tang period, represented by Wang Wei and Meng Haoran, is also known as the “Wang-Meng Poetry School.” Meng Haoran’s poetry broke free from the narrow scope of court-commissioned descriptive verse, expressing more personal sentiments and bringing fresh perspectives to the poetry scene of the Kaiyuan era... More details about Meng Haoran ++