Xiangyin Zuo Zongtang Cultural Park

Xiangyin Zuo Zongtang Cultural Park

Xiangyin Zuo Zongtang Cultural Park is located in Xiangyin County and was built by the Xiangyin County Party Committee and County Government to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Zuo Zongtang’s birth. It is a late Qing-style garden cultural park themed around Zuo Zongtang, expanded from the Zuo Wengong Ancestral Hall, covering an area of 169 mu. The park includes the Zuo Zongtang Memorial Hall, with a total area of 2,600 square meters, featuring eight exhibition halls and a multimedia theater that introduce major events and achievements in Zuo’s life.

Zuo Zongtang (November 10, 1812 – September 5, 1885), of Han ethnicity, styled Jigao, also known as Pucun, and self-proclaimed as the Farmer of Xiang, was a prominent statesman, military strategist, politician, and a famed general of the Xiang Army during the late Qing Dynasty. He was also a leader of the Westernization Movement. In his youth, Zuo repeatedly failed the imperial examinations but turned his attention to agriculture, reading extensively and studying geography and military strategy. Eventually, he became a notable official in the later years of the Qing Dynasty, rising to the positions of Grand Secretary of the Eastern Cabinet and a member of the Grand Council, and was granted the title of Second-Class Kejing Marquis. His life spanned key historical events including the Xiang Army’s suppression of the Taiping Rebellion, the Westernization Movement, the quelling of the Shaanxi-Gansu Hui Revolt, and the recovery of Xinjiang.

After Zuo Zongtang’s death, Yang Changjun, a fellow native of Xiangyin, Hunan, who served as Governor of Zhejiang, Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu, and Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang, praised him in a poem: “The great general plots the border defense yet has not returned; / Hunan’s brave sons fill the Tianshan Mountains. / Thirty thousand li of newly planted red willows / Guide the spring breeze through Jade Gate Pass.”

Echoing the Zuo Zongtang Memorial Hall is an 11.1-meter-tall, approximately 260-ton granite sculpture of Zuo Zongtang within the park. The statue, depicting him holding a map and gazing over the land, fully embodies his patriotic spirit of fearlessness in the face of power and willingness to take responsibility.

Scenic Area Address: Bajia, Wenxing Town, Xiangyin County, Yueyang City, Hunan Province

Transportation by Bus: Take a bus from Yueyang to Xiangyin County, then transfer to a minibus to reach the site

Self-driving Route: Yueyang City → Yueyang Avenue → Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway → S308 → Bajia → Destination

Zuo Zongtang, styled Jigao, was a native of Xiangyin, Hunan. Born in the 17th year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1812), he passed the provincial imperial examination (Juren) in the 12th year of the Daoguang reign (1832). After failing the metropolitan examination (Jinshi) three times, he abandoned the pursuit of scholarly honors, turned his focus to agriculture, and studied geography and military strategy.

In the 2nd year of the Xianfeng reign (1852), when the Taiping Army entered Hunan, Zuo Zongtang was invited to serve in the advisory councils of both Zhang Liangji and Luo Bingzhang, the Governors of Hunan, contributing strategies to suppress the Taiping forces. In the 10th year of Xianfeng (1860), recommended by Zeng Guofan, he was appointed as an Acting Official of the Fourth Rank to assist in military affairs in southern Anhui. Zuo Zongtang gathered former troops of Wang Xinzhi’s “Old Xiang Army”… More detailed information on Zuo Zongtang ++