Tomb of Wang Chaoyun

Tomb of Wang Chaoyun

The Tomb of Wang Chaoyun is a cultural relic protection unit of Guangdong Province.

Wang Chaoyun was a concubine of Su Dongpo. Her tomb is located on Solitary Hill in Huizhou West Lake Scenic Area, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, adjacent to the Su Dongpo Memorial Hall, and is a key cultural relic protection unit of Huizhou City.

The Tomb of Wang Chaoyun is located at the eastern foot of Solitary Hill in Huizhou West Lake. Wang Chaoyun, styled Zixia, was a native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and served as a concubine to the great Northern Song Dynasty literary master Su Shi. In the first year of the Shaosheng era (1094), she followed Su Shi into exile in Huizhou. In Su Shi’s “Memorial Recommending Wang Chaoyun,” it is recorded that she “endured a lifetime of hardship, following him thousands of miles.” Three years after arriving in Huizhou, Wang Chaoyun passed away due to an epidemic at the age of 34. Su Shi buried her on Solitary Hill in West Lake and personally composed her epitaph. Monks from Qichan Temple on Solitary Hill built a memorial pavilion in front of her tomb. Because Wang Chaoyun had studied Buddhism and recited the verse from the Diamond Sutra before her death: “All conditioned things are like dreams, bubbles, shadows, dew, or lightning; they should be regarded as such.” Hence, the pavilion was named “Liu Ru Pavilion” (Pavilion of the Six Non-Realities).

The Tomb of Chaoyun and Liu Ru Pavilion have been repaired through the dynasties. In the sixth year of the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty (1801), Yi Bingshou, the prefect of Huizhou, wrote an inscription for the tomb when he renovated it. In 1984, the People’s Government of Huizhou City renovated the tomb again. The existing Liu Ru Pavilion was rebuilt in the 35th year of the Republic of China (1946).

In front of the Tomb of Wang Chaoyun and Liu Ru Pavilion, there are numerous stone carvings. The rear pillars of the pavilion bear a couplet inscribed by Lin Zhaolong, a Hanlin academician of the Qing Dynasty and head of Fenghu Academy, which reads: the upper line “Like a dream, like a fantasy, like a bubble, like a shadow, like dew, like lightning,” and the lower line “Unborn, undying, unsoiled, undefiled, not increasing, not decreasing.” The front pillars also have a couplet: the upper line “Coming from the south sea, with scriptures and medicine stove, a hundred-foot river tower flying willow catkins,” and the lower line “Since Su Dongpo departed, with night lamps and immortal pagoda, a pavilion of lake moon coldly illuminating plum blossoms.” Both couplets feature elegant parallelism and thought-provoking meanings. In front of the tomb is a stone-carved wall inlaid with three stone inscriptions: “Epitaph of Wang Chaoyun, composed by Su Shi, inscribed by Yi Bingshou”; “Boat Passing Liu Ru Pavilion,” a line engraving painted by Shi Tao, a famous painter of the early Qing Dynasty; and behind the tomb of Wang Chaoyun lies the “Su Dongpo Memorial Hall.”

In the Qing Dynasty’s Daoguang era, the scholar Lin Zhaolong wrote the couplet: “Not increasing, not decreasing, not being born, not dying, not soiled, not pure”; “Like a dream, like a fantasy, like a bubble, like a shadow, like dew, like lightning.” Hence the pavilion is called Liu Ru (Six As-Ifs). The Qichan Temple of that time no longer exists. The tomb was already destroyed during the Song Dynasty but has been repaired through the ages. The current tomb and pavilion were also renovated twice after the liberation. A stele corridor was added next to the tomb, preserving nine calligraphic relics of Su Dongpo.

In 1984, the People’s Government of Huizhou City designated it as a cultural relic protection unit.

Address: On Solitary Hill within Huizhou West Lake Scenic Area, Huan Cheng West Road, Huicheng District, Huizhou City

Type: Historical site / Tomb / Cemetery

Recommended visiting time: About 5–10 minutes

Phone: 0752-2121326

Official website: http://www.hzxihu.net/index.asp

Opening hours: Open all day

Ticket information: Free admission

Further reading:

· Eighth Batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units