Stele of Yang Yun

Stele of Yang Yun

The Stele of Yang Yun is a cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

The Stele of Yang Yun was inscribed with a title border, composed, and calligraphed by Zhao Mengfu, a painter and calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty. It was erected on the 27th day of the 11th month in the first year of the Zhizhi era of the Yuan Dynasty, and the inscription records the virtues and political achievements of Yang Yun, the tomb’s occupant.

The Stele of Yang Yun, also called the Epitaph of the Yang Ancestral Tomb in Yuzhou, stands at the northern end of the Yang family cemetery, approximately 1,000 meters northwest of Maiziting Village, Nanyangzhuang Township, Yu County.

In July 1982, it was designated as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit by the People’s Government of Hebei Province.

The stele is made of bluestone and consists of three parts: the top, body, and base. It has an overall height of 3.30 meters, is 1.20 meters wide, and 0.32 meters thick. The top, arched in shape, is 1.10 meters high and 1.20 meters wide, featuring carved relief of two coiled dragons. The dragons’ heads face downward and are positioned on the outer sides at the lower end of the top, while their bodies coil around the top’s summit, encircling a rectangular central title tablet inscribed with two vertical lines of seal script reading “Epitaph of the Yang Ancestral Tomb in Yuzhou.” The body is rectangular, 2.20 meters high and 1.20 meters wide, with 38 characters per line and 23 vertical lines of running script, totaling 706 characters. The base is a natural bluestone, naturally shaped like a “tortoise pedestal,” measuring 1.70 meters north to south, 1.17 meters east to west, and standing 0.30 meters above ground level, with no traces of artificial carving.

Stone statues remain on the ground surface to the south of the stele, arranged from south to north as follows: four stone lions (one is damaged and incomplete), two stone beasts, and two stone warriors—all headless. All the stone statues are made of white marble.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Hebei Province