Tomb Stele of Kang Taizhen

Tomb Stele of Kang Taizhen

The Tomb Stele of Kang Taizhen is a cultural relic protection unit of Liaoning Province.

Approximately 500 meters west of Dongshang Village, Dachengzi Town, Harqin Left Wing Mongolian Autonomous County, there lies a north-south oriented mountain range known as Changshou Mountain. On the eastern ridge, halfway up the mountain, there is a natural cave. Outside the cave is a gentle mountain hollow, and about 50 meters to the northwest of the cave, on a flat platform, stands a tomb stele. It faces east and is made of gray sandstone, resting on a turtle-shaped base. The stele’s top is no longer intact. It is 2.1 meters high, 1.1 meters wide, and 0.2 meters thick. The front side of the stele features a combination of regular script and cursive script, with a total of 1,918 characters. This stele is the tomb stele of Kang Taizhen, a Taoist priest from the Jin and Yuan dynasties. It was erected in the sixth year of the reign of Möngke Khan, Emperor Xianzong of the Yuan Dynasty (1256). The stele records details of Kang Taizhen’s life and his spiritual cultivation leading to enlightenment. It was composed by Li Cha, a scholar of the Yuan Dynasty, calligraphed by Zhang Hongli, and carved by the stonemason Gao Shouzhen.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Liaoning Province