Stele Inscribed with Calligraphy by Zhao Mengfu for the Zhao Shiyan Family Temple

　　This temple stele is situated at the site of the Zhao Shiyan Family Temple, one li south of the county town, and was built in the autumn of the third year of the Yanxing era (1316) during the Yuan Dynasty. It consists of three parts: a dragon-headed top, the main body of the stele, and a tortoise-shaped base. The stele stands 3.5 meters tall, is 1.3 meters wide, and 0.42 meters thick. It was composed by Cheng Jufu, Grand Academician and Director of the Hanlin Academy, by imperial decree, and calligraphed and inscribed with the title by the great calligrapher Zhao Mengfu, also by imperial order. The top bears the eight characters “Imperially Bestowed Stele of the Yonggu Family Temple,” while the front is surrounded by bas-relief entwined lotus patterns. The main text is written in regular script, arranged vertically in 33 lines of 64 characters each, totaling over 1,230 characters (with a few characters damaged). The inscription records the meritorious deeds of six eminent figures across three generations of the Zhao Shiyan family—grand secretary and chancellor of the Zhongshu Province—who contributed greatly to the establishment and consolidation of the Yuan Dynasty. Since Zhao Shiyan’s ancestors were of the Yonggu ethnicity, the stele is referred to as the “Yonggu Family Temple Stele.” It is now a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit and holds significant value for the study of Yuan and Mongol history as well as calligraphic art.