Yang Shushan Ancestral Hall

　　Destination Introduction
　　The Yang Jiaoshan Ancestral Hall is located at No. 12 Dazhiqiao Hutong in Xuanwu District. It was the former residence of Yang Jisheng from the Ming Dynasty. The hall houses the Jiancao Pavilion, which contains stone tablets engraved with the drafts of Yang’s two memorials criticizing court politics.

　　　　Yang Jisheng (1516–1555), courtesy name Zhongfang, style name Jiaoshan, was a native of Rongcheng, Hebei, and a successful candidate in the imperial examinations during the Ming Jiajing era. While serving as an external member of the Ministry of War, he was demoted for submitting the “Memorial Requesting the Abolition of the Horse Market.” Later reinstated, he submitted another memorial, “Memorial Requesting the Execution of the Treacherous Ministers,” within a month of taking office, listing fifty major crimes of Yan Song. He was then imprisoned by Yan Song in the Ministry of Justice prison. Before his execution, he left behind the famous lines: “My noble spirit returns to the void; my loyal heart shines through the ages. The unfinished tasks of my life shall be completed by future generations!” He was 40 years old at the time. Twelve years after his death, Emperor Muzong ascended the throne and posthumously awarded him the title of Minor Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, with the posthumous name Zhongmin. Over the following 400 years, many notable scholars composed poems and essays praising Yang Jisheng’s virtue and character.

　　　　During the Qing Qianlong era, his former residence, the Songyun Hermitage, was converted into an ancestral hall. The main gate bears a stone plaque inscribed with “Former Residence of Mr. Yang Jiaoshan.” The main hall houses a statue of Yang Jisheng. His study, where he drafted the memorials, later became known as the “Jiancao Hall.” The memorials he wrote accusing Yan Song, requesting the commoner engraver Zhang Shouzhi from Haiyan to carve them into stone, were embedded in the walls of the Jiancao Hall. Zhang Shouzhi, who admired Yang’s uprightness, meticulously engraved the authentic handwriting onto the stone. After completing the engravings, he died in the Songyun Hermitage. During the Daoguang era, a “Jiancao Pavilion” was built in the southwest corner of the hall. The pavilion contains a elm tree planted by Jiaoshan himself and a stone tablet. During the Hundred Days' Reform, over 1,300 scholars led by Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong gathered here, and Kang Youwei drafted a petition to the emperor, known as the “Gongche Shangshu.” It is a key cultural relic protected by Beijing Municipality.  

　　 Xuanwu District, Beijing

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