Tomb of Yang Zuo

　　   In the Sun Bin Tourist City in Juancheng, Shandong, the tombs of Sun Bin, the joint tomb of Yang and Zuo, and the tomb of Jing Ke are all key attractions.

　　   Sun Ming, a cultural relics expert from Heze City, Shandong, said that in the 1990s, he conducted an archaeological survey at the Sun Bin Tourist City. At that time, the joint tomb of Yang and Zuo was already preserved as a heritage site of the ruins category, “however, no archaeological exploration had been carried out on the tomb, so details about its exact scope and structure were unknown.” A person in charge at the Juancheng Tourism Bureau office introduced that the joint tomb of Yang and Zuo was listed as a county-level cultural heritage site in 1979. The ancient tomb still exists today, in the form of a large earthen mound with a diameter of 3 meters and a height of 2 meters. “There is also a stele erected by people from the Qing Dynasty in front of the ancient tomb. This stele is somewhat damaged.” The official explained that the Qing-era stele has been protected under a pavilion. That stele is called the “Stele for the Ancient Righteous Man Zuo Boxiu at the Former Tomb in Fan County,” erected in 1807, standing 1.7 meters tall, and inscribed with a text composed by the Qing scholar Sun Xingyan. The main inscription is written in regular script, with 14 lines of 38 characters each, totaling 527 characters. The inscription describes the righteous deeds of Yang Jiao’ai and Zuo Boxiu, as well as research into their joint tomb. “Within a radius of dozens of miles in the local area, elements related to the tomb of Yang and Zuo are still preserved in funeral customs. When a person dies and is placed in a coffin, a small blue tile is placed on top, tied with a red string to an arrowhead. The arrowhead points in the direction of Jing Ke’s tomb, and the tile is inscribed with the four characters ‘Arrow Shoots Jing Ke’ to protect the deceased from being disturbed by Jing Ke.”

　　   Lu Weimin, director of the Juancheng County Cultural Relics Management Office, told reporters: “The Tomb of Yang and Zuo and its stele here are more consistent with burial practices from the Spring and Autumn period.”