Tomb of Zeng Guofan

Tomb of Zeng Guofan

Tomb of Zeng Guofan

Located in Fulong mountain behind Tongxi temple, Pingtang street, Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, it is the cemetery of Zeng Guofan, a famous official in the late Qing Dynasty and founder of Hunan army.

In 1872, Zeng Guofan was buried here. The tomb is a mixture of Sanhe mud and crushed stone, covered with granite. It is semicircular, with a bottom diameter of 5 meters and a residual height of 2 meters. The cemetery was enclosed by granite walls. The main stele is 3 meters high and 2 meters wide. The inscription in regular script is "the tomb of Lady Ouyang, the first lady of marquis, Zeng Wenzheng, the great scholar of emperor Qing Dynasty". It has 22 characters. The attached steles are all dragon relief. There is a worship platform in front of the tomb, with a sacrificial flat of about 50 square meters and a stone Que in the East and West.

historical background

Zeng Guofan's tomb is located in Fulong mountain, Tongxi village, Pingtang street, Yuelu District, Hunan Province. It is the tomb of Zeng Guofan, the leader of Hunan army and governor of Liangjiang in the late Qing Dynasty.

On the fourth day of February in the 11th year of tongzhi (1872), Zeng Guofan returned to daoshan and became governor of Liangjiang. One afternoon, he and his eldest son, Zeng Jize, were walking in Shuxi flower garden. Suddenly, they felt numb in their feet and were carried back to their study. They could not speak any more. They sat for three minutes and passed away. This month, the Qing government reported the obituary, stopped the court for three days, pursued the gift of Taifu, posthumous Wenzheng. Later, the coffin arrived in Changsha and was buried in jinpenling outside the South Gate of Changsha. The next year, he was buried in the south of Fulong mountain, Tongxi village, Pingtang street, Yuelu District, Changsha City, in the Yang of Fulong mountain, Pingtang, Shanhua county. He was buried with Mrs. Ouyang, who died in the same year.

Main attractions

a burial

The tomb covers an area of 300 square meters. Zeng tomb was originally made of Sanhe clay mixed with gravel and glutinous rice. The diameter of the tomb is about 5 meters, and the height of granite is 2 meters. The site of the tomb is surrounded by granite, and a three-way stele is erected. The heart of the stele is white marble. The main stele is 3 meters high, and the inscription in regular script is "the tomb of Zeng wenzhenggong, the great master of imperial Fu of Qing Dynasty / the wife of yipinhou, the wife of Ouyang". Attached steles are dragon relief. In front of the tomb, there is a platform for worshipping and a tomb terrace. The platform is about 50 square meters, and a large tomb terrace is about 200 square meters under 26 steps. On the East and west sides of the tomb terrace, there is a stone que, engraved with "East que of Zeng Taifu's tomb" and "West que of Zeng Taifu's tomb". The stone ladder passage on the left side goes down along the wall of Tongxi temple, connecting the tomb gate and the imperial stele Pavilion. There are a pair of stone horses, stone lions, stone tigers and Weng Zhong on both sides of the passage. About 60 meters away from Zeng Guofan's tomb, there is a "monument to the God of marquis Zeng Wenzheng, Yiyong, a scholar of Taifu University", which is written by Li Hongzhang, a bachelor, and Huang Ziyuan, a Hanlin scholar. It mostly describes Zeng Guofan's life and achievements.

Scenery in front of the tomb

In front of the cemetery, there are two ancient ginkgo trees and two Podocarpus Podocarpus. Tongxi temple near the cemetery, formerly known as Xingguo temple, was founded by Zen master zhenlang of Tang Dynasty. It is a famous temple in the Tang Dynasty, with magnificent buildings, exquisite pavilions and three gates. Soon after, the temple was destroyed and rebuilt in the Song Dynasty. It was called Fulong temple. There are eight scenic spots around the temple: panlongsong, jixianqiao, xiangwangling, tanjingshi, shizifeng, guihuajing, jinpenling and wanshouting. By the end of Ming Dynasty, the temple was destroyed again. In the Qing Dynasty, jingtianyan was rebuilt to meet the needs of Zen master Mu yuan. It was renamed Tongxi Temple because of the dense Tonglin forest behind the mountain, the flowing water in front of the temple, the beautiful scenery and the elegant environment. In its heyday, there were more than 100 rooms in Tongxi temple. After the Republic of China, temples gradually withered.

protective measures

The cemetery was damaged in the 1950s-1960s, excavated in the 1980s, the imperial stele Pavilion and tomb were destroyed, and the stone components were used for other purposes by local farmers. In 1992, Wangcheng County Cultural Relics Management Office set up a local Zeng Guofan tomb protection team. In 1993, Zeng Guofan tomb was listed as Wangcheng County cultural relics protection unit and Changsha key cultural relics protection unit. In 1996, Zeng Guofan tomb was listed as Hunan Cultural relics protection unit. The first phase of the restoration project started in early 2000 and was completed in 2002. In 2013, it was selected as the national key cultural relics protection unit

.

The cemetery is about 4km away from the central area of Pingtang street, and 2km away from the main ramp of the three main lines of Xiaoxiang Avenue, ring expressway and Yuelu Avenue in Changsha City.

In the second phase of the construction of Zeng Guofan cemetery scenic area, the restoration of Shinto and memorial archway has been started, and the preparatory work for the restoration of tombs and imperial stele pavilion has been basically completed. According to the relevant person in charge of Wangcheng County Cultural Relics Bureau, after 2-3 years of construction, Zeng Guofan cemetery scenic area will take shape. Li Kejian and Tan Shiyan, vice chairmen of the Municipal Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference, attended the event.

Zeng Guofan's tomb is located in Fulong mountain, Tongxi village, Pingtang street, Yuelu District. The tomb is made of Sanhe clay mixed with gravel and glutinous rice. The diameter of the tomb is about 5 meters, and the granite is surrounded. There are three tombstones in the tomb. In front of the tomb, there is a platform for worshipping and a tomb terrace. The platform is about 50 square meters, and a large tomb terrace is about 200 square meters under 26 steps. On the East and west sides of the tomb terrace, there is a stone pagoda, which is engraved with "East pagoda of Zeng Taifu's tomb" and "West pagoda of Zeng Taifu's tomb". The stone ladder passage on the left side goes down along the wall of Tongxi temple, connecting the tomb gate and the imperial stele Pavilion. On both sides of the passage are a pair of stone horse, stone lion, stone tiger and stone wengzhong. About 60 meters away from the tomb, there is a "monument to the God of marquis Zeng Wenzheng, a scholar of Taifu University", which describes Zeng Guofan's life and achievements. In front of the cemetery are two towering ginkgo trees and two Podocarpus.

Zeng Guofan's tomb was destroyed three times by grave robbers in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s. A pair of stone horses, a pair of stone lions, a pair of stone tigers and a pair of stone wengzhong have been scattered around the cemetery, and some of them have been destroyed. The stones around the cemetery were either used by villagers nearby or discarded at will. Even the chain on the guardrail around the tomb was stolen. In a nearby resident's home, there is still a turtle like Cuan (according to the ancient custom, the stone pedestal under various stone tablets is carved in the shape of Cuan). On both sides of Mian, there are also two pieces of Zeng's tombs. Tongxi temple, once surrounded by incense, has disappeared. It will become a tourist attraction. In 1996, Zeng Guofan's tomb was designated as a provincial cultural relic protection unit. Around the restoration of Zeng Guofan's tomb, the cultural relic departments of Changsha and Wangcheng counties organized experts to investigate on the spot for many times, and formulated the overall protection plan of Zeng Guofan's tomb. According to the plan, Zeng Guofan cemetery scenic area will be built, which is composed of Zeng Guofan cemetery and Xiang army cultural leisure park. The former focuses on cultural relics protection, including restoration of Shinto (stone man, stone horse, stone sheep, stone tiger), stone archway, tomb, osmanthus well, imperial stele Pavilion (restoration of imperial stele), 800 meter long Mashi road and "Zeng Guofan and Xiang army array Museum". The latter focuses on the cultural characteristics of Hunan army, including horse riding, archery, wrestling, boxing, martial arts, array, camp and other leisure ways. It is reported that the construction of cemetery scenic area will be divided into two stages. The first stage focuses on the repair of Zeng Guofan's tomb. A few days ago, it has completed the restoration of tombstone, tomb enclosure, tomb, apron, platform, platform, enclosure and other cultural relics. The old trees are well maintained. The second stage is mainly the restoration of Zeng Guofan's tomb Shinto (stone statue, etc.), memorial archway, tomb (Shinto tablet), Yu Beiting (Yu tablet), Mashi road and other ancillary cultural relics. It is estimated that it will take two to three years to complete, which will make Zeng Guofan cemetery scenic area take shape. The third stage focuses on the construction of Zeng Guofan and Xiang army array Museum, which objectively shows Zeng Guofan's life and the historical data of Xiang army political group, Zeng Guofan's historical role in modern Chinese Westernization Movement, literature and art.

Personage introduction

Zeng Guofan (1811-1872) was born in Baiyangping, Hunan Province. He was born in tianziping, Heye Town, Shuangfeng County in 1811. Zeng Guofan was born in Heyetang, Jingzi Town, Shuangfeng County, Hunan Province. Zeng Guofan was a militarist, Neo Confucianist, statesman, calligrapher, one of the famous officials in the Qing Dynasty. He was also a litterateur and the founder of "Xiangxiang school" in the late Qing Dynasty. He was the governor of Liangjiang, the governor of Zhili, and the Bachelor of wuyingdian.

Address: Fulong mountain, Pingtang town (near Tongxi Temple)

Longitude: 112.9217

Latitude: 28.10058

Chinese PinYin : Ceng Guo Fan Mu