The Tomb of Min Ziqian () is a memorial to

Min Sun Min Sun (536 – BC), also known by his courtesy name Ziqian, was one of the most prominent disciples of Confucius. Confucius considered Min his second best disciple after Yan Hui, and commended him for his filial piety. His legend is included ...

(

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Ziqian, 536 BCE-?The Analects of Confucius By Confucius, Chichung Huang
/ref>), a disciple of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

and the fourth of the 24 Confucian paragons of filial piety.The Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety
/ref> The memorial is located in

Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...

, the capital of

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

Province, China. While the memorial is designed as a classical Confucian tomb with an ancestral temple, a

spirit way A spirit way () is the ornate road leading to a Chinese tomb of a major dignitary. The term is also sometimes translated as spirit road, spirit path or sacred way. The spirit way is lined on both sides by a succession of statues, pillars, and ...

, and a burial mound, the actual burial place of Min Sun is not known.Min Ziqian: Shandong's Great Filial Son
/ref> Only some of Min Sun's clothes may have been buried at the Jinan site. Other places in

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, and

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

also have tombs erected to commemorate Min Sun. The first records of the construction of an ancestral hall dedicated to Min Ziqian on the site in Jinan date to the year 1074 in the period of the

Northern Song Dynasty Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

. Renovations were undertaken during the Yuan,

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

and

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

Dynasties.Jinan's Min Ziqian Tomb in Disrepair for Many Years
/ref>
/ref> Prior to the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, the area covered by the memorial spanned about 300 meters in the north–south direction and 200 meters along the east–west axis. The burial mount had a diameter of 78 meters and a height of 10 meters. The site also featured more than 30 old trees and more than 10 historical stone sculptures. The memorial sustained significant damage during the Cultural Revolution, when the ancestral hall was torn down, masonry was destroyed, and trees were cut down. In September 1979, the memorial was identified as the first of Jinan's key historical sites deserving protection. At present, the site covers an area of only 60 (north–south) by 30 meters (east–west). A project to restore the tomb began in 1999, but ran out of funds.Min Ziqian's tomb about to open after five-year renovation
/ref>

Location

The tomb is located to the east of Min Ziqian Road, adjacent to the Baihua Park, formerly known as "

Catkin A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in ''Salix''). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged cl ...

s Park" in reference to the story about Min Ziqian's extraordinary filial piety.

References

{{reflist Twenty-four Filial Exemplars Tombs in China Tourist attractions in Jinan

Location

See also

References