Yanzi's Tomb () is the tomb of Yan Yan, a prominent

disciple of Confucius According to Sima Qian, Confucius said: "The disciples who received my instructions, and could themselves comprehend them, were seventy-seven individuals. They were all scholars of extraordinary ability." It was traditionally believed that Confuciu ...

. He is honorifically known as Yanzi (Master Yan). The tomb is located on Yushan,

Changshu Changshu (; Suzhounese: /d͡ʐan¹³ ʐoʔ²³/) is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and is part of the Yangtze River Delta. It borders the prefecture-level city of Nantong to the northeast across the Yangt ...

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 ...

Province, China. Yanzi was a native of Changshu. As a young man he went to the

State of Lu Lu (, c. 1042–249 BC) was a vassal state during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China located around modern Shandong province. Founded in the 11th century BC, its rulers were from a cadet branch of the House of Ji (姬) that ruled the Zhou dyn ...

where he studied under

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 ...

. Yanzi, hard-working and intelligent, excelled in literature. After finishing his studies, he returned to the south and became known as "Master of the South". Yanzi's Tomb was established in the early Western Han Dynasty for the first time. The tomb was enhanced over many generations. The entrance of the tomb faces North Gate Street. The ramp extends to the hillside which reaches . Chinese culture suggests that placing a tomb on a hillside increases its Feng Shui. There are three arches all with plaques and each arch has a pair of couplets. The ramp has three pavilions. The burial mound is about high and in diameter. Two tombstones one of

Qing Dynasty 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-speak ...

and another of

Ming Dynasty 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 ...

commemorate the tomb. Yanzi's Tomb was given protection as a provincial cultural treasure in October 1956.

References

Tombs in China Buildings and structures in Suzhou Changshu {{cemetery-stub