Chen Shijing’s Tomb

The tomb is in front of the gate of No. 12, Jishan Road, on Gulangyu Island. Chen Shijing (?-1659), otherwise known as Qimo or Fozhuang (both his courtesy names), was a native of Mingzhou (i.e. today’s Ningbo, Zhejiang) during the Ming Dynasty. A successful candidate in the highest imperial examination during the reign of Chongzhen (1628-1644), he once served as Minister of the Imperial Household, which was his highest position in the court. During the closing years of the Ming Dynasty, he came to Xiamen by sea as a follower of Prince Lu to help Zheng Chenggong resist the Qing regime, and was appointed as Secretary of the Bureau of Operations under the Ministry of War. He lived the last years of his life on Gulangyu Island, and was buried in Bijia Hill after his death. His tomb was moved to the current site in the early years of the Republic of China (the 1910s). Facing northeast, the tomb is about 20 square meters in size. In front of it is a stele, which is 0.91 meters high, 0.57 meters wide, and 0.17 meters thick. Its base is 1.64 meters long, 0.44 meters wide, and 0.14 meters high. The stele features a number of inscriptions, including one in the middle reading “Bu An”(i.e. a fugitive’s cottage) in a regular cursive style, with each character 0.32 meters high and 0.22 meters wide, one in the upper area reading “Penned by Mr. Chen Shijing himself”, and one in the lower area bearing the names of the inscribers. His gravestone, which is dated 1948, was erected to the west of the first stele. The gravestone, 1.17 meters high and 0.43 meters wide, features an inscription reading “Ming Patriot Mr. Chen Shijing’s Tomb.” At the bottom of the gravestone is a brief biography of the great man. In order to better protect the tomb, some renovation work was done in 1996. This included paving an area of 16 square meters around the tomb and erecting a red brick wall around it to fortify its base.