Tomb of the Five Men · Tomb of Ge Xian
Tombs of the five martyrs of the Ming-era Suzhou citizens' anti-tax uprising (recorded in Zhang Pu's 'Record of the Five Men's Tomb')
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- Open all day
- Ticket
- Free
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
Tombs of the five martyrs of the Ming-era Suzhou citizens' anti-tax uprising (recorded in Zhang Pu's 'Record of the Five Men's Tomb'). In the sixth year of the Ming Tianqi reign (1626), tens of thousands of Suzhou citizens rose up to protest the eunuch faction of Wei Zhongxian arresting the Donglin Party scholar Zhou Shunchang. Five ordinary citizens—Yan Peiwei, Yang Nianru, Ma Jie, Shen Yang, and Zhou Wenyuan—stepped forward to take the blame and went to their deaths. Afterwards, the people of Suzhou buried the five beside Shantang Creek near Tiger Hill, and the Fushe Society leader Zhang Pu wrote the 'Record of the Five Men's Tomb' for them; its line 'to show how great the matter of life and death is, and that even a commoner can bear weight upon the state' entered middle-school textbooks, keeping the names of these five ordinary martyrs alive to this day. Ge Xian (Ge Cheng), an anti-tax leader of the Wanli era, admired the five martyrs in his lifetime and was reburied beside them after his death; the two neighboring tombs are visited in their memory. The cemetery is free and modest in size—a 'civic lesson' stop on Shantang Street's cultural route, well suited for visitors who have read the 'Record of the Five Men's Tomb.'
Getting there: Next to Tiger Hill
Photos
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