Qu Yuan Memorial
By admin on 2015-01-12

Located in Zigui County in Hubei Province, the Qu Yuan Memorial 屈原纪念馆 in Zigui 秭归 is a memorial of Chinese historical figures. It was opened to the public in 1981.

There are two floors of exhibition halls -- the second floor displays more than 800 unearthed relics in the county, such as ancient daggers, spears and swords, the most precious of which is the sword of the Yue King Goujian of the Warring States Period (475-221BC); the first floor showcases cultural relics related to Qu Yuan, including the precious poetryChu Ci(literally, poetry of the Chu Kingdom), 500 sets of books collected by Qu Yuan, and over 300 calligraphic works and paintings of various dynasties collected by him.

The memorial also houses the stone sculpture and bronze sculpture of Qu Yuan, the Jusong Pavilion (the pavilion used to praise tangerines), and the stele corridor. The stone sculpture of 103 centimeters tall was made in the 16thyear (1573) during the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1644-1911) with the money donated by the common people in Guizhou, and is the earliest extant stone sculpture of Qu Yuan in China. The bronze sculpture stands in the center of the memorial, its pedestal made of granites is 2.5 meters high and the body is 3.92 meters tall. In the tangerine grove 50 meters away from the Qu Yuan Tomb, there are 60 steles carved with 25 pieces of Qu Yuan's poetryLi Sao(Sorrow after Departure).