Hai Rui Memorial Park

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Hai Rui Tomb，with stone sculptures of lions and guards around，is the tomb of Hai Rui who was a famous official in history for his bright righteousness and integrity in enforcing law，a famous politician in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.Hai Rui was frank and honest，speaking on behalf of people all his life The tomb was first built in 1589 during the Ming Dynasty，and the tomb park covers an area of 5，000 square meters.All the main constructions in the tomb park have been well preserved by the local folks，though some of them were destroyed during the ten year’s Cultural Revolution.

In 1982，it was refurbished by the local government according to its original appearance.They also built the pavilions，galleries，water pools and rockworks in the park，and extended the park area into 10，000 square meters.Surrounded by walls，the tomb park is rectangular in shape，100 meters in length and 40 meters in width.The park itself was designed with eight tiers:Shendao or the Path of Spirit；Yuji tablet；the tomb；Hai Rui’s Statue；Yanglian or Clean-figured Pavilion；Qingfeng or Cooling-breeze Pavilion；rockery barriers and Octagonal Pavilion.

Facing the gate of the Hai Rui Memorial Park，you can see flourishing coconut palms on both sides of the paved path.The coconut palms are tall and straight with vigor to illustrate Hai Rui’s sternness and uprightness in his life.

At the entrance comes first the Memorial Arch with a horizontal block on which four Chinese characters are caved，”Yue Dong Zheng Qi”which means the Honest Spirit in Yuedong Region.That is where the Shendao，or the Path of Spirit，a 100-meter-long path，made up of granite，leads to the tomb.Then we come to the lively stone sculptures of animals and statues, which are usually found at entrance to imperial tombs from the Han Dynasty onwards in Chinese history. The stone sculptures of animals and statues here on both sides of the path include stone horses, stone lions, stone goats, stone tortoises and stone men etc, creating a solemn atmosphere. Besides, in the park, evergreen trees grow everywhere for all seasons.

The Shendao from the Memorial Arch to the gate of the main tomb is known for the Path of Spirit. The body of the dead is carried over the route at funeral ceremony. It is said that Hai Rui’s coffin was carried to the island from his position in Nanjing City. Because his wife and son had passed away before him, he was lonely. On the way when Hai Rui’s coffin was arriving, people were all crying and grieving. When the coffin was carried to the very spot where thepresent tomb is situated, the rope of the coffin broke and people believed this was the place that Hai Rui chose for himself. Thus the tomb was built on that spot.

After forty meters’ walk from the first Memorial Arch, there appears a big stone platform with a huge stone tortoise in the center, carrying a stone tablet. This is the Yuji Tablet or the official tablet from the emperor in the Ming Dynasty, bearing an inscription of the true comments granted by the emperor himself. From this we can see what ponderance it bears.

Yuji Tablet was badly destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but the original couplets can still be recognized as following: Who said you have nochild? All the people in the world are yours. The couplets have expressed theendless love and esteem of the people toward this loyal and honest official who had no child.

Whenever you come to the festival to hold a memorial ceremony for Hai Rui on February 22nd to 25th every lunar year, crowds of people would gathertogether in front of Hai Rui’s Tomb. They would bring with them a variety of offering and bow in salute in front of Hai Rui’s statue. They would rather invite Qiong Opera troupe to perform in public in front of the Memorial Park for three evenings. The festival has been lasting continuously for more than 400 years.

Please pay attention to the small stone tortoises on the lawn next to the big one.This is truly the imitation of the big one.There is another story about it telling us how much the people in nearby villages show their love to Hai Rui During the Cultural Revolution，the original big stone tortoise was damaged；the people here adored Hai Rui so much that they considered the stone tortoise as the reincarnation of Hai Rui，so they carved a small one and put it to the original site where the big one once lay for worship.What they have done expresses clearly their respect and love for Hai Rui.

Now I would like to introduce something about Hai Rui’s life to you.Hai Rui was born in 1514 in a small village of Fucheng Town in Haikou City Accordance with some experts’textual research，Hai Rui was the later generation of Hui nationality immigrated to Hainan from Fujian.His grandfather’s name was Haida’er.Hai Rui was very diligent and upright since his childhood although he was living in a poor family.During the period of being an official，he punished the malfeasant sternly and redressed somemishandled cases；besides，he dared to plead for the common people.He was an upright person who loved his motherland and people.What he had done has become well known in history.As soon as he was dismissed from the court，he went back to the village leading the fellowmen to start irrigation.