Dayu Mausoleum (dà yǔ líng 大禹陵) is located at the foot of Kuaiji Mountain (kuài jī shān 会稽山) southeast of Shaoxing City (shào xìng shì 绍兴市), Zhejiang Province (zhè jiāng shěng 浙江省). It is the place where Da Yu was buried. Yu was the famous water-control hero and the first ruler and founder of the Xia Dynasty (xià cháo 夏朝). The whole mausoleum area consists of three parts, the Yu Mausoleum (yǔ líng 禹陵), Yu Temple (yǔ miào 禹庙) and Yu Shrine (yǔ cí 禹祠). It covers a total area of more than 40 mu (mǔ 亩), and is listed as the national historic reservation unit with a construction area of 2700 square meters.

According to records, at that time, a great flood was said to have inundated the central plains. Dayu was appointed to control the water. He cut channels and build other projects to drain the flood waters away to the sea. Dayu managed to have the water under control after 13 years of great efforts. Dayu was so devoted to the water-control that three times he passed his own home without ever entering. So he was admired by all Chinese. A few years later, he died in Shaoxing and was buried at the foot of Kuaiji Mountain.

The Yu Mausoleum faces Yu Pond (yǔ chí 禹池), with a stone memorial gateway at the entrance. In 1995, the general secretary Jiang Zemin (jiāng zé mín 江泽民) inscribed three characters Da Yu Ling on it. In front of the memorial gateway, there is a accumbent bronzy pillar named Dragon Bar (lóng gàng 龙杠) with two stakes at both sides. Anyone who came here must get down from the horse or the sedan chair and walk into it in order to show respect for Dayu, no matter the person is emperor or common people. When passing through the memorial gate, you can see the Divine Road (shén dào 神道), the length of it is over one hundred meters. Five pairs of lapidarian divine animals were stand at the two sides of divine road. The stele pavilion titled "Da Yu Mausoleum" written by Nan Daji (nán dà jí 南大吉), the prefect of Shaoxing during the reign of Jiajing (jiā jìng嘉靖) in Ming Dynasty (míng cháo 明朝), is at the end of divine road. The Yuwang Hill (yǔ wáng shān 禹王山) is behind the stele pavilion, Dayu was buried here. On the right side of the stele pavilion, there are Xianruo Pavilion (xián ruò tíng 咸若亭), Stele Passageway and Feiyinquan Pavilion (fēi yǐn quán tíng 菲饮泉亭).

Yu Temple is in the northeast of Yu Mausoleum. It is a palatial architecture. The temple was originally built in early Liang period during the Southern Dynasty (nán cháo liáng chū 南朝梁初). On the central axis from south to north are respectively the Screen Wall (zhào bì 照壁), Goulou Stele Pavilion (gǒu lǒu bēi tíng 岣嵝碑亭), Meridian Gate (wǔ mén 午门), Worshiping Hall (bài tīng 拜厅) and the Main Hall. The building stands higher along with the line of the mountain.

The Yu Shrine sits on the left of Yu Mausoleum. It is a flat house with two entrances and three rooms. There is a pond named Free Life Pond (fàng shēng chí 放生池) in front of the shrine. According to record, it was firstly built in Shaokang Period during the Xia Dynasty (xià dài shǎo kāng 夏代少康). After that the shrine had been destroyed and rebuilt many times. The two sides of the front entrance has the stone carvings, reading Dayu control water and remember the contribution and give rewards to him. The statues of Dayu was placed at the back entrance.

Dayu Mausoleum is one of the most famous places in the southeast of China. It is rich in the historic, humanistic, artistic and tourism value.

Dayu Mausoleum
Address: Tworing Road (èr huán lù 二环路) in the southeast of Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province
Admission fee: RMB 50
Opening hours: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Transportation: you can take No. 2, 20, 25 bus or the tourism sightseeing bus to get to there.