Tomb of Hai Rui (hǎi ruì mù 海瑞墓) is situated in Haikou City (hǎi kǒu shì 海口市) of Hainan Province (hǎi nán shěng 海南省). It was built in 1589 during the Ming Dynasty (míng cháo 明朝), covering an area of more han 4000 square meters. The Tomb of Hai Rui is a key national cultural protection area, and is one of the more popular tourist attractions of Haikou.
Hai Rui (1514-1587), also known Ruxian (rǔ xián 汝贤), was an uncorrupted minister in the Ming Dynasty. In his lifetime, he helped the common people to get the right. He fought against a lot of corrupted officials of the time and was considered to be the most upright of his time. His name has come down in history as a model of honesty and integrity in office and he reemerged as an important historical character during the Cultural Revolution.
The architectures in the area of Tomb of Hairui are of primitive simplicity. There is a stone archway, on which there are four red Chinese characters “粤东正气"(yuè dōng zhèng qì). On both side of the path, which is paved with granites, stone statues of goats, horse, lion and tortoise are standing there. In the middle way of the path, there are other three stone archways, magnific ans solemn.
At the end of the entrance path, you will see the tomb of Hai Rui, which is 3 meters high, with round roof. In front of the tomb, there is an incense burner in front of it. At the back of the tomb, there is the Yanglian Pavilion (yáng lián xuān 扬廉轩). On the pillars there are two couplets, which are written by Hai Rui. In the Qingfeng Pavilion (qīng fēng gé 清风阁), which is at the rear of Yanglian Pavilion, there exhibits the relics related to the life of the Hai Rui. Dotted with the green coconut trees, pines and cypresses, the whole tomb is solemn.
Tomb of Hai Rui
Address: No. 39, Qiuhai Avenue (qiū hǎi dà dào 丘海大道), Longhua District (lóng huá qū 龙华区), Haikou City
Admission fee: CNY 10
Opening hours: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Transportation: you can take bus No. 2, 16, 19 to get there
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