The final resting place of a generation of heroes｜Yuanlin, Anyang

Yuanlin, also known as the tomb of Yuan Shikai, was built in 1918 and is a complex of official buildings combining Chinese and Western styles. The front part of Yuanlin imitates the traditional Chinese style, with buildings such as a screen wall, a memorial archway, a stele pavilion, east and west side halls, Jingren Hall, and a tomb platform. The archway of Yuanlin is built with reinforced concrete and stones, which is very rare in the history of Chinese tomb architecture. At that time, in order to build this tomb, the Beiyang Government imported a large amount of cement from Japan and built this towering archway with six pillars and five floors. On both sides of the divine path, there are watchtowers, stone horses, stone tigers, stone lions, as well as civil and military officials, all well preserved; the military officials are dressed in the uniforms of the Republic of China, while the civil officials are dressed in the costumes of ancient emperors. The watchtowers are intricately carved, with 12 emblems representing the emperor, including axes, wine cups, dragons and phoenixes, pheasants, etc. The stele pavilion is in the middle of the tomb path, with a huge lying turtle inside, and a blue stone tombstone standing on it. The tombstone is engraved with 'The Tomb of President Yuan Shikai'. The hall of Yuanlin is called Jingren Hall. It is seven rooms wide on the east and west sides, and three feet and two feet deep from south to north. The brackets under the eaves and the caisson ceiling inside are all decorated with colorful paintings, and the architectural style of Jingren Hall is very similar to that of the Qing Dynasty royal family. Turning past the hall, you come to the tomb platform. The iron gate of the tomb platform is a 'mountain' shaped three-entry gate, in Western style, with blue and white stone gate pillars, steel door leaves, and the gate is decorated with a steel carved 'Twelve Emblem Grand Medal'. It is said that this gate was once lost and used as a gate by a local school, but was later reinstalled in its original place. The tomb mound is modeled after the tomb of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, and has a unique European style with cement inside and stone walls outside. Yuan Shikai lived in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. He was both a trainer of the new army, a founder of universities, and a developer of industry, but he was also cunning and deceitful, and restored dictatorship. He was a product of that era and can be considered a hero of a generation. ——Travel tips—— ▫️Opening hours: Every day from 8:30 am to 5 pm. ▫️Tour time: One hour. ▫️Ticket: 34 yuan. ▫️Tourism and protection level: 3A scenic spot, the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.