Cao Zhi's Tomb in Dong'e

During the Spring Festival holiday, my wife and I visited the only national treasure cultural relic protection unit in Dong'e County, the Yushan Cao Zhi Tomb. The tomb is located on the western slope of Yushan Mountain, 20 km south of Dong'e County, Liaocheng City. It is the tomb of Cao Zhi, a famous poet of the Wei State (220–265) during the Three Kingdoms period and the third son of Cao Cao. The cemetery has a Cao Zhi Memorial Hall that tells the life story of Cao Zhi, and there are wonderful dance story performances in the park. On the left side of the tomb, there is a stele building rebuilt in the 25th year of the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty (1899), which houses the Cao Zhi tombstone erected in the Sui Dynasty. The stele is 2.47 meters high, 1.03 meters wide, and 0.21 meters thick. The stele crown and stele body are carved from a single stone, and the inscription has a total of 935 characters, using both seal and clerical script. So far, there are still very few tombs from the Three Kingdoms period discovered in China, so the discovery of Cao Zhi's tomb is of great value for research in literature and archaeology. In March 1977, cultural relics and archaeological workers discovered an inscribed brick on the tomb wall about 3 meters high in front of the tomb chamber. The brick is a tomb brick, with inscriptions on three sides: "On the 15th day of the 3rd month of the 7th year of Taihe, the governor of Yanzhou, Hou Chang, sent 200 soldiers, including Zhu Zhou, to complete the construction of the tomb of King Chen, and each was given a 200-day rest. The supervisor was the minister of the Ministry of Works, Zhang Shun." This proves the authenticity of Cao Zhi's tomb in Dong'e. The ticket is not expensive, and the historical significance is profound. It is a good place to pay tribute to the ancients and enjoy a distant view of the Yellow River from the mountain. The only drawback is that it is unreasonable to pay 8 yuan each time for a private floating bridge to cross the Yellow River.