Yao Mausoleum in Linfen

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Summer is the ideal season for travelling in Shanxi Province.

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Linfen Railway Station is located on Chezhan Street in the northeastern urban area. The north-south Tongpu Railway trunk line runs through the city, linking northern and southern Shanxi. The Houxi and Houyue Railways, part of China’s second Eurasian Continental Bridge, stretch east and west. Trains run from Linfen to Beijing, Xi’an, Taiyuan, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin and other cities.

An expressway directly connects Linfen and Huozhou. Besides, the Dayun Highway (Datong-Yuncheng) and National Highway 108 run north and south across Shanxi, while National Highway 319 and Jinhan Highway extend east and west. Long-distance buses departing from Linfen Coach Station reach Taiyuan, Xi’an, Yuncheng and all counties and districts under Linfen’s jurisdiction.

Linfen operates abundant bus routes leading to tourist attractions, bringing great convenience to tourists.

Yao Mausoleum is situated on the north bank of the Laoyu River in Guocun Village, 35 kilometres northeast of Linfen City, Shanxi Province.

Yaomiao Temple stands south of Pingyang, the capital city of Emperor Yao, while the mausoleum was built east of the city. Earthen cliffs enclose the tomb mound, and the river flows southward in front of the mausoleum. Green pines and cypresses grow luxuriantly around the tomb, which rises 50 metres high with a circumference of 80 metres. An ancestral shrine was erected in front of the mound, said to date back to the early Tang Dynasty.

According to an inscription on a stone stele from the second year of the Taihe reign of the Jin Dynasty (1202 AD), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty stationed his troops here during his campaign against Liao. He paid homage to Emperor Yao and ordered a statue of himself to be made here. In the Zhongtong reign of the Yuan Dynasty, Taoist priest Jiang Shanxin reconstructed the mausoleum under the order of Kublai Khan, the Yuan Emperor. Further renovations were carried out in the Chenghua and Jiajing reigns of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns of the Qing Dynasty. The tomb mound and ancient evergreen trees remain intact to this day.

The shrine complex consists of the mountain gate (with an opera tower on top), memorial archway, wing rooms, offering hall, sleeping hall and stele pavilion. It features a compact layout and exquisite wood carvings. The red walls and green tiles set off beautifully against clear running water and ancient cypresses, forming a picturesque scene. More than ten stone steles inside the shrine record the great merits of Emperor Yao and the reconstruction history of the mausoleum