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The tomb of Li Shizhen is located in Xiezi Hill outside the east gate of Sizhou Town of Xinchun County in Hubei Province.
Li Shizhen (1518-1593) was an outstanding medical expert in the 16thcentury. Born in Qizhou (today's Qichun), he liked iatrology since childhood. He began to practice medicine when young, and gained fame as a doctor. In order to correct mistakes and missing parts of the medical books at that time, Li Shizhen spent over 30 years in writing a famous iatrology book, calledBen Cao Gang Mu(Compendium of Materia Medica). In the course of compiling the book, he amended his scripts three times. After the publication of the book, it was gradually translated or extracted into many kinds of editions, including Japanese, Korea, English, and German. It is of great importance in the world's scientific history.
In order to commemorate the great iatrology expert, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, local people built a mausoleum for him in his hometown. The mausoleum is located on the bank of the Rain Lake. The newly built bluestone memorial archway loftily stands near the water, with four big characters on the bluestone meaning Master of Iatrology. The mausoleum is located in a place, with the front facing the north, surrounded by green hills and green trees. A water lily pond was newly built in front of the mausoleum. Red and white flowers are in full bloom.
The statue of Li Shizhen is standing tall and upright in the mausoleum, and on the base is engraved the autography epigraph by Mr. Guo Moruo (a famous Chinese writer). Two pavilions with green titles and flying eaves were built on the two sides of statues. The co-buried tomb of Li Shizhen and his wife, Mrs. Wu, was behind the statue. There are other buildings in the mausoleum, such as lotus pond, arch bridge, balcony, parterre, medicine gardens and hexagonal pavilions.
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