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我一生是在中药行业中度过的，并且有幸进入杭州最大的胡庆余堂雪记药号。如今已是耄耋之年，往事如烟，人事苍茫。先辈胡雪岩所创建的胡庆余堂和它曾经发生过的一切，总是那么地吸引我，感染我，成了我一生中的永恒记忆。
在这爿药店里，我干过炒药、配方、切胶、制丸等许多劳作，待到年事已高，我便赋闲在家，但我对这爿店的开山师祖、江南药王的创业精神和经商之道，一直怀着敬仰和钦佩之心！
我对胡雪岩史料的研究，开始于参与胡庆余堂厂史编纂之时。这位晚清商人至今还保存在胡庆余堂的一些实物，让我这个老药工出身、非职业史学者对其一一辨踪解读，这真是一种缘分！经过了数十年的积累，我终于整理出十余万字的史稿材料。
在胡雪岩家史、家谱研究中，我先后在上海、杭州等地拜访了著名文史专家郑逸梅、黄萍荪先生，又赶赴安徽绩溪查阅地方志、胡氏宗族祠堂谱牒等，并遍访胡氏后裔30多人，还整理出分布在海内外的胡氏后裔300多人。
在研究了胡雪岩的家史、家谱后，我拿起笔先后写了《胡雪岩与胡庆余堂》《胡庆余堂的儒家文化》《略谈胡庆余堂的中医药文化》等传记、学术研究文章在《浙江日报》《杭州日报》等发表，为揭开历史的面纱作些补白。
然而至今更令我日思夜想的，是考证和寻觅这位红顶商人胡雪岩逝世后究竟魂归何处？
胡雪岩算得上一生辉煌，富甲天下，但最后却落得一败涂地，囊空如洗，死后为避寻仇祸端，连丧葬都不敢张扬，因而他的墓葬之地成了一个旷世之谜。
有人曾说胡雪岩破产后，户部尚书阎敬铭劾奏，请朝廷对其撤职查办，胡闻讯愤而欲寻短见，还写了遗嘱，云：“墉做生意亏本，累及公款，又累私账，还苦了亲友……其洋四百元，做坟之用，必得年前落葬，年内无日可用，只好开年，愈早愈好，入土为安。”又云：“……华表坟上不用，此物不过后人好看，墉如此下场，要好看何用……”然而胡后来并未吞烟自杀，而是在贫病交迫中死去（见郑逸梅《话财神胡雪岩之死》一文）。此遗嘱原文是郑逸梅好友、胡雪岩曾孙、近代著名画家胡亚光提供的。胡雪岩的曾孙胡文桢说：“曾祖父不是服鸦片自杀，他是由于悲愤抑郁而去世的，临终面色蜡黄，可能患痢疾而死。”胡雪岩曾侄孙胡存孝说：“听上代说，胡雪岩临终，家中一老管家做梦，梦见屋上有一天神牵着一只猴子慢慢腾空而去。翌日，胡即气绝而亡，卒于光绪十一年（1885年），胡雪岩生肖属猴。”
胡雪岩是空着两手辞别人世的，最终陪伴他的唯有七尺桐棺（梧桐板所制的劣质棺材），一灯如豆。等浙江巡抚院奉旨派员查封胡宅时，唯见一间白布孝堂，灵帏垂地，再也无其他财产可封。
胡的后辈后来对胡雪岩墓地究竟在何处也没有定论，历史似乎有意要遗忘这位晚清的红顶商人。
我在了解胡雪岩家史之后，决意想要揭开这个谜底，并对此进行了多方勘探。根据胡氏后裔资料载，胡家在杭州留下有一墓葬地，后来当地农民证实，确实有一块胡氏墓地，还说其中有胡雪岩之墓。后来我赶到黄泥坞调查，听老农何土根介绍，昔日胡雪岩曾花一万多两银子在这里建造了规模宏大的“胡庆余堂坟庄”。只是经过一个世纪的风雨变迁，原有的石牌坊、石亭子已经不复存在，墓地上的土丘更是一片泥湮，早被荒草盖没。听了农民这番话，我对找到胡氏墓地更增加了信心，于是我掏钱请人在墓群间东寻西找，结果好不容易在一处一米深的黄土里挖出几块破碎的碑石，拼凑起来一辨认，只看见有个富裕的“裕”字，按照胡氏家谱排列，“裕”字辈乃是胡雪岩孙辈的排行。后来我又听另一位老农说，这墓在1962年被人盗过，盗墓人案发后被判刑三年，刑未满就死在狱中，经手这个案子的是西湖区人民法院。
“这是一条很有价值的线索，法院的结案报告定有详细记载。”我顺着这个思路赶到西湖区人民法院，法院同志热心地捧出了一叠档案让我查阅。翻了许久，我从中查到了胡雪岩之孙胡渭卿（又名裕泉）所填写的一份“情况发生报告表”，日期是1962年2月23日，表上填写着的荆山岭上的所盗之墓并不是胡雪岩墓，而是胡雪岩父母胡鹿泉夫妇合葬之墓。那时胡雪岩正处于飞黄腾达之时，其父母屡受皇帝诰封，墓内自然有玉如意、玉簪等许多陪葬品，盗墓者偷盗此墓并不为怪，这个情况也证实了老农何土根对“胡氏墓群规模宏大”的描述。
我后来又查找众多资料，见一资料载有人在龙井戚家岭发现有胡雪岩墓，理由是墓前有巨石碑反扑在地，用手摸去有“光墉”两字，我惊喜异常，当即赶去，由当地老农陪同爬上戚家岭，在一竹林深处发现了一块石碑，但没有见到碑文，当我第二次再去戚家岭时，听说有人用起重葫芦已将巨碑翻起来了，我上山后清除污泥，定睛一看，发现此碑乃是胡雪岩祖父胡国梁夫妇之墓，碑中刻有“光墉”两字，那是孙辈落款人的名字，所以可以肯定，真正的胡雪岩墓也不在龙井。
几次寻访，疲惫辗转，无功而返，但我并不灰心。一次我突然想起我在年轻时候，曾听说有个盗墓老手专盗名人之墓，西湖边的历史名人之墓差不多都给盗过，后来此人死于狱中，但他的妻子仍在闲林埠留下镇，能不能从他老婆口中找点线索呢？于是我找到了这位老人，她第一次什么都不肯说，我不甘心，几天后再次上门找她，诚恳地说明了来意和目的，她终于开口说：“你去泗乡看看。”这位老人说出的这句话，重燃了我寻找胡雪岩墓的希望，是年已经66岁的我，邀了胡雪岩曾孙胡文桢、胡文莹兄弟俩直奔泗乡（今称中村）。胡文桢说，他10岁曾随父胡渭卿给胡雪岩扫过墓，但距今已60多年了，沧海桑田，已想不起确切地点了，只是隐约记得在杭州西郊。
我们赶到中村鹭鸶岭上，几名茶农正在炒茶，我请他们作向导，给我们带带路，不知何故他们就是不肯。不过从聊天中我听到了一些神秘传说：数年前，有个炒茶工场的值班农民睡到半夜，忽然听到凄凉的女鬼哭声，吓得他再也不肯值夜班。这倒使我想起胡雪岩小妾章氏殉情故事：胡雪岩生前妻妾成群，胡败落后姬妾多作鸟兽散，唯有心爱小妾跪于胡膝下，不愿离去，曰：“妾侍候大先生多年，享尽荣华富贵，今遭劫难，誓终身相随，生死与共。”章氏一片真情，使胡更为心酸，就在胡雪岩寿终正寝之日，章氏趁人不备，上楼自缢身死，胡母念其节烈，同意厚葬并与胡雪岩同穴。
因为无人带路，我便与胡氏兄弟一路寻觅，踏着乱石，拨开蒿草，找了多时，终于寻着一座荒冢，只见此荒冢现出两个深深的黑洞，一块巨石横卧于洞前。这是断碑？于是我再次雇人翻起，只见此碑长120厘米，宽70厘米，厚60厘米，除去污泥杂草，碑文一下子清晰映入眼帘：“向兼子午丙午分金大夫晋封荣考雪岩府君晋封一品夫，太夫人，晋封夫人显，合葬之”，这正是我们要找的一块胡雪岩残碑啊！我们把这断断续续的34字碑文与胡氏兄弟保存的家谱文字相对照，除了残缺的，现存的均一字不差。此时此刻，胡氏兄弟俩面对祖宗坟茔，不禁悲喜交加，而我的心中，也顿时百感交集！
真是好事多磨，我把胡雪岩残碑运回厂里，原以为此碑可为重建胡雪岩墓作依据，不想却被原胡庆余堂领导轻易丢弃在乌龙庙仓库里，后又被正在搞基建的土建队当废石砸碎，填于脚下。直到青春宝集团董事长冯根生接管了濒临破产的胡庆余堂，这爿老店终于重新焕发了生机，特别是冯根生董事长向全体员工所讲的一番极为严肃的话，终使重建胡雪岩墓发生了转机。冯根生说：“胡庆余堂职工不能忘记自己的老祖宗，不能不尊重自己的老祖宗！”在冯根生的重视和支持下，1997年清明节，修葺一新的胡雪岩墓重新屹立在中村鹭鸶岭上。
编者按：作为胡庆余堂的一位老药工，赵玉城先生的这篇文章写来历历如诉，感情真挚，文笔朴实，引人入胜。尤其是他寻找胡雪岩墓的经历，殚精竭虑，备尝艰苦。
当然，胡雪岩的研究课题在杭州是一门“显学”，其墓葬何处、出殡情节等等，还望有识之士和知情者继续发掘、充实，以真实完整地再现这段史实。
In Search of a Tomb
My life story, if summarized succinctly, has related closely with the traditional Chinese medicine. Where I worked till retirement is the Hu’s Qingyu House, the largest TCM pharmacy in Hangzhou. My jobs there varied over years. My work experience there enabled me to admire Hu Xueyan (1823-1885), the founder of the Qingyu House and the pharmaceutical king of the southern Yangtze River Delta.
My knowledge of Hu accumulated when I joined a taskforce to write the history of the house. The objects at the house left over from the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) opened my eyes to the history though I was by no means an academic historian and my professional training was largely in the TCM drugs.
During the researches over decades, I interviewed more than 30 descendents of Hu Xueyan and two historians, and visited Hu’s home village in Jixi, Anhui Province and sorted out the posterity of over 300 of the Hu clan both at home and abroad. On the basis of my researches, I wrote some research results about Hu and got them printed in Zhejiang Daily and Hangzhou Daily. The written archive I produced on the pharmaceutical king adds up to more than 100,000 characters.
The most unforgettable moment of my researches on Hu Xueyan occurred when I found the lost tomb of Hu Xueyan.
When I got to know the life story of Hu through researches, one disconcerting question about the businessman remained unsolved. Where was he buried? The mystery was there for a reason.
After the incredible grandeur and glory of a business career, the man came down in the world and died in poverty. Though there were rumors that Hu killed himself with an overdose of opium, his great grandsons Hu Yaguang and Hu Wenzheng told me a different story, saying their great grandfather died of illness. In order to keep himself safe from possible intrusion of his foes, it was rumored, Hu was buried secretly. Even his descendents could not tell me exactly where their ancestor was buried.
My search for the tomb began.
The records of the descendents of the Hu family showed that the family had bought a graveyard in a suburb of Hangzhou. It was located in a place named Huangniwu (Yellow Soil Valley). Local villagers confirmed the existence of the graveyard. I was told that there used to be a huge guard house on the burial ground, including a stone memorial archway and a stone pavilion. But after more than a century, I saw no trace of any building there, let alone the archway and pavilion. The mounds there were thickly covered by weeds. I dug here and there and found a few fragments of a tombstone. A carved word suggested that a grandson of Hu Xueyan might have had something to do with the graveyard. I was told that the tomb had been robbed in 1962 and the robber was sentenced to jail for three years, but he did not survive the sentence.
The clue was encouraging. I visited the West Lake District Court. After going through the archive of old cases and reading a report filed on February 23, 1962 by Hu Weiqing, a grandson of Hu Xueyan, I found that Hu Xueyan’s parents were buried there. It made sense. In the heyday of Hu’s life, his parents received honorary titles by imperial mandate. Naturally the tomb with some valuable funerary objects would attract tomb robbers.
Another clue turned up from my further textual research. Someone reported that Hu Xueyan was buried in Qijia Ridge near Dragon Well. The guess was based on the characters carved on a fallen huge tombstone with its face down on the ground. Some had recognized the characters by touching them with his hand from down under. I hurried to the ridge and saw a tombstone in a bamboo grove. But the fallen tombstone made it impossible to read the epitaph. On my second visit to the ridge, I was told that someone had turned the tombstone over with a block and tackle. After removing the dirt from the stone, I was able to conclude that Hu Xueyan’s grandparents were buried there.
I was not disheartened by my failures. One day I suddenly remembered hearing of a tomb robber who had touched almost all the celebrities?tombs around the West Lake. The pro had died in prison, but his wife was still alive and lived in Liuxia Town. I went all the way to visit the old woman, but she refused to tell me anything. A few days later, I visited her again and explained earnestly why I wanted to find the tomb of Hu Xueyan. This time she said briefly: “Take a look around Sixiang”The short remark rekindled my hope. It was 1992, and I was 66 years old that year. I invited Hu Wenzheng and Hu Wenying, two great grandsons of Hu Xueyan, to search for the tomb in Sixiang (Today’s Zhongcun). Hu Wenzheng said that he visited the tomb with his father at age 10. But more than six decades had passed and he didn’t remember where the tomb was located exactly, but he had a faint memory that it was somewhere in the western suburb of Hangzhou.
On April 26, we came to the Egret Ridge only to find a few farmers processing tea leaves there. I asked them to be our guide, but they turned down the request unanimously. While chatting with them, I found why they were reluctant to give us directions. A few years back, a farmer, who had been on a night shift on the tea processing farm, heard a female ghost weeping forlornly at midnight. He was so scared that later he refused to take any night shift any more. I didn’t believe a bit of the ghost part of the story, but it reminded me of the hearsay about Hu’s concubines. After the bankruptcy struck, many concubines left him. One concubine, however, stayed with him to the very end and hanged herself on the day of Hu’s death. The concubine was buried together with Hu.
Without a guide, the two brothers and I started searching. The path was strewn with stones and covered by rampant weeds. We spotted a robbed tomb, two black cavities peeping vacantly at us and a huge stone lying across the holes. Was the stone part of the tombstone? Hired helpers turned the stone over. It was indeed the remaining part of a tombstone. The remaining part measured 120 cm long, 70 cm wide and 60 cm thick and had 34 characters, which later turned out to be a perfect match with the record in the clan pedigree, except for the missing characters. The epitaph bore the name of Hu Xueyan and his glories. At this very moment, the two brothers were overcome partly with sorrow and partly with joy. I felt all kinds of feelings well up in my heart.
I made arrangements to get the broken tombstone back to the Qingyu House. But the management of that time was not interested. The stone was dismissed to a warehouse and later it was shattered to pieces and used in groundwork by construction workers. It was not until the pharmacy was taken over by the China Qing Chun Bao Group that there came a turning point. CEO Feng Gensheng said at a workers?assembly that we should never forget the founder of the Qingyu House.The Qingming Festival in 1997 saw the tomb rebuilt at the original site on the Egret Ridge.
(Translated by David)
在这爿药店里，我干过炒药、配方、切胶、制丸等许多劳作，待到年事已高，我便赋闲在家，但我对这爿店的开山师祖、江南药王的创业精神和经商之道，一直怀着敬仰和钦佩之心！
我对胡雪岩史料的研究，开始于参与胡庆余堂厂史编纂之时。这位晚清商人至今还保存在胡庆余堂的一些实物，让我这个老药工出身、非职业史学者对其一一辨踪解读，这真是一种缘分！经过了数十年的积累，我终于整理出十余万字的史稿材料。
在胡雪岩家史、家谱研究中，我先后在上海、杭州等地拜访了著名文史专家郑逸梅、黄萍荪先生，又赶赴安徽绩溪查阅地方志、胡氏宗族祠堂谱牒等，并遍访胡氏后裔30多人，还整理出分布在海内外的胡氏后裔300多人。
在研究了胡雪岩的家史、家谱后，我拿起笔先后写了《胡雪岩与胡庆余堂》《胡庆余堂的儒家文化》《略谈胡庆余堂的中医药文化》等传记、学术研究文章在《浙江日报》《杭州日报》等发表，为揭开历史的面纱作些补白。
然而至今更令我日思夜想的，是考证和寻觅这位红顶商人胡雪岩逝世后究竟魂归何处？
胡雪岩算得上一生辉煌，富甲天下，但最后却落得一败涂地，囊空如洗，死后为避寻仇祸端，连丧葬都不敢张扬，因而他的墓葬之地成了一个旷世之谜。
有人曾说胡雪岩破产后，户部尚书阎敬铭劾奏，请朝廷对其撤职查办，胡闻讯愤而欲寻短见，还写了遗嘱，云：“墉做生意亏本，累及公款，又累私账，还苦了亲友……其洋四百元，做坟之用，必得年前落葬，年内无日可用，只好开年，愈早愈好，入土为安。”又云：“……华表坟上不用，此物不过后人好看，墉如此下场，要好看何用……”然而胡后来并未吞烟自杀，而是在贫病交迫中死去（见郑逸梅《话财神胡雪岩之死》一文）。此遗嘱原文是郑逸梅好友、胡雪岩曾孙、近代著名画家胡亚光提供的。胡雪岩的曾孙胡文桢说：“曾祖父不是服鸦片自杀，他是由于悲愤抑郁而去世的，临终面色蜡黄，可能患痢疾而死。”胡雪岩曾侄孙胡存孝说：“听上代说，胡雪岩临终，家中一老管家做梦，梦见屋上有一天神牵着一只猴子慢慢腾空而去。翌日，胡即气绝而亡，卒于光绪十一年（1885年），胡雪岩生肖属猴。”
胡雪岩是空着两手辞别人世的，最终陪伴他的唯有七尺桐棺（梧桐板所制的劣质棺材），一灯如豆。等浙江巡抚院奉旨派员查封胡宅时，唯见一间白布孝堂，灵帏垂地，再也无其他财产可封。
胡的后辈后来对胡雪岩墓地究竟在何处也没有定论，历史似乎有意要遗忘这位晚清的红顶商人。
我在了解胡雪岩家史之后，决意想要揭开这个谜底，并对此进行了多方勘探。根据胡氏后裔资料载，胡家在杭州留下有一墓葬地，后来当地农民证实，确实有一块胡氏墓地，还说其中有胡雪岩之墓。后来我赶到黄泥坞调查，听老农何土根介绍，昔日胡雪岩曾花一万多两银子在这里建造了规模宏大的“胡庆余堂坟庄”。只是经过一个世纪的风雨变迁，原有的石牌坊、石亭子已经不复存在，墓地上的土丘更是一片泥湮，早被荒草盖没。听了农民这番话，我对找到胡氏墓地更增加了信心，于是我掏钱请人在墓群间东寻西找，结果好不容易在一处一米深的黄土里挖出几块破碎的碑石，拼凑起来一辨认，只看见有个富裕的“裕”字，按照胡氏家谱排列，“裕”字辈乃是胡雪岩孙辈的排行。后来我又听另一位老农说，这墓在1962年被人盗过，盗墓人案发后被判刑三年，刑未满就死在狱中，经手这个案子的是西湖区人民法院。
“这是一条很有价值的线索，法院的结案报告定有详细记载。”我顺着这个思路赶到西湖区人民法院，法院同志热心地捧出了一叠档案让我查阅。翻了许久，我从中查到了胡雪岩之孙胡渭卿（又名裕泉）所填写的一份“情况发生报告表”，日期是1962年2月23日，表上填写着的荆山岭上的所盗之墓并不是胡雪岩墓，而是胡雪岩父母胡鹿泉夫妇合葬之墓。那时胡雪岩正处于飞黄腾达之时，其父母屡受皇帝诰封，墓内自然有玉如意、玉簪等许多陪葬品，盗墓者偷盗此墓并不为怪，这个情况也证实了老农何土根对“胡氏墓群规模宏大”的描述。
我后来又查找众多资料，见一资料载有人在龙井戚家岭发现有胡雪岩墓，理由是墓前有巨石碑反扑在地，用手摸去有“光墉”两字，我惊喜异常，当即赶去，由当地老农陪同爬上戚家岭，在一竹林深处发现了一块石碑，但没有见到碑文，当我第二次再去戚家岭时，听说有人用起重葫芦已将巨碑翻起来了，我上山后清除污泥，定睛一看，发现此碑乃是胡雪岩祖父胡国梁夫妇之墓，碑中刻有“光墉”两字，那是孙辈落款人的名字，所以可以肯定，真正的胡雪岩墓也不在龙井。
几次寻访，疲惫辗转，无功而返，但我并不灰心。一次我突然想起我在年轻时候，曾听说有个盗墓老手专盗名人之墓，西湖边的历史名人之墓差不多都给盗过，后来此人死于狱中，但他的妻子仍在闲林埠留下镇，能不能从他老婆口中找点线索呢？于是我找到了这位老人，她第一次什么都不肯说，我不甘心，几天后再次上门找她，诚恳地说明了来意和目的，她终于开口说：“你去泗乡看看。”这位老人说出的这句话，重燃了我寻找胡雪岩墓的希望，是年已经66岁的我，邀了胡雪岩曾孙胡文桢、胡文莹兄弟俩直奔泗乡（今称中村）。胡文桢说，他10岁曾随父胡渭卿给胡雪岩扫过墓，但距今已60多年了，沧海桑田，已想不起确切地点了，只是隐约记得在杭州西郊。
我们赶到中村鹭鸶岭上，几名茶农正在炒茶，我请他们作向导，给我们带带路，不知何故他们就是不肯。不过从聊天中我听到了一些神秘传说：数年前，有个炒茶工场的值班农民睡到半夜，忽然听到凄凉的女鬼哭声，吓得他再也不肯值夜班。这倒使我想起胡雪岩小妾章氏殉情故事：胡雪岩生前妻妾成群，胡败落后姬妾多作鸟兽散，唯有心爱小妾跪于胡膝下，不愿离去，曰：“妾侍候大先生多年，享尽荣华富贵，今遭劫难，誓终身相随，生死与共。”章氏一片真情，使胡更为心酸，就在胡雪岩寿终正寝之日，章氏趁人不备，上楼自缢身死，胡母念其节烈，同意厚葬并与胡雪岩同穴。
因为无人带路，我便与胡氏兄弟一路寻觅，踏着乱石，拨开蒿草，找了多时，终于寻着一座荒冢，只见此荒冢现出两个深深的黑洞，一块巨石横卧于洞前。这是断碑？于是我再次雇人翻起，只见此碑长120厘米，宽70厘米，厚60厘米，除去污泥杂草，碑文一下子清晰映入眼帘：“向兼子午丙午分金大夫晋封荣考雪岩府君晋封一品夫，太夫人，晋封夫人显，合葬之”，这正是我们要找的一块胡雪岩残碑啊！我们把这断断续续的34字碑文与胡氏兄弟保存的家谱文字相对照，除了残缺的，现存的均一字不差。此时此刻，胡氏兄弟俩面对祖宗坟茔，不禁悲喜交加，而我的心中，也顿时百感交集！
真是好事多磨，我把胡雪岩残碑运回厂里，原以为此碑可为重建胡雪岩墓作依据，不想却被原胡庆余堂领导轻易丢弃在乌龙庙仓库里，后又被正在搞基建的土建队当废石砸碎，填于脚下。直到青春宝集团董事长冯根生接管了濒临破产的胡庆余堂，这爿老店终于重新焕发了生机，特别是冯根生董事长向全体员工所讲的一番极为严肃的话，终使重建胡雪岩墓发生了转机。冯根生说：“胡庆余堂职工不能忘记自己的老祖宗，不能不尊重自己的老祖宗！”在冯根生的重视和支持下，1997年清明节，修葺一新的胡雪岩墓重新屹立在中村鹭鸶岭上。
编者按：作为胡庆余堂的一位老药工，赵玉城先生的这篇文章写来历历如诉，感情真挚，文笔朴实，引人入胜。尤其是他寻找胡雪岩墓的经历，殚精竭虑，备尝艰苦。
当然，胡雪岩的研究课题在杭州是一门“显学”，其墓葬何处、出殡情节等等，还望有识之士和知情者继续发掘、充实，以真实完整地再现这段史实。
In Search of a Tomb
My life story, if summarized succinctly, has related closely with the traditional Chinese medicine. Where I worked till retirement is the Hu’s Qingyu House, the largest TCM pharmacy in Hangzhou. My jobs there varied over years. My work experience there enabled me to admire Hu Xueyan (1823-1885), the founder of the Qingyu House and the pharmaceutical king of the southern Yangtze River Delta.
My knowledge of Hu accumulated when I joined a taskforce to write the history of the house. The objects at the house left over from the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) opened my eyes to the history though I was by no means an academic historian and my professional training was largely in the TCM drugs.
During the researches over decades, I interviewed more than 30 descendents of Hu Xueyan and two historians, and visited Hu’s home village in Jixi, Anhui Province and sorted out the posterity of over 300 of the Hu clan both at home and abroad. On the basis of my researches, I wrote some research results about Hu and got them printed in Zhejiang Daily and Hangzhou Daily. The written archive I produced on the pharmaceutical king adds up to more than 100,000 characters.
The most unforgettable moment of my researches on Hu Xueyan occurred when I found the lost tomb of Hu Xueyan.
When I got to know the life story of Hu through researches, one disconcerting question about the businessman remained unsolved. Where was he buried? The mystery was there for a reason.
After the incredible grandeur and glory of a business career, the man came down in the world and died in poverty. Though there were rumors that Hu killed himself with an overdose of opium, his great grandsons Hu Yaguang and Hu Wenzheng told me a different story, saying their great grandfather died of illness. In order to keep himself safe from possible intrusion of his foes, it was rumored, Hu was buried secretly. Even his descendents could not tell me exactly where their ancestor was buried.
My search for the tomb began.
The records of the descendents of the Hu family showed that the family had bought a graveyard in a suburb of Hangzhou. It was located in a place named Huangniwu (Yellow Soil Valley). Local villagers confirmed the existence of the graveyard. I was told that there used to be a huge guard house on the burial ground, including a stone memorial archway and a stone pavilion. But after more than a century, I saw no trace of any building there, let alone the archway and pavilion. The mounds there were thickly covered by weeds. I dug here and there and found a few fragments of a tombstone. A carved word suggested that a grandson of Hu Xueyan might have had something to do with the graveyard. I was told that the tomb had been robbed in 1962 and the robber was sentenced to jail for three years, but he did not survive the sentence.
The clue was encouraging. I visited the West Lake District Court. After going through the archive of old cases and reading a report filed on February 23, 1962 by Hu Weiqing, a grandson of Hu Xueyan, I found that Hu Xueyan’s parents were buried there. It made sense. In the heyday of Hu’s life, his parents received honorary titles by imperial mandate. Naturally the tomb with some valuable funerary objects would attract tomb robbers.
Another clue turned up from my further textual research. Someone reported that Hu Xueyan was buried in Qijia Ridge near Dragon Well. The guess was based on the characters carved on a fallen huge tombstone with its face down on the ground. Some had recognized the characters by touching them with his hand from down under. I hurried to the ridge and saw a tombstone in a bamboo grove. But the fallen tombstone made it impossible to read the epitaph. On my second visit to the ridge, I was told that someone had turned the tombstone over with a block and tackle. After removing the dirt from the stone, I was able to conclude that Hu Xueyan’s grandparents were buried there.
I was not disheartened by my failures. One day I suddenly remembered hearing of a tomb robber who had touched almost all the celebrities?tombs around the West Lake. The pro had died in prison, but his wife was still alive and lived in Liuxia Town. I went all the way to visit the old woman, but she refused to tell me anything. A few days later, I visited her again and explained earnestly why I wanted to find the tomb of Hu Xueyan. This time she said briefly: “Take a look around Sixiang”The short remark rekindled my hope. It was 1992, and I was 66 years old that year. I invited Hu Wenzheng and Hu Wenying, two great grandsons of Hu Xueyan, to search for the tomb in Sixiang (Today’s Zhongcun). Hu Wenzheng said that he visited the tomb with his father at age 10. But more than six decades had passed and he didn’t remember where the tomb was located exactly, but he had a faint memory that it was somewhere in the western suburb of Hangzhou.
On April 26, we came to the Egret Ridge only to find a few farmers processing tea leaves there. I asked them to be our guide, but they turned down the request unanimously. While chatting with them, I found why they were reluctant to give us directions. A few years back, a farmer, who had been on a night shift on the tea processing farm, heard a female ghost weeping forlornly at midnight. He was so scared that later he refused to take any night shift any more. I didn’t believe a bit of the ghost part of the story, but it reminded me of the hearsay about Hu’s concubines. After the bankruptcy struck, many concubines left him. One concubine, however, stayed with him to the very end and hanged herself on the day of Hu’s death. The concubine was buried together with Hu.
Without a guide, the two brothers and I started searching. The path was strewn with stones and covered by rampant weeds. We spotted a robbed tomb, two black cavities peeping vacantly at us and a huge stone lying across the holes. Was the stone part of the tombstone? Hired helpers turned the stone over. It was indeed the remaining part of a tombstone. The remaining part measured 120 cm long, 70 cm wide and 60 cm thick and had 34 characters, which later turned out to be a perfect match with the record in the clan pedigree, except for the missing characters. The epitaph bore the name of Hu Xueyan and his glories. At this very moment, the two brothers were overcome partly with sorrow and partly with joy. I felt all kinds of feelings well up in my heart.
I made arrangements to get the broken tombstone back to the Qingyu House. But the management of that time was not interested. The stone was dismissed to a warehouse and later it was shattered to pieces and used in groundwork by construction workers. It was not until the pharmacy was taken over by the China Qing Chun Bao Group that there came a turning point. CEO Feng Gensheng said at a workers?assembly that we should never forget the founder of the Qingyu House.The Qingming Festival in 1997 saw the tomb rebuilt at the original site on the Egret Ridge.
(Translated by David)