Age-old Stories from the South of the City
Route Introduction
The Five Concubine's Shrine
Lamenting over the Spirit of Tragic Beauty
No. 201 Wu-Fei Street, Central West District, Tainan City
|Opening Hours: 9:00 – 17:00|
This place houses the tomb of the five concubines of Shu-Gui, Zhu, last Emperor Ning-Jing of the Ming Dynasty. In the 37th year of Yongli Era (1683). After Shi, Lang attacked Taiwan, Ke-Shuan, Zheng, was ready to negotiate terms before surrendering. In order not to be humiliated by the enemy, Emperor Zhu decided to commit suicide. The five concubines calmly hanged themselves and were buried in Kui-Dou Hill, south of the city. The story of the five concubines is poignant with chastity and tragic beauty, and has been time and often praised by poets and literary men. In the last year of the Kangxi Era, the suicided ladies (actually sisters and slave girls married over with a royal lady) were titled the "concubines," and this place was called the "Tomb of the Five Concubines." In the 11th year of Qianlong Era (1746), Bang-Ji, Fang, coastal defense official of Taiwan, reconstructed the tomb and made it "a temple in the front and a tomb in the back." A small "Yi-Ling-Jun Shrine" beside it was dedicated to the martyred eunuchs. A quiet and elegant garden with many anecdotes and legends; it is now a temple where couples come and pray for each other's loyalty.