Tomb of General Chu Su-gyeong

About this place

General Chu Su-gyeong was a man of the Wanli Emperor's era of the Ming dynasty, with the courtesy name Cheongha and the pen name Sesimдан. He was born in Chilseong-dong, Ohyeon-gun, Sengdeoksan, Guizhou Province, China. From youth he was exceptionally talented and accomplished in both civil and military arts; he passed the civil service examination at 16 and in 1591 (the 24th year of King Seonjo) became the civil governor of Wugang in Ming China. During the Imjin War of 1592, he petitioned Emperor Wanli to dispatch the reinforcements of Yi Yeong-song (Li Rusong), and himself entered Joseon as a Military Commissioner with five sons and 5,000 soldiers to save the kingdom in crisis. Beginning with the great victory at Gwaksan in February 1593, he contributed greatly to the recapture of Pyongyang and the campaigns to retake Kaesong and Hanyang (Seoul). During the Jeongyu War of 1597, he fought in the Battle of Namwon and, though gravely wounded in the Battle of Jeonju, defended the Jeonju Royal Archive to the last. When the Ming forces withdrew, he chose to remain in his ancestral land and lived out his days in Chudong, Bongdong-eup, Wanju-gun, together with the five sons who had fought at his side. The village name Chudong itself derives from General Chu Su-gyeong. The court recognized his merits and posthumously awarded him the title Chungjang-gong, as well as the ranks of Hoseong meritorious subject and Prince of Wansan. The stele before his tomb was newly erected in 1973 (the original was destroyed during the Japanese colonial period). The ceremonial building Bongyangje has been demolished, leaving only its foundation stones and main gate. Damaged over the years, the tomb complex was restored to its current form in November 2004 through the efforts of his descendants, and Wanju-gun erected a commemorative stele and the Bongyang Shrine.