“Listening and hearing”——Martyrdom of Seven Sages in the Du Dong Bridge

Martyrdom of Seven Sages in the Du Dong Bridge 

In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty (1645), Han people all over the country raised the anti-Qing flag and rose up to resist the iron hoof of the Qing army. There were many scholars in Shaoxing who would rather die than cut their hair and braids to serve the Qing Dynasty. The martyrdom of the seven sages in the Du Dong Bridge was one of the stories. 

In the east of Yan 'an Middle Road, there was a stone arch bridge named Du Dong Bridge. It collapsed due to the old age and was rebuilt on the site. In the south of the bridge, there was a temple called Seven Sages Temple enshrined seven statues inside. The temple was built by local people to commemorate these seven sages. 

It was said that in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, there were seven like-minded friends who were subjects of the Ming Dynasty. After the regime of Ming Dynasty was overthrown, they never gave in to the rule of Qing government. After much deliberation, they scheduled to meet at Du Dong bridge the next evening. They planned to drink and sing poems on the boat and then throw themselves into the river. However, one of the seven people did not arrive on time. Therefore, six people signed their names first, and then started drinking and singing poems and writing essays. 

The owner of the boat, who was punting for them, was very moved to such a heroic scene. Therefore, he begged to participate in their actions. They took the boatman as a confidant. After the revelry, seven people jumped into the river together to make a final protest to the Qing government. 

It turned out that the man who was going to keep the appointment that evening was delayed by some chores. He was just about to leave home when his son accidentally had a dislocation in his hand. When he handled this and arrived at Du Dong Bridge, seven people had thrown themselves into the river. He was devastated when these local people were salvaging their bodies. 

Soon, the story of the martyrdom of seven people spread around. In order to commemorate their patriotic national spirit, people spontaneously donated money to build temple and statues. And people called them seven sages and named the temple Seven Sages Temple.