Xu Shichang changed "Yuan Ling" to "Yuan Lin", which has the same pronunciation and roughly the same meaning. It can not only make Yuan Shikai's cemetery beautiful but also protect him from being reviled by future generations, which is the best of both worlds. Thanks to Xu Shichang for changing the name of his cemetery, otherwise Yuan Shikai would not know how much he would be reviled by future generations.
1. Why is Yuan Shikai’s tomb named “Yuan Ling”?
The ancients believed that fallen leaves must return to their roots. No matter how far a person travels to conquer the world, he must return to the place where he was born and raised. Therefore, Yuan Shikai left a last wish before his death that he would return to his hometown of Hebei. Xiangcheng. Because Yuan Shikai's influence was so great, the government respected his last wish and brought him back to his hometown in Henan. The government funded the construction of a cemetery for him. However, after the cemetery was built, a problem arose: what to name it?
At that time, Yuan Shikai's son believed that his father had been president and the emperor should be named "Yuan Ling" according to his status during his lifetime, so after they agreed, they approached Xu Shichang, Yuan Shikai's friend during his lifetime, and wanted him to help him inscribe the inscription. When they learned that they were going to name Yuan Shikai's mausoleum "Yuan Ling", they did not object but had a conversation with Yuan Shikai's son.
2. Xu Shichang: "Yuan Ling" was renamed "Yuan Lin".
Xu Shichang said: "Son, your father was the president during his lifetime and also served as emperor for a few days. However, he did not secure the throne after all. He was not an emperor in the true sense. If the tomb is named Yuan Ling, I'm afraid. Will be reviled by the world." Because Xu Shichang was one of Yuan Shikai's friends during his lifetime, Yuan Shikai's son was a little undecided, so he asked Xu Shichang to name his father's tomb.
After thinking about it, he said to Yuan Shikai's son: "It is better to call him Yuan Lin. In this way, Lin and Ling have similar meanings, and future generations will not have any objections." Yuan Shikai's son thought this name was very good, so Yuan Shikai's mausoleum was named "Yuan Lin".