Qimei People's Tomb Introduction
It is said that during the Ming Dynasty, a group of pirates landed on the southern coast of Qimei Island while the men were out at sea fishing, leaving only the elderly, weak, and women. Among them, seven women were busy farming on a nearby mountain (or washing clothes by a well according to some accounts) when they unfortunately encountered an invasion by Japanese pirates. Not wanting to be dishonored, they joined hands and jumped into the well. Afterward, the villagers filled the well with soil, and eventually, seven flourishing Cinnamomum camphora trees grew in its place. In 1949, County Magistrate Liu Yanfu and General He Zhihao came to pay their respects, and moved by the story, General He composed a poem called "Qimei Women," which was engraved on a stone cliff. The poem reads: "Qimei women, with white jade beauty, embracing chastity to refuse the pirates, their heroic souls forever resting in the lone fragrant trees, spring forever blooming above the well.” The story of the Qimei women’s chastity was thus expanded and reconstructed into the "Qimei Women’s Chastity Park," which now attracts countless visitors each year for sightseeing and paying respects.
