Yan Siqi's Tomb Introduction
According to legend, Yen Szu-Chi (also known as Yen Chih-Chuan) was from Haicheng, Fujian Province. In 1624, he conspired with Zheng Zhilong and others to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan, and led a group of thirteen ships to Taiwan's Ben Kong, where he calmed the indigenous people while protecting Han Chinese settlers. Soon after, residents from Zhanghua and Quanzhou began arriving in Taiwan. Just a year after his arrival, in September 1625, he led people to hunt in Zhu Luo Mountain and unfortunately succumbed to typhoid fever. He was buried at 307 Niu Chou Pu (now Nanfang Village), Shui Shang Township. The grave of Yen Szu-Chi at 307 Niu Chou Pu in Shui Shang Township, located in a remote mountainous area of Nanfang Village and within a military controlled area in Tainan County, has long been neglected, leading to overgrowth and disrepair. The cemetery has suffered from erosion due to wind, sun, and rain, making the inscriptions on the gravestone indistinguishable. Only a legendary "sword mark" remains visible, leading to ongoing disputes for many years. Locally, there is even a legend that the real grave of Yen Szu-Chi is located halfway up the northwest hillside, sparking the so-called "double burial case" controversy. The residents of Shui Shang Township regard the current location at Niu Chou Pu as Yen Szu-Chi's grave. As early as 1975, the Chiayi County government investigated and temporarily classified it as a third-level historic site. However, after the implementation of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act in 1982, the Council for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior invited experts to conduct an evaluation, and subsequently announced on November 27 of the same year that it was removed from the third-level historic site list due to lack of conclusive evidence proving it was Yen Szu-Chi's grave. In 2006, the "Yen Szu-Chi grave" was vandalized and robbed, prompting the Chiayi County Cultural Affairs Bureau to recognize it as a provisional historic site under Article 17 of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. They coordinated with the military for an on-site inspection to ensure that military control was not affected and provided full assistance for the grave’s safety maintenance. Additionally, they planned to invite experts and scholars with research on Yen Szu-Chi's history and cemetery, and consult local elders, to verify the information provided and further clarify the historical evidence in order to preserve this important cultural asset.
