Harvard Bixi

at , Cambridge , 02138 United States

1. Landmark
2. Landmark & Historical Place

The Harvard Bixi is a 17-foot high, 27 ton Chinese marble stele with a turtle pedestal located at Harvard University, north of Boylston Hall and west of Widener Library in Harvard Yard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The stele was presented to the university by the Chinese Harvard Alumni for its Tercentenary in September 1936.HistoryThe Bixi was created ca. 1820 in Beijing, and the stele was originally a gift from the Jiaqing Emperor to Songjun (松筠), the governor-general of Jiangsu and Jiangxi. Although the original inscription was unknown, the stele was kept in the Old Summer Palace in Beijing until the complex was destroyed in 1860, during the Second Opium War. The meticulous carvings of dragons chasing pearls on the sides and top of the marble tablet are the only traces that indicate the stele’s imperial past.Harvard's Tercentennial celebrationsIn the 1930s there were five Harvard Clubs in China. More than 35 members of the clubs were known to be involved in donating the stele, and at least two of them attended the Tercentennial Ceremony in September 1936. They were Dr. J. Heng Liu, president of Harvard Club of Nanking, and Fred Sze, a banker and the president of Harvard Club of Shanghai. New inscriptions were carved on the front of the marble tablet. Shih Hu, who was invited to take part in the Tercentenary Celebration to receive an honorary doctoral degree from Harvard, was believed to be the calligrapher of the inscription.

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Harvard Bixi is Cambridge based place and this enity listed in Landmark category. 02138.