The "Stele on the Death Day of the Three Elders of the Han Dynasty" in the Han Sanlao Stone Chamber of Xiling Seal Society is the first ancient stele in eastern Zhejiang. The Sanlao Stele was erected in 223 AD. The stele was built in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province in the second year of Xianfeng (1852) Unearthed from Kexing Mountain. When it was unearthed, the forehead of the stele was broken. It was 93 centimeters high and 42 centimeters wide, with 217 characters coexisting. The main content of the inscription at the beginning was the death anniversary of the three elders of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The inscriptions on the stele are thick and powerful, and the calligraphy style is between seal script and official script. It is a national first-class cultural relic.
The Sanlao was an official position in the Han Dynasty that held education. The Sanlao stele was erected by Han, the seventh grandson of the Sanlao. The purpose was to let future generations know the taboos in language and writing, and remember the virtues of their ancestors and know the anniversary of their death. It is convenient for future generations to offer sacrifices, so it is called the death monument of the three old taboo characters. This stele not only has important historical value, but also "the writing is ancient and thick, and it is an introduction between seal and official seals." It has high academic value for the study of ancient calligraphy and seal cutting.
This stele was unearthed and first belonged to Zhou Shixiong, a wealthy gentry in Yuyao. Later, it was acquired by Chen Weiting, a protégé in Jiangsu Province, and was transported to Shanghai in 1921. Chen plans to sell it to a Japanese businessman for a large sum of money. When the members of the printing press heard that they "could not bear to see it lost in a foreign land, but wanted to preserve it permanently," they gathered more than 60 people and donated 8,000 silver dollars to redeem the monument to the Chen family and transport it back to Zhejiang. "Choose the sun on the lonely mountain in the West Lake and the open space of Xiling Yinshe, and build a house carefully in Genao." In 1922, the first president Wu Changshuo wrote "The Records of the Three Old Steles of the Han Dynasty" specifically for this purpose. "The monument of the Three Elders has been restored, and the spiritual energy of the elders has strengthened the lakes and mountains. It is said that the fragments of stone are of no importance, but there are still spots of Han soil."
