The problem of ancient human sacrifice
Some wives and servants of the deceased were buried with them, as well as figurines, belongings and utensils. People died during the Longshan culture period (about 5000 years ago). There were a lot of martyrdom in the tombs where men and women were buried together in Shang dynasty, but there was no phenomenon of husband and wife being buried together and their wives being martyred.
Sacrificing the living is a cruel and barbaric system in ancient China, which decreased after Qin and Han Dynasties and was often replaced by wooden figurines and pottery figurines. Few people have been martyred since Qin and Han Dynasties. However, according to unofficial history's records, in the Ming Dynasty, the wind of martyrdom revived, and Zhu Yuanzhang first made a bad example. After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, many concubines were buried, but where they were buried is an unsolved mystery. 1435, Ming Xuanzong (Zhu Zhanji) died of illness, and more than 40 concubines died, many of whom were children born to Zhu Yuanzhang. Weicai Liu told reporters that the martyrdom system in Ming Dynasty was more deceptive than before Qin and Han Dynasties. The imperial court greatly praised the martyred concubines and maids. The concubines of the Ming tombs have a "niche" in the Xiaoling hall for future generations to sacrifice.
Martyrdom also existed in other countries in ancient times.
The prevalence of human sacrifice in editing this paragraph.
Sacrificing the living became very popular after the death of King Yin and Zhou. After their death, they sent everything they enjoyed before their death, including beautiful wives and concubines, to their graves. Archaeologists found from the excavated tombs that there were 164 human remains in Wangshang Tomb in Houjiazhuang, Yin Ruins, 16 human remains in Fushang Tomb, and 2/kloc-0 human remains in Zenghouyi Tomb, all young women. Zhou Youwang, a warlord who lost his country in the bonfire drama in the Zhou Dynasty, has more than 100 bodies in his tomb, of which only one is male, and the rest are women, all his concubines and beauties. It should be said that they are all empresses and maids who were buried after death.
During the Warring States period, there were many records about human martyrdom in history books. At that time, after Grandpa Wang's death, the martyrs not only had beautiful women, but also had the honor to be servants and servants, ready to go underground and still be king. When Qin Wugong died, "sixty-six people were martyred at first, and then" (Historical Records of Qin Benji). After Qin Mugong's death, there were "seventy-seven dead people" (Historical Records of Qin Benji), among whom three good ministers were buried with him. Before Qin Mugong died, he wanted his ministers to go to the grave with him and once drank with them. While everyone was drunk, he said, "We, the monarch and the minister, share happiness when we are alive and mourn after we die." I don't know whether the three ministers, Yi, Zhong Xing and Zhen Xuan, are loyal to the old man Mu Gong, or because of alcohol, they just talk nonsense and say they are willing to die with him on the spot. This statement doesn't matter. After Mu Gong died, they followed him into the mausoleum.
"Miscellanies of Xijing, Volume 6" records that grave robbers dug up the tomb of Duke You of Jin and found that there were 100 martyrs lying in disorder, and their bodies were not rotted. They are all women except one man. These martyrs either sit or lie down or even stand. Their clothes and skin color are the same as those of the living. "Historical Records of Jin Dynasty" records: "You Gong is an adulteress, stealing out of the city at night and stealing and killing You Gong." In other words, Jin Yougong was killed by thieves when he was fooling around with women outside the palace. You Gong died abnormally, but there are still so many martyrs in his tomb. Other monarchs who died normally had more martyrs in their tombs.
He Lv, the prince of Wu, used the seductive method of offering sacrifices to his daughter, which was even more cruel and bloody and outrageous. "Wu Yue Chun Qiu" records that He Lv's daughter committed suicide because she was angry with her father, and He Lv was very sad. She built a grave for her daughter outside Nagato, "digging the ground for a pool and accumulating soil for a mountain", and made a beautifully carved sarcophagus with treasures such as Jinding, Yinzun and Zhuyu as funerary objects. On the day of her daughter's funeral, He Coco Road danced with the crane, which attracted thousands of citizens to follow. When he arrived at the cemetery, He Lu "made men and women get started with cranes, so they were blocked", that is, he ordered all the men and women who followed the watch to be driven into the underground palace and then inserted into the tomb door. In this way, these crane watchers were buried in graves and became the martyrs of He Lv's daughter. And he Lu's dry method is even more cruel than the later first emperor Ying Zheng.
The above introduces the luxury and funerary objects of Jiangling. After his mausoleum was excavated, he found the bones of martyrs lying in the underground palace. Jiang died in a palace coup and was starved to death in his bedroom by three traitors, namely, Vertical Carving, Yiya and Fangzi. After several days of death, the maggots on the carrion were not found until they climbed out of the room. It can be seen that killing people and burying them alive at that time was one of the indispensable funeral ceremonies.
Kings and grandfathers sacrificed their lives to the living, and powerful women like princes, nobles, rich people and Empress Dowager Cixi followed suit, so the wind of sacrificing life prevailed for a while. But at that time, many people opposed this cruel practice, and there were many records in the history books.
"The Warring States Policy, Qin Ce" records that Empress Xuan of the State of Qin hooked up with Minister Wei Choufu and fell in love with each other. When Queen Xuan was seriously ill, she ordered, "When I die, I must be buried with Mr. Wei." Wei Choufu was scared to death when he learned about it. His friend Yong Rui volunteered to persuade the Queen Mother to take back her life. Yong Rui said, "Empress Dowager, do you think people will be conscious after death?" The queen mother replied, "Of course I'm unconscious." Yong Rui saw that she was trapped and said, "A wise man like the Empress Dowager clearly knows that the dead are unconscious. Why did you let the person you love die in vain and bury him with the unconscious dead? My late king was very dissatisfied with you when he was alive. If the dead were conscious, wouldn't my late king hate you more if you took a man underground? By that time, it will be too late for you to regret it! What leisure do you have to talk about love with Mr. Wei? " Empress Xuan listened to his words and had to give up what she had given up. Wei Choufu just escaped death.
According to the Book of Rites, Chen died in the country of Wei, and his wife and housekeeper planned to be buried with the living. After the two discussed it, Chen Zikang came. They said to Chen Zikang, "Mr. Ziche died of illness and the patient went underground to wait for him. We intend to be buried with others. " Chen Zikai said: "It is not polite to bury people. Although he is ill and needs someone to wait on him, who can be more suitable than his wife and housekeeper? You don't have to die. If you have to die, I think you two are the most suitable victims. Chen's wife and housekeeper were too scared to mention the human sacrifice again. Another man named Chen Ganxi, when he was seriously ill, called his brother and son to the bed and told his son Chen, "If I die, I must make my coffin bigger and let my two maids hold me. "His son said," It's impolite to sacrifice human beings. What's more, I haven't heard of anyone putting the victim and the deceased in the same coffin! At Chen's insistence, the two maids were not buried. "。
Mr. Mo Zhai said in "Mozi Sacrifice and Burial": "The son of heaven killed martyrs, hundreds of people, dozens of people; Generals and doctors killed martyrs, ranging from dozens to several. There are music for horses and girls. ..... This is a matter for the people who are left behind, and the wealth of the people cannot be defeated. " It means that kings kill people and die, ranging from hundreds to dozens; The general's adult was killed, ranging from dozens to several. And there are horses and chariots, geisha and dancers. This cruel practice has made people unable to do things, and wasting people's money is incalculable. Even Mr. Xun Kuang, who advocates heavy burial, strongly opposes killing and martyrdom. He said in Xunzi Book of Rites: "Carving death is attached ink, carving life is confused by death, and killing life and dying is a thief!" It means cutting the funerary objects of the dead and increasing the expenses of the living. This is called "Mozi's way", reducing the expenses of the living and increasing the funerary objects of the dead. This is called chaos, and the murderer is buried with the dead. This is called cruelty!
However, thinkers are not kings, and their criticism failed to change the cruel custom of killing people for their lives. Qin Shihuang built a mausoleum, which was unprecedented, and his son Hu Hai won, pushing the "royal ritual system" of human sacrifice to the peak.
After Ying Zheng's death, Won Hu Hai led the harem officials and concubines to escort the dead emperor's hearse to Mount Li. When they arrived at the mausoleum, a group of people sent the coffin to the underground palace. Hu Hai suddenly ordered: "The harem of the first emperor and others who have no children should be buried with them!" As mentioned earlier, Ying Zheng plundered six beauties, and there were more than 10,000 harem beauties, while most first ladies, such as concubines, never gave birth. So, the daughters cried the whole world. Hu Hai won without mercy, let the concubines with sons walk out of the grave, and the rest stayed in the grave. Strong-willed people will immediately hit the wall and die, and weak-willed people will faint with fear. Just as the beautiful women passed away, the stone door of the tomb was closed by craftsmen and sealed with mud. Countless beautiful women are buried in peace, accompanying the dead emperor.
Hu Hai's one-size-fits-all martyrdom policy is unprecedented. Since the Han Dynasty, most emperors stopped killing, and often left wills before the emperor died, making childless concubines leave the palace. Although occasionally emperors are buried alive, they are not as cruel and vicious as this guy. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that human martyrdom revived and even became a system.
Edit this paragraph. People in the Ming Dynasty were killed again.
Five emperors accompanied nearly a hundred concubines.
After Ming Taizu's death, 40 concubines were buried with * * * and sacrificed. Except for two concubines who died before Mao and were finally buried on the east and west sides of Mao's mausoleum, the other 38 people died.
There are two versions of a concubine who died for her ancestors. One is 16 from the Daming Hui Dian, and the other is more than 30 people from North Korea's A Record of the Li Dynasty.
After Renzong's death, five concubines were buried, namely: Guo Guifei, Shu Feiwang, Li Feiwang, Shun Feitan and Chong Feihuang. There are eight people buried in Xuanzong Jingling, so there are seven martyrs. But judging from the final list of Ming Fei Zhuan, it may be ten people. As for Jingdi, the history books only record the martyrdom of "concubines, Tangs, etc.". , the exact number is unknown. Adding up the five emperors, the total number of concubines who died was around 100.
Most of these martyred concubines have no children or have low status. For example, of the ten people who died in Xuanzong, only one was a princess, and the rest were just maids. But there are exceptions Guo, who was buried in Renzong, was an imperial concubine and had three sons. It doesn't seem to meet the "standard" of a martyr. Therefore, "Wild Income Supplement" lamented: "The imperial concubine ... is not a suitable martyr, so how can you be kind and cut off from heaven!" This "voluntary" phenomenon is really unique.
Collective Suicide Korean Women Died in Their Hometown
The main methods of martyrdom in Ming Dynasty are hanging and hunger strike, but the specific process is rarely seen in official history. North Korea's Record of the Li Dynasty recorded in detail the process of the collective martyrdom of the concubines who died for it.
More than 30 ladies-in-waiting concubines were selected for martyrdom. The day of collective "suicide" was the afternoon of October in the 22nd year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty. Let them eat outside the temple first, and then take them to the temple after eating. At that time, "Cry and shock the temple pavilion." There are more than 30 "wooden beds" in the temple. These dying concubines were ordered to stand on wooden beds. Above their heads, there is a prepared rope with rings at both ends. "Take them away with your heads, then go to their beds and strangle them."
Among the more than 30 people, there are two Korean women, one is Han, and her identity is probably a maid-in-waiting; One is Cui Shi, whose title is Beauty. After going to the temple, Injong personally came in to "resign" with them. Han suddenly begged Renzong to let her go back to China, because there was an old mother to support at home, but Renzong was unmoved. In the end, these two Korean women can only die in a foreign country. When Han died, her nurse stood by to say goodbye. Han turned to her and shouted, "Mom, I have to go! Mom, I will go! " Words haven't say that finish, at the foot of the small wooden bed was moved. In an instant, more than 30 women were hanged alive.
"Reward" of martyrdom —— Chaotian Nvhu
In order to compensate these martyrs, the next emperor will probably give them and their relatives some benefits. The most common way is to posthumously present posthumous title in recognition of his deeds. For example, after the death of Xuanzong, "Ho, Scott, Oh, Shi Jiao, Cao Shi, Hsu, Yuan, Zhu Shi, Shi Li and Ho all died. In the first year of orthodoxy, gifts were added. The book reads:' I am committed to righteousness and use dragons to control customers. It is advisable to recommend the emblem and use Zhang Jiexing. " Moreover, "I am old, and when I eat in this mausoleum and temple, I get the name of sacrifice", that is, I can get a little "fragrance" from the emperor. As for their relatives, sometimes they can get preferential treatment. There is a poem written by Amin Palace: "Ye Ting has been dedicated for many years, and his favor is often worried about rain and dew." Yulong, a guest, has just entered the ranks, and the poor girl's family is in the air. "The' female households in the sky' mentioned in this word are the families of those martyrs who are given preferential treatment.
"Biography of Empresses and Concubines of the Ming Dynasty" contains: "When Taizu collapsed, the imperial secretary died with him. After the establishment of Wen Jian and Yongle, they received preferential treatment one after another. For example, Zhang Feng, Heng Li, Zhao Fu, Zhang Qian and Wang Bin all have thousands of hereditary royal guards, which people call' Taizu Chaotian Women's House'. Li, Ren and Xuan are all the same. " Most of these people are the fathers or brothers of buried women, and their status as "women in the sky" is still hereditary. However, it is difficult to determine how long this preferential treatment lasted.
Ming Yingzong abolished the martyrdom system.
Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Qizhen, the British emperor, was regarded as an unsuccessful emperor. He is the eldest son of Zhu Zhanji, Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty. He ascended the throne at the age of nine. In his short life of 38 years, he experienced the same "rebellion" that was taken away first. He was emperor twice, emperor Taizong once, and was subject to others all his life. Emperor Jingtai also arranged for his concubines to be martyred when he died, and it seems that there is no intention to cancel the martyrdom. But when he was dying, he made such a decision, which was related to Zhou Xianwang Zhu Youdun.
King Zhu Youdun of Zhou Xian is the son of Zhu, the fifth son of Mao. He died in an orthodox school for four years and died childless. Before he died, he expressed to Yingzong in some way the meaning of saving the funeral after death and not needing human sacrifice. Yingzong attaches great importance to this matter.
After Zhu Youdun's death, Yingzong personally ordered his younger brother Zhu Youkui to talk about this past and told him, "You don't have to die here. Those who had parents when they were young were sent back. " Unfortunately, the imperial edict was issued late, and Zhu Youxi had ordered his brother "Gong's princess's family, his wife's family, Euclid's family, Chen's family, Zhang's family, Han's family and Li's family to be martyred". Yingzong had no choice but to commend their "chastity" and "chastity".
Probably influenced by this incident,1on February 22nd, 464, Ming Yingzong made a decision on his deathbed: starting from him, abolish this system. His successor, Tang Xianzong, once again emphasized non-martyrdom before his death to show his respect for the decision of the first emperor. The persistence of the two emperors finally ended the system of human sacrifice since the early Ming Dynasty.
Editing this passage Kangxi ended the martyrdom system in Qing Dynasty.
According to historical records, the system of royal martyrdom was very popular in the early Qing Dynasty. After the death of Taizu Nurhachi, there were big princess Ulan Nala, ordinary princess Geegon and Dayinza. After the death of Emperor Taizong and Huang Taiji, Princess Zhang Jing Dundari and Andari were martyred one after another. After the death of sai-jo, Fei Lian's wife and bodyguard Fu Dali was martyred. After the death of Prince Dourgen, the maid Urkuni was martyred.
The local government praised the martyrdom of wives and concubines, calling them "martyrs" and "virtuous women", and wrote books to build memorial archways. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the Han Dynasty asked Zhu Fei to stop. In the 12th year of Kangxi (1673), slaves under the Eight Banners were forbidden to be buried with the Lord, thus ending this cruel custom in the early Qing Dynasty.
Edit this passage about the Indian martyr system.
During the Vedic period in ancient India, widows were allowed to remarry. After the 2nd century AD, widows were not allowed to remarry. Since then, the regulations have become increasingly strict and must be martyred. The martyrdom system is also called Sadie, a maiden in ancient Indian mythology. Sadie committed suicide by jumping into the flame because her family insulted Shiva. The earliest martyrdom can be traced back to the 6th century BC, when Princess Ravi Verma was martyred. Indians believe that a martyred woman can go to heaven. A martyr should put on the bride's full costume, sit on the woodpile and light a fire, either with her dead husband or by himself. If the deceased has more than one wife, the wife will be buried with the dead husband, and the other wives will set themselves on fire alone. In the Hindu era, the custom of widow martyrdom was very popular among the upper class and the Rajput people. 18 17 When Britain ruled Bangladesh, an average of two widows set themselves on fire every day. 18 19, there were 839 widows in Bangladesh.
Widow martyrdom was declared illegal by the British authorities on 1829. Indian women took to the streets to demonstrate, demanding that women be given the right to die. The phenomenon of making things difficult has been repeatedly banned, and some remote villages still have this bad habit. Up to now, the self-immolation and martyrdom of Indian widows are still heard from time to time and respected, but most widows are forced to be martyred. 1987 In a village in Rajasthan, India, a young woman, Rup Kanwar, aged 18, was forced to set herself on fire and died, which caused a wave of protests all over India. For this reason, the Indian government amended the law to prevent widows from martyrdom, and offenders will be imprisoned for up to seven years.
Edit this passage about the female martyrdom system in ancient China.
In the Western Han Dynasty, there was a king of Guang Chuan who once gathered hooligans to hunt and rob tombs everywhere. Once, when they robbed an ancient tomb, they "saw more than one hundred bodies, which were covered with stone chalk more than a foot thick and mica more than a foot deep." When they dug it up, the body was well preserved. " When sitting or lying down, there are people standing and wearing all kinds of clothes. They are not strangers. There are only men in the grave, and the rest are women. "Originally, this is the tomb of Zhou Youwang, the last monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty. /kloc-More than 0/00 women are concubines who died for Wang You.
Martyrdom is an ancient custom. As early as the primitive society, people used to bury their favorite tools, weapons and daily necessities with the dead. In slave society, slaves, as talking tools, were also killed or buried alive as human sacrifices in order to continue to serve their masters in the "underworld". At that time, offering sacrifices to slaves had become an institution. From the excavation of tombs in Yin Ruins, the number of human sacrifices ranges from dozens to thousands.
After entering the class society, women have become playthings and vassals of aristocratic families, and women account for a considerable proportion of martyrs. Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty recorded the killing of female slaves. Of course, not all martyrs are slaves, including the wife and servant of the tomb owner.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, slavery was on the verge of collapse, and the practice of human martyrdom began to arouse criticism. In 62 BC1year, after Qin Mugong's death, 177 people were buried, including three talented and promising good people. Therefore, China people wrote the poem "Yellow Bird" to express their mourning for the dead and hatred for the tyrant. At this time, in various vassal States, the bad custom of women being masters, maids and concubines was gradually abandoned. After Dr. Chen's death, his wife and manager agreed to make human sacrifices. Zi Kang, the younger brother of Ziche, said to them, "If my brother needs someone to wait on him in the underworld, there is nothing more suitable than his wife and manager. If this matter is ignored, if I insist, I am prepared to use you two as martyrs. " The wife and manager of Ziche had to agree to cancel the plan of giving birth to martyrs.
After the Spring and Autumn Period, there were few practices of martyrdom, and they were basically martyrdom statues made of wood or clay. During the Warring States Period, Qin officially ordered the abolition of human martyrdom in the year of Xi 'an (384 BC). However, after Qin unified the six countries in 22 1 BC, another large-scale shocking life and death event occurred.
In order to pray for immortality, Qin Shihuang sent thousands of boys and girls to the sea for immortality. At the same time, it took more than ten years to build a huge mausoleum for hundreds of thousands of people, that is, the mausoleum of the first emperor of Lishan. After the death of Qin Shihuang, Qin Ershi officially declared all women in the harem martyrdom. The number of dead ladies-in-waiting and murdered craftsmen is so large that it is "tens of thousands".
A series of tyrannies in the Qin Dynasty aroused strong resistance from the people. The peasant war at the end of Qin dynasty not only overthrew the Qin dynasty, but also taught the rulers of the new dynasty. After the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, although a large number of gold and silver property, birds, animals, fish, turtles, cattle, horses, tigers and leopards were buried, thousands of his concubines and maids survived. With the people's resistance and social progress, from the Han Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, except in remote minority areas, forced women to die as a system no longer existed.
In the Ming Dynasty, despite the rapid development of social economy, science and culture, the custom of sacrificing women once revived. When Zhu was alive, he first set a bad example. In the 28th year of Hongwu (1395), the second son Zhu died and was buried with two princesses. After Zhu Yuanzhang's own death, * * * 46 concubines and maids were buried with Xiaoling, and a dozen of them were martyred. After Cheng Zu died in 1424, more than 30 people were buried in this palace. Since then, Injong and Xuanzong have also been buried together with five concubines and ten concubines. In addition to the emperor, kings sometimes use people to be buried with them. The most prominent example is the orthodox four years (1439). After the death of Zhou Wang You Zhu, Ming Yingzong decreed that "the following wives and concubines don't have to die, and the young parents are sent back". Unexpectedly, before the imperial edict arrived, six maids, including Gong Fei and Shi, committed suicide on the same day. It was not until the first month of the eighth year of Tianshun (1464) that the dying Yingzong testamentary edict said, "I can't bear to be buried with others, and this matter will stop, and future generations will no longer do it." Finally, the system of martyrdom of the imperial concubine was abolished.
There is a record in the Record of Sejong in the Li Dynasty of Korea, which reproduces for us the tragic scene that the maids were forced to be martyred after the death of their ancestors in the 22nd year of Yongle (1424): "The emperor collapsed, and more than 30 maids were martyred. On the day of death, everyone gave it to the court, but they all gave it up and led it to the mourning hall, crying and shaking. Put a small wooden bed in the hall, put it on it, put it in a rope and put it in your head. Then I took off my bed and strangled myself. " One of them, Han Fei, who was chosen by North Korea, shouted to Kim Cheren, the wet nurse waiting beside her, "Mom, I'll go! Mom, I will go! " Before his words fell, he was kicked off the wooden bed by the eunuch and died. That's terrible!
/kloc-Manchu aristocrats who rose in the Ming dynasty in the 0 th and 7 th centuries still practiced the system of human sacrifice and human sacrifice before entering the customs. It was in 1626 that Nara, the biological mother of Regent Dourgen of the Qing Dynasty, was forced to die with two other ordinary concubines after the death of Emperor Nurhachi of the Qing Dynasty. But this practice was abolished after entering the DPRK to govern the country. Strictly speaking, since Ming Yingzong, there has been no system of emperors martyrdom with concubines in China.