After the demise of the Qing Dynasty, grave keepers still existed. How did this profession decline?
The geomantic omen of the imperial tomb is more related to Long Mai, the rise and fall of the country, and the wealth and glory behind the emperor, which is recognized by our contemporary people? Money is a thing outside the body. Does life bring death? Different, the ancients firmly believed that good geomantic omen was beneficial to reincarnate into a rich family, and wealth was not enough in front of them. After death, I have to bring a bunch of valuable funerary objects into the coffin so that I can continue to live a pampered life after death.
Therefore, in ancient dynasties, emperors' tombs had to be overhauled. Generally, emperors will choose their own resting place a hundred years before their death, spare no effort to build underground palaces and painstakingly design institutions to prevent grave robbery. Not only that, they will also arrange special personnel to guard the imperial mausoleum from generation to generation, so as to protect the mausoleum.
The Qing Dynasty is quite special, because Nuzhen originated in the pass, and Shunzhi only entered the pass to unify the Central Plains once, so the ancestral graves of Nuerhachi, Huang Taiji and Aisingiorro all stayed outside the pass, namely the Three Tombs of Shengjing, the Qingyong Mausoleum of Fushun (the cemetery of Nuerhachi's ancestors and father), the Fuling of Shenyang (Nuerhachi Mausoleum) and the Zhao Mausoleum (Huang Taiji Mausoleum), and the emperors after entering the pass were buried in the Qing Dynasty in Tangshan.
The group of grave keepers in Qing dynasty also changed before and after entering the customs. Who was the grave keeper before entering the customs? Descendants of relatives and uncles in the country? It may sound strange. Who are you talking about? To put it simply, the descendants of the emperor's uncles, the closest relatives to the royal family, and the grave keepers of Shengjing Sanling are basically descendants of Nuerhachi and Huang Taiji's uncles.
The grave keepers of Qing Yongling and Fuling mainly come from the descendants of Uncle Nurhachi? Hitara, aunt's descendant? Saskatchewan and Chorosh, Ilgen; The guardians of Zhaoling added Lala Ye, descendants of Huang Taiji's uncle, Wulanala, descendants of his aunt, and Wulaguarjia.
After the Qing dynasty entered the customs, Shunzhi was buried in the Qing Dongling, and Yongzheng was buried in the Qing Xiling. The layout of the imperial tomb in Shanhaiguan pass has been decided, and the people guarding the tomb have also become descendants of the family of Aisin Gioro. The first person to guard the imperial tomb was Yin Gui, the 14th brother of Yongzheng. Yongzheng was quite cruel to his opponent, but Yin Gui was a milk compatriot after all, so he was sent to guard the tomb and spare his life.
Presumably, the reason why the Shouling people changed from their parents' relatives to the descendants of Essien Choro was because there were not many descendants of Essien Choro before entering the customs, and all the available ones were galloping on the battlefield, so Shouling was handed over to the closest consorts. After entering the Central Plains, the descendants of Essien Jiaoluojia flourished, so it is most appropriate for them to keep their ancestral graves themselves. But after all, the environment of the imperial tomb is hard and incomparable with the outside world, especially those royal children who are pampered.
19 12, Empress Jade Dragon came forward to announce her abdication on behalf of Puyi, which declared the end of the Qing Dynasty. The abdication of Emperor Xun peacefully saved China from the suffering of a war, and also brought a series of preferential conditions to the royal family of the Qing Dynasty. The first item is "preferential treatment conditions after the abdication of the Qing emperor", and the fourth item is: the mausoleum of the ancestral temple of the Qing emperor will be permanently enshrined, and the government of the Republic of China will set up guards as appropriate. Therefore, in the days when Puyi retired to the Forbidden City, the imperial tombs of his ancestors were guarded by the national government, and the salary of the grave keeper was naturally paid by the national government. Even the cost of building the mausoleum of Emperor Guangxu promised to pay the price.
1924, Feng Yuxiang ignored the preferential conditions of the national government, forcibly expelled members of the royal family such as Puyi from the Forbidden City, and then revised the preferential conditions. Everything has changed except? The ancestral temple and mausoleum in the Qing dynasty have always been worshipped, and the Republic of China will send guards to protect them as appropriate? None of them have changed, which shows that people like Feng Yuxiang are still in awe of the ancestral graves.
It's a pity that it's useless for you to sing me on the stage in the turbulent era of warlord separatism. After the Qing imperial tomb was separated from the control of the Qing royal family, the minister of tomb protection had existed in name only, and no one would seriously guard it. Even the descendants of Essien Gioro later guarded the imperial tomb, and the court's supervision was weak, so it was inevitable that they would borrow some money from their ancestors to live, not to mention outsiders stationed. Therefore, it is very common to steal from inside and sell funerary objects with outsiders. 1928, Sun Dianying openly bombed the Qing tombs and stole the tombs of Qianlong and Cixi. Puyi and other Manchu royalty can only protest when their ancestors' graves are stolen. When the Qing Dynasty died, how could there be a grave keeper?
In the end, Puyi was not buried in the royal mausoleum, so she had to sleep outside the wall of the Qing tomb, and there would be no more tomb guards!
Now the five imperial tombs in the Qing Dynasty have become open scenic spots, and the responsibility of guarding the imperial tombs and inheriting culture is handed over to the staff of the scenic spots!