The man’s door has been blocked by an empty grave for nine years. He has been climbing in and out of the grave. More than ten attempts by various departments have failed.

The "patriarch" led people to dig in the ground in front of their home to search for the remains of their ancestors more than 500 years ago. After failing to find the remains, an empty tomb was built for 9 years, which made the villagers and their families depressed.

The front door of a man’s house has been blocked by an empty grave for 9 years

The side door has been blocked by an empty grave for 9 years

Tao Qingfeng, 36 years old, lives in Qiandongnan, Guizhou Province Rural area of ​​Bangdong Subdistrict, Tianzhu County, Prefecture.

He told the Dafeng News reporter that he went to work in Jinhua, Zhejiang more than 10 years ago and has been working until now. However, his parents, who were over 60 years old in his hometown, encountered something incredible. A tomb was built in front of him with a monument, and the door was blocked tightly, so he had to climb the tomb to get in and out. It has been like this for 9 years."

The reporter searched and found that the location of his home is similar to that of his family. Huaihua City, Hunan Province borders Xinhuang County. There is a road winding through one side of the house and a creek on the other side.

Several videos taken by a friend with a drone showed that his home is a two-story wooden house with a slope at the bottom of the side house and a tomb with a tombstone blocking the door. When entering and exiting the door, an old lady first climbed on the wall next to her, then bent down and struggled to grasp the masonry of the tomb with both hands, and carefully climbed over.

Tao Qingfeng told reporters that the old lady in the video is his mother, "In addition to my elderly parents, I also have my daughter who is in elementary school at home. They all go in and out of that side door like this."

Tao Qingfeng said that now that her daughter has grown up, she feels a rash every time she passes the tomb in front of her door. Sometimes she even has to be accompanied by her grandparents when she goes out during the day.

The patriarch led people to dig in the ground to find the remains of their ancestors

Who built that tomb, and what happened in the process?

Tao Meng, a local member of the Tao clan, told reporters that in fact there were no bones or coffins in the tomb. It was an empty tomb that was built by their "tribe leader" Tao Lei.

He said that Tao Lei is over 60 this year. “The genealogy records that he has served as village director and clan leader, and is one of the hosts of temple repairs and renewals.”

Tao Meng recalled to reporters During the Qingming Festival in 2013, Tao Lei told his clan members that the genealogy compiled the previous year recorded that an ancestor who lived during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty was buried there. He suspected that the tomb was next to the side house of Tao Qingfeng’s family, and wanted to give it to the family. The ancestors rebuilt their tombs and erected monuments so that future generations could worship them. On April 7 of the same year, Tao Lei organized a group of Tao clan members, witnessed by relevant people from the local Bangdong Town Mediation Committee, to the side house of Tao Qingfeng's house. More than 10 people took turns digging to find the remains of the ancestor. None was found, but some black mud was found. Tao Lei and others used this to confirm that the ancestor's tomb was beside the brick wall of the side room.

"Subsequently, the Tao clan members used bricks and soil to build an empty tomb outside the door of my side house, and also erected a stone tablet." Tao Qingfeng said that his parents tried their best to stop it at that time, but to no avail.

Uprooting the bayberry tree and enmity with the clan leader?

Tao Qingfeng told reporters that one day in 2011, Tao Lei planted a bayberry tree in the field in front of his house as a feng shui, "And that land belongs to my family. After we found it, we planted the tree Pull it out, Tao Lei holds a grudge."

This statement was confirmed by Tao Meng, who said: "This was originally a small matter, and the two families became enemies."

Is the process of building the tomb and other circumstances really what Tao Qingfeng and Tao Meng said? The reporter called Tao Lei, but he didn't want to say more and hung up the phone immediately.

On April 8, 2013, the Tao family, as Party A, signed a "Mediation Agreement" with Tao Qingfeng's father, stating that they determined that the tomb of their ancestor was at Tao Qingfeng's home. After negotiation between the two parties, the Tao family could A monument is erected on the right side of the brick wall. The distance between the monument and the brick wall must be more than 5 centimeters. The Tao Qingfeng family will dismantle it themselves. The brick wall in front of the monument will be erected with a width of 1 meter to facilitate the Tao family to worship their ancestors. At the same time, it was agreed that after the monument was erected, no one in his family could dig the ground in the side house or main house of Tao Qingfeng's house to find the graves of other ancestors for any reason.

The reporter noticed that the "Mediation Agreement" was signed by both parties and relevant people from the local Bangdong Town Mediation Committee.

"They excavated first, then signed the mediation agreement with my father, and finally built the empty tomb and erected the monument." Tao Qingfeng said that at the time he was working in Jinhua, Zhejiang, and later returned home. Talent told him, "On April 12 of the same year, I rushed back to my hometown and called the police, demanding that the Tao clan members immediately remove the empty tomb, apologize, and compensate for the corresponding economic losses. However, it was considered a civil dispute and was not resolved."

An empty grave has been blocked in front of the man’s house for 9 years

Six people including the clan leader were sued

On December 2, 2013, Tao Qingfeng’s family removed the Tao clan Six people, including Tao Lei, filed a lawsuit in the Tianzhu County Court, requesting the cancellation of the "Mediation Agreement" originally signed, the removal of the empty tomb, and compensation for economic losses of 80,000 yuan.

They stated in the complaint that when the Tao clan built a tomb in front of their home, they had blocked it, but they were opposed by Tao Lei and others. “My parents knelt down and begged them not to build an empty tomb. Tao Lei threatened to bury our family alive if we continued to object. We had no choice but to sign the agreement. "The empty tomb at the door made it inconvenient for our family to travel." , traffic was blocked, and in particular, the spirit was seriously injured.”

On January 20, 2014, Tao Qingfeng’s family was countersued by Tao Lei and six others.

They said that the Tao Qingfeng family dug up the tomb of their ancestor from the Ming Dynasty and built a side house, and built a pig pen on the tomb of another ancestor, Chen.

The complaint stated that the "Mediation Agreement" they signed was signed by both parties in the presence of relevant leaders of the government department. It was not signed under the circumstances of fraud, coercion or taking advantage of others, and it was a legal and valid agreement. The other party's behavior of building houses and pig pens on their ancestral graves should stop the infringement, restore it to its original state, and compensate them 100,000 yuan in spiritual comfort and more than 27,000 yuan in direct economic losses.

In response to the Tao family's statement, Tao Qingfeng told reporters that when his family was digging the foundations for building a side house and a pig pen, they never found a grave underneath. I don't know what the basis is for their statement.

The court dismissed the prosecution and counterclaim

On March 5, 2014, the Tianzhu County Court held a public hearing to combine the two cases.

The court found that Tao Qingfeng’s family, Tao Lei and other six people were all members of the Tao family in the same village. In 2004, Tao Qingfeng’s family built a wooden house, and the following year built a wooden side house on the right side of the house. In 2010 The partial house was converted into a brick structure. To this end, two members of the Tao family approached Tao Qingfeng's family to negotiate whether to relocate the ancestral grave next to the partial house. However, the negotiation failed, resulting in a dispute. The local Bangdong Town Government also mediated the two parties. Second-rate.

The court said that later, under the mediation of relevant personnel of the Bangdong Mediation Committee, both parties agreed to dig a grave next to the side house to search for the remains. “In the end, no remains were found, but the soil was found to be loose. According to this, the Tao family It was confirmed that the grave of his ancestor was beside the brick wall of the side house, and the two parties signed the agreement after mediation the next day." After the agreement was signed, the Tao family built a tomb and a monument within the determined area. During this process, Tao Qingfeng's grandfather came to the scene to stop him. After the monument was erected, the side door of the side house was blocked, making it difficult to open the door and walk around. Later, Tao Qingfeng, who was working outside, returned home and did not agree with the agreement and reported it to the relevant departments. The local authorities failed to mediate several times.

The Tianzhu County Court believes that this is a typical dispute involving the construction of a tomb. According to the relevant provisions of the "Funeral Management Regulations", the case should be handled by the relevant administrative departments and does not fall within the scope of civil cases accepted by the court. .

In November 2014, the Tianzhu County Court ruled that it would reject the lawsuit filed by Tao Qingfeng’s family and the counterclaims of Tao Lei and six other people.

More than 10 times of multi-department mediation in the past 9 years

Tao Qingfeng said that later they reported to the local departments but still had no resolution.

On April 6, 2022, they submitted an "Application for Performance of Undetermined Responsibilities" to the Tianzhu County Civil Affairs Bureau, requesting the Civil Affairs Bureau to deal with the illegal behavior of Tao Lei and others in accordance with the law and demolish their home within a time limit The empty tomb at the door was restored to its original state.

The Tianzhu County Civil Affairs Bureau believes that this matter is a dispute over land ownership and property rights. "There is currently no sufficient evidence to prove that there was no grave at the location of the disputed tomb that you claim. The side house and pig pen you built are There is currently no legal approval procedure for construction land. It is recommended that your dispute be resolved through negotiation. "The final result is "not accepted."

Relevant people from the Bangdong Sub-district Office told reporters that in the past nine years, mediation departments at all levels have conducted more than 10 mediations.

"After the lawsuit was dismissed, the Tao family has not visited the tombs there in recent years to pay homage to their ancestors." The person told reporters that after the Qingming Festival in 2022, Tao Qingfeng's mother discovered someone was there. The family once again requested that the empty tomb that blocked the door be removed due to traces of the tomb being swept.

On November 30, Bangdong Street said in a reply to Tao Qingfeng, “Our initial idea is to move the tomb to a place approved by the Tao family to facilitate their future Worshiping ancestors."

In an interview with reporters, a Tao clan member who had participated in digging for ancestors told reporters that on May 20, 2013, he issued a statement saying, "The Tao clan We really don’t know where our ancestors are buried because it’s so old.”

He said that there was no conflict between his family and Tao Qingfeng’s family, and it was not targeted to participate in building a tomb at the back door of his house. It was the family leader headed by Tao Lei who called them to go, "We are just going to watch. This matter has nothing to do with us and I should not bear any responsibility."

He said that he later learned that Tao Lei There was a conflict with Tao Qingfeng's family over the planting of the bayberry tree. "We were used by Tao Lei. He mixed us together. On the day of the excavation, I didn't see the remains or the coffin. Now that I think about it, It is definitely wrong to build an empty tomb to block the door of someone else's house, and it should be removed through consultation."

The lawyer's statement

Building an empty tomb to block the door is against public order and good customs, and it is recommended to mediate and deal with it

Henan. Fu Jian, director of Zejin Law Firm, said that when the court has found out whether there are remains, it is unreasonable and even worse to build empty tombs and monuments to worship ancestors in front of other people's homes, which seriously affects other people's normal travel and violates public order and good customs. Illegal. As people from the same village and ethnic group, when dealing with this issue, we should correctly handle neighbor relations in accordance with the principles of conducive to production, convenient life, solidarity and mutual assistance, fairness and reasonableness. For internal conflicts within the family, consultation is the best way to solve the problem. It is recommended that under the auspices of the relevant local departments or prestigious people, solutions should be determined based on the principle of fairness and reasonableness to protect one's own rights and interests to the maximum extent.

Fu Jian said that according to relevant regulations, generally law enforcement officers will dismantle illegally constructed tombs and restore them to their original state. However, considering that both parties involved in this case are from the same clan, although this The behavior not only violates relevant regulations, but also infringes on the rights of others. However, law enforcement officials can use the principle of mediation between both parties to ensure that the matter is properly resolved without violating public order and good customs.

Dafeng News reporter Huang Ping