Historical Cemetery
1. Why the tombs of ordinary people are tombs but the tombs of high officials are mausoleums
Tomb buildings refer to buildings built underground and above ground for the burial of the deceased.
Chinese tomb architecture is deeply infiltrated with ritual content. The place where the emperor was buried after his death was called "ling", the princes were called "feng", and the officials were called "grave".
The size of the tomb, clothing, coffins, and burial rituals are all strictly regulated according to grade. The stone archway of the Western Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty is the southernmost building in the mausoleum area. It is two miles south of the Dagong Gate. It was built in the 19th year of Jiajing (1540). It has 5 rooms, 6 columns and 11 floors, and is 14 meters high. Width 28.
At 86 meters, it is the most exquisite stone archway preserved in China. The clamping stone of the archway has reliefs on all sides, engraved with eight pairs of lions rolling embroidered balls and sixteen clouds and dragons.
See Archway Shinto The avenue in front of the mausoleum is called Shinto. The Shinto is an auxiliary building of the tomb building and is the main passage into the mausoleum area.
The Shinto runs through the north and south of the cemetery, with a total length of 7 kilometers, leading directly to the Changling Mausoleum Gate. Stone statues are placed on both sides of the royal shrine.
Stone statues Stone statues refer to the stone figures and animals placed on both sides of the Shinto. There are twelve pairs of stone animals arranged respectively, two sitting and two standing, in order: lion (symbolizing power), haechi (symbolizing justice), camel (symbolizing transportation), elephant (symbolizing auspiciousness and peace), unicorn (symbolizing auspiciousness and peace), horse (symbolizing war), among which camels, elephants, and horses are the means of transportation in various places, so they also symbolize the vast territory; there are twelve stone figures, including military ministers (symbolizing bodyguards and generals), civil servants (symbolizing close civil servants), and Xunchen (symbolizing close civil servants). Four figures each for civil and military officials with meritorious service.
The stone figures in front of the mausoleum are also called Weng Zhong. There are two symmetrical ones, representing civil officials and military officers respectively. There is a theory that the image of Weng Zhong comes from a strong man named Ruan Weng Zhong in the Qin Dynasty. It is said that he was one foot three feet long and extremely strong. He once stationed in Lintao and conquered the Xiongnu.
After his death, Qin Shi Huang’s special bronze statue of Weng Zhong was erected outside the Sima Gate of Xianyang Palace. When the Huns came to Xianyang and saw the bronze man, they fled because they thought it was Ruan Wengzhong who was alive.
From then on, people called the bronze and stone figures in front of the palace or tomb Weng Zhong. The stone beast in front of the mausoleum also has its origin.
The placement of stone animals in front of tombs began in the tomb of Huo Qubing in the Han Dynasty. When subsequent emperors built their own mausoleums, they also used stone figures and stone beasts as decorations in front of their tombs. Therefore, today's Tang Tombs, Song Tombs, Ming Tombs, and Qing Tombs almost all display stone figures and stone beasts in the style of a guard of honor in front of their tombs.
These stone statues were built in the 10th year of Xuande (1435). They reflect the emperor's honor during his lifetime and his dignity after death. The stone statues are all carved from whole stone, with large size and fine carvings. The largest stone statue reaches 30 cubic meters and weighs dozens of tons.
The Xu family's joint burial mausoleum. 2. Who was the emperor in history who had his grave dug up and his body whipped after death?
One day and night in the second year of Jianping (359 AD), ten years after Shi Hu’s death, in front of the capital Yecheng. Emperor Yan Murong Jun (also known as Murong Jun) had a terrible and strange dream on the dragon couch of Emperor Hou Zhao Shihu: He dreamed that a tiger rushed towards him from the darkness and bit his arm, causing blood to flow suddenly. Splash! Murong Jun woke up with a cry, breaking out in a cold sweat. He felt a dull pain in the arm that had been bitten in his dream. The corners of his mouth twisted in pain fiercely squeezed out two words: "Stone-tiger!" Then Murong Jun ordered people to dig. He went to Shi Hu's mausoleum, whipped his body severely, and then threw Shi Hu's body into the Zhangshui River! According to "Zi Zhi Tong Jian Volume 100": "(359 AD) Jun In the dream, the master of Zhao had a tiger bite his arm, so he went to the tiger's tomb. He asked for the corpse but could not find it, so he bought it for a hundred gold.
3. Which emperors’ tombs are still well preserved
There are more than 500 imperial tombs in the Central Plains, and at least more than 200 of them are basically complete, because there are 80 known imperial tombs from the Shang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. % are complete. In addition to the three tombs outside the Guan Dynasty, only the Tailing Mausoleum of Yongzheng, the Changling Mausoleum of Jiaqing, the Muling Mausoleum of Daoguang and most of the tombs of concubines, princesses, elder brothers, princes and ministers in the Western Tombs of the Qing Dynasty are well preserved. , while the Xiaoling Mausoleum of Emperor Shunzhi in the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty was not stolen, all other tombs were opened and robbed. Therefore, the ending of the mausoleums of the Qing Dynasty was quite tragic. This is related to the excavation of Emperor Shunzhi of the Southern Song Dynasty by Yang Lian Zhenjia, the Buddhist president of Jiangnan in 1278. The consequences of mausoleums are the same. Now what we call "more than 500 imperial mausoleums in the Central Plains" completely refers to the imperial mausoleums, including the emperor's personal mausoleums and the emperor's family, that is, the mausoleums of the emperor, empress, and concubines. If we include the nearby tombs (including queens, concubines, princes and princesses, princes, ministers, nannies and attendants), there are no less than 2,000 ancient tombs preserved, and this is still a conceptual number. In fact, strictly speaking, it should be It completely exceeds this conservative number. This does not include some tombs that we currently do not know, including the tomb of Cao Cao, the tomb of Zhuge Liang, and the legendary tomb of Er Qiao. Although he does not belong to the imperial tomb, I am just giving an example here. So Specifically speaking of which mausoleums or those imperial mausoleums are, this can only be a rough value, and it is impossible to say specifically which ones they are. 4. The origin and history of the tomb of Concubine Quan in Shandong
The tomb of Concubine Quan, also known as the Empress’s Tomb, is located 15 kilometers west of Yicheng, in the middle of a mountain valley surrounded by mountains on three sides and open to the south.
The tomb seal is about 8 meters high, with a bottom circumference of more than 60 meters. It is covered with pines and cypresses. In front of the tomb, a stream of spring water overflows southward.
Every late autumn, the persimmon trees are covered with frost, and the red leaves are all over the mountain, reflecting the ancient tombs. It is quiet and quiet, making people suddenly nostalgic for the ancient feelings. The tomb area is backed by Fenghuang Mountain, a round and steep mountain that stretches east and west, connecting mountains and peaks; there is Lion Mountain in the east, and from Qingtan to the west, there are endless dome rock ridges; there is a peak in the middle, and thousands of people have cut it. ruler, towering straight into the blue sky.
In the sun of the mountain, there are cliffs and huge rocks, towering boulders, rising up like thousands of flowers; in the west is Elephant Mountain, which runs westward and turns south, dragging down a ridge like an elephant trunk. There are many rocks on the ridge, with strange shapes.
According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty: Biography of the Concubines": Concubine Quan is the Concubine Quan, a native of Korea. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Korean tribute girls were sent to Nanjing and entered the harem.
Concubine Quan was beautiful, intelligent, and good at playing jade flute. Her elegant and melodious flute was often heard from the group in the backyard of the palace, and she was favored by Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. In the seventh year of Yongle (AD 1409), Quan was granted the title Gongxianxian Fei, and his father Quan Yongjun was given the title of Guanglu Qing.
In the eighth year of Yongle, war broke out in the Mobei area. The border was in an emergency. Zhu Di, the founder of the throne, went on a personal expedition, and Quan Fei went north to serve the emperor. After the war, she returned to Beijing in triumph. Passing by Lincheng (today's Xuecheng), Quan's daughter accidentally contracted an emergency and died.
The founder Zhu Di then ordered his followers and local officials to search the mountains and forests to check out the geomantic treasures and build a mausoleum. They chose the place to bury the concubine Quan in front of Baimao Mountain in Yixian County. The tomb of Concubine Quan is surrounded by mountains on three sides and has a majestic terrain. The southern exit is like the gate of the cemetery. In front of the gate is a stream with spring water overflowing from the cracks in the rocks. There are lions to the southeast and giant elephants squatting majestically to the west, guarding both sides of the tomb.
Exactly: the lion on the left and the elephant on the right serve as guards, and the emperor's wife is buried in three mountains and one water. .