Chapter 37 Section 3 Tombs and Mausoleums

The place where the dead are buried is called a grave.There is a difference between ancient tombs and tombs. After the burial, the mounds are called tombs after the burial, and the tombs are called tombs without soil or tree planting. Later, the tombs were called consecutively.According to modern archaeological data, there are no tombs in the tombs of the Shang Dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty. For example, there are no tombs in the Wuguan Village Tomb and the Fuhao Tomb in the Yin Dynasty.This is consistent with the saying in "Book of Rites Tan Gong Shang" that "the ancients are also tombs but not tombs".Even later generations have burials that do not afford the head of the grave. For example, the Mongolian people have a burial method, which is to bury the corpse deep in the ground, cover the soil, drive the horse to level it, and let the hazel grass grow without leaving any traces.The custom of adding graves on tombs probably originated in the Spring and Autumn Period.According to "Book of Rites Tan Gong 1", when Confucius buried his deceased parents together, he built a four-foot-high grave mound.In the late Spring and Autumn Song tombs excavated in Gudui, Gushihou, Henan in recent years, there are already seven-meter-high mounds.After the Warring States Period, grave mounds became more common.Building graves on tombs is mainly as a symbol of the tomb, and it is also to increase the difficulty of tomb robbery.Since the popularization of mound-style burials, the height of the tomb, the variety of trees planted, and the size of the occupied area have also become a symbol of status.Han Dynasty Ban Gu's "Baihu Tongde Lun Bengyu" quoted "Chunqiu Yijia" and said: "The emperor's tomb is three feet high, and the tree is pine; Take locust trees; the common people have no graves, and the trees are filled with willows." This reflects the situation in the pre-Qin period.By the Han Dynasty, the height of the graves had been included in the legal provisions: "The tombs of Liehou are four feet high, and there are differences between the Marquis of Guannei and the common people." ") After the Tang Dynasty, there have been clear and specific regulations on the official tomb system in all dynasties, and they are similar with minor differences.For example, "History of Ming Dynasty Li Zhi" records that the meritorious officials of the Ming Dynasty were crowned kings after their death. There are 20 steps below; the height of the graves of the first grade is 1 zhang and eight feet, the height of the second grade is reduced by two feet, and the height of the seventh grade is six feet;

Associated with graves are tombstones and epitaphs.The original tombstones were wooden.When the princes and nobles of the pre-Qin Dynasty were buried, because the tomb was very deep, the coffin had to be lowered slowly with a rope tied by a reel (that is, a rope). The support for the reel was the stele.There is a round hole drilled on the upper end of this kind of stele, which can be buckled with a thick rope. The round hole on the top of the ancient stele probably came from this.This kind of reel support for hanging coffins into the soil was changed to stone in the Han Dynasty.At first all the tombstones were wordless and left in the grave after the funeral.Later, the ready-made pillars were used to engrave the tomb owner's surname, official title, date of death and burial, etc.This kind of commemorative "monument" engraved with words is the prototype of the full meaning of the later tombstone.By the Han Dynasty, the tombstones had already been erected on the tombs, and their production became more and more refined, and the inscriptions on the inscriptions were mostly praises, which became a means to show off the life experience and achievements of the deceased.

After the Han Dynasty, epitaphs with the same nature as tombstones appeared.The epitaph is a stone buried in the tomb together with the coffin, on which is engraved an overview of the deceased's life.At the beginning, its function was mainly to prevent changes in the mausoleum, and to use it as a symbol to facilitate future generations to identify the tomb, so it is also called "buried inscription" or "burial record".During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, because Emperor Wu of Wei and other emperors issued edicts prohibiting the erection of steles due to reasons such as the decline of the world and the beauty of the stele, the trend of burying epitaphs began to prevail, and reached its peak in the Wei and Qi Dynasties of the Northern Dynasties.Initially, epitaphs had various shapes, and after the Northern Wei Dynasty, square epitaphs became custom-made.Generally, the epitaph is two square stone slabs, one above the other, and the other is placed flat in front of the coffin.The upper stone is the Zhigai, engraved with the title (the epitaph of a certain official of a certain dynasty), and decorated with patterns and statues.Because most of the characters are seal script, it is also called "seal cover".The lower stone is the bottom of the will, engraved with an inscription, the main content is the deceased's surname, place of origin, official rank, date of birth and death, and life stories.Its content is called "Zhi" in prose style, and "Ming" in rhyme style.Some have ambitions but no ambitions, some have inscriptions but no ambitions, and most of them have both epitaphs, so they are collectively referred to as "epitaphs".Tomb burial is a characteristic funeral custom in ancient my country, mainly to honor the deceased and to show eternal memory.After the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the epitaphs were carved more precisely, and the shape and structure were more exquisite.Some are also engraved with the images of the guardian deities of the four directions such as Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku, Xuanwu (turtle or turtle and snake combined) and lotus patterns.Some Zhigai are carved in the shape of a turtle, with the head and tail exposed, and the name of the deceased is inscribed in the middle of the turtle's back.

Since the middle period of the Warring States period, the tombs of kings have had proper names, called "lings". "Historical Records Zhao Shijia" records that in the fifteenth year of Zhao Suhou (335 BC), "Shouling Mausoleum" was built, which is the earliest record in history that a monarch's tomb was called a mausoleum.According to Yang Kuan's "Research on the History of Mausoleum System in Ancient China", there are two main reasons why the emperor's tomb is called mausoleum.One is that at that time, as the highest level monarch in the feudal status hierarchy, the tomb was built the highest.Now the tombs of King Qin Huiwen and King Qin Wu to the north of Xianyang are more than three feet high, which was considered the tallest among the tombs at that time.At that time people had compared the high tombs to hills, so it was convenient to call the high tombs of kings hills.Second, in the Warring States Period, people have compared mountains to the supreme ruler, and called the death of the supreme ruler implicitly "mountain collapse".Therefore, when the king built the tomb in advance, in order to avoid bad luck, it was called mausoleum or Shouling implicitly.This comparison of the king's tomb to a lofty mountain mausoleum is also a manifestation of the supremacy of imperial power in ancient times.In the Han Dynasty, it was already "there is no mausoleum without an emperor" (Gu Yanwu Volume 15).

About the same time as the tombs of the emperors were called mausoleums, the system of building "bedrooms" on the top or side of the tombs of emperors appeared.This is because at that time people superstitiously believed that the souls of the dead were hidden in the burial chamber of the mausoleum, and building a dormitory could facilitate the souls of the dead as a place for eating and living.According to the records of the Han Dynasty, seats, beds, tables, box cabinets, pillows, clothes and other living utensils were displayed in the mausoleum of the emperor at that time, just like the living room of a living person.Every day, like a living monarch, the maids arrange the bed and pillows, provide washing water, and arrange cosmetic utensils for the soul of the spirit master at a certain time.Food is also offered four times a day according to the time.This system of building dorms in imperial cemeteries began in the Warring States Period and was established in the Han Dynasty.In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the "Yuan Huiyi" that celebrated the emperor every New Year's Day was moved to the mausoleum and became the "Mausoleum Ceremony", and a hall for the ceremony was built, which greatly improved the status of the mausoleum in the ritual.During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to political turmoil and frequent wars, mausoleums were difficult to preserve and were in a stage of decline.During the Tang and Song Dynasties, with the recovery and development of the social economy and the increase of national fiscal revenue, the mausoleum system was further expanded and developed.The Ming Dynasty expanded the building of the sacrificial hall, canceled the facilities of the sleeping palace, abolished the form of staying in the palace and daily offerings, and emphasized the grand etiquette of worship and sacrifice.This style of paying attention to worship and sacrifice continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

It must also be mentioned that in the cemeteries of ancient emperors, nobles and bureaucrats, the group of stone sculptures displayed on both sides of the avenue (called "Shinto") in front of the tomb clearly represents the hierarchy of the tomb owner.These stone carvings are not only different in height, size and quantity, but also in different types and varieties.For example, in the Ming Dynasty, there were 12 pairs of stone beasts in front of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, including lions, unicorns, camels, elephants, unicorns, and horses;The Changling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty continued to use the combination of the Xiaoling Stone Carving Group, but added a pair of honorable ministers, and became the custom of the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum.As for the group of stone carvings in front of bureaucrat tombs, the "Ming Hui Dian" clearly stipulates: Dukes and first- and second-rank officials are each a pair of Shi Wangzhu, Shihu, Shiyang, Shima, and Stone Man; third-rank officials minus a pair of stone men The fourth grade is a pair of stone pillars, stone horses, and stone tigers; the fifth grade is a pair of stone pillars, stone horses, and stone sheep; and stone carvings are not allowed below the sixth grade.The Qing Dynasty generally followed the Ming system, and other dynasties also had similar grade regulations.In addition, there are also stone carvings in front of the tombs of special figures who were admired in ancient times. For example, there are stone figures, stone leopards, stone horns (legendary beasts), and stone pillars in Qufu Konglin Shinto.