After the national subjugation of the Qing Dynasty, why were the tombs still guarded? Do you still have a grave keeper?

In Hebei, there is a village. Now the villagers are basically descendants of the grave keepers in the Qing Dynasty. This village is Zhong Yi Village in Yixian County, Hebei Province.

This Zhong Yi village was built in 1723 and has a history of more than 280 years.

As far as the Qing Dynasty is concerned, from Nurhachi laid the foundation with 13 pair of armor to Puyi's abdication, in about 300 years, the nobles of the Qing Dynasty first established three tombs outside the customs, and later established the Qing Dongling Mausoleum and the Qing Xiling Mausoleum in Zunhua and Yixian of Hebei Province.

Take the Western Qing Mausoleum as an example. It is the last imperial mausoleum complex in the history of China. 1730, Yongzheng, who ascended the throne for eight years, chose to build a mausoleum here for himself and named it Tailing.

From the beginning of the planning and construction of Tailing Mausoleum, the Qing government sent the children of the Eight Banners from Beijing, Northeast China and Qing Dongling to settle in the Qing Xiling Mausoleum, responsible for the construction, maintenance, guarding and sacrificial activities of the Qing Xiling Mausoleum. The Qing government built a large number of barracks here for them to live and live in.

This is the original grave keeper. Since then, these grave keepers have lived here for generations. It was not until the Republic of China that they were gloriously laid off. After being laid off, their lives also fell into a trough. It was not until the founding of New China that their lives changed dramatically.

First, the tomb guards were hereditary "civil servants" in the Qing Dynasty. Since the Qing Xiling Mausoleum was founded, the tomb guards transferred from Beijing and Northeast China have been carefully selected and worthy of the trust of the royal family. Almost all of these people are children of three of the Eight Banners, and most of them are wearing yellow flags; Some of them are Baylor, some are ministers, and even some are princes of imperial families, with grades ranging from right three to right nine.

Of course, these ministers and nobles may also be forced to be grave keepers because of their mistakes.

For example, Yin Gui, the younger brother of Yongzheng, is the closest brother of Yongzheng. It's a pity that this younger brother took the official position with Ye Yin Gui. After Yongzheng ascended the throne, he was not excessively punished, but was put in charge of guarding Kangxi's mausoleum.

Another example is Fu Kang 'an, who was born in Zhenghuangqi, Manchuria. When Ganlong was alive, he was reused and became a minister of military aircraft and a university student in Wuying Hall. After the death of Qianlong, Jiaqing thought that out of sight, out of mind, he let Fu Kang 'an go to Longshouling.

Although these grave keepers are close relatives of the royal family, they have no real power. Fortunately, however, their positions can be inherited. As soon as their children are born, they can register their accounts and enjoy the seven-product treatment immediately. You don't need to pass the "public examination" of the wooden bridge, and this seven products is equivalent to today's level.

Second, the guards are well paid and can have plenty of food and clothing without work. Compared with the general who directs the battle outside and the military minister who handles state affairs inside, the duties of the Guards are very monotonous and leisure.

However, in any case, guarding the mausoleum for the royal family is also a very important job. They can get a monthly salary according to their grades. In addition, they can also receive some daily necessities such as rice, noodles and oil. At the same time, each household can also be divided into a "welfare house", which is also a small villa with a yard, with a total area of one acre and three points. What we usually call "welfare homes"

Take three years of Qianlong as an example. The monthly salary for officials is more than 28,000 taels of silver and 4,000 taels of stone. Family members of female officials in MC Davi gave a yarn and two pieces of Korean cloth. Children's school expenses are paid from Yongjiku, and living expenses are given every month. This situation did not change until after the Revolution of 1911.

Third, the division of labor of the grave keeper is very clear. It seems that the job is single, but it is not. They have a clear division of labor.

For example, grinding flour is called a grinder; The person who cooks sugar is called sugar making; Pickled pickles are called sauces; The steamer calls the brewer and so on.

There are specialties in the industry, and these types of work are for life.

At the same time, the Qing government also divided various yamen, such as Wangmi in the East and West, Ministry of Interior, Customs, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Industry and Ministry of War, all of which were located in the Qing Xiling.

Fourth, after the founding of the Republic of China, the grave keeper was laid off in the late Qing Dynasty, the GDP of the Qing court was seriously reduced, and the fiscal deficit had appeared. The salary, rice, noodles, oil and cloth of the grave keeper can't be guaranteed, and the Qing court can only pay half of it, which brings great trouble to the grave keeper who relies on government subsidies all the year round and has no technical skills.

In fact, they don't know that there is a bigger "mountain" ahead, waiting for them to cross.

19110 In June, Puyi abdicated and the Qing Dynasty perished, which was a bolt from the blue for the grave keeper. What should they do?

There is no doubt that the demise of the Qing Dynasty marked that the grave keeper was "laid off". Because these grave keepers have no skills, they don't even have the most basic living guarantee after being laid off.

What should I do? We can't let these grave keepers starve to death.

Fortunately, Puyi and Sun Yat-sen's newly established national government signed an agreement on "Eight Royal Privileges", demanding that the tomb of the Manchu ancestral hall be sacrificed forever, which can be properly kept by Sun Yat-sen's national government as appropriate and paid to the grave keeper.

At first, the national government was able to pay wages on time. However, two years later, warlords scuffled, and the funds of the national government were very tight. Where could there be "spare money" to pay the guards?

In this way, the National Government stopped paying the cemetery guards. In order to make these grave keepers survive, the national government allocated the land near the Qing Xiling Mausoleum to the grave keepers according to their population, so that they could support themselves.

However, these grave keepers are used to the life of reaching out with their mouths open and their clothes open, and they are not good at farming.

Because I am not good at farming, I can only rent the land to the surrounding tenants. However, in the process, they made a lot of jokes. The rent they demanded was far below the market price, just because the cemetery guards didn't know how much food an acre of land could produce.

Due to less and less income, some doormen choose to go out for business, and some even choose to go out and wander; Despite this, there are still some grave keepers who choose to stick to the Qing Xiling Mausoleum with their ancestors' initial heart and protect their ancestors.

5. The spring breeze of reform is blowing, and the spring of guarding the tomb is coming. After the founding of New China, the Qing Xiling Mausoleum under the direct jurisdiction of the Qing government was handed over to the Cultural Relics Management Office. Hard-working staff actively maintained the safety of the Qing Xiling Mausoleum and carefully studied the historical culture and cultural relics left by the Qing Xiling Mausoleum, which brought all kinds of vitality and sufficient stamina for the development of the Qing Xiling Mausoleum.

This also shows that the descendants of the grave keeper no longer need to fulfill the obligation of guarding the grave. However, even so, there are still many descendants of grave keepers who choose to stay in Qing Xiling to protect their ancestors.

Of course, with the development of the times, many young people leave their hometown to buy a house in Yixian in pursuit of their dreams, and some people choose to work hard in big cities.

However, the descendants of the Shouling people who stayed in their hometown developed well.

With the spring breeze of reform, they chose "relying on mountains to eat mountains and relying on water to eat water" at home.

Qing Xiling is a national "4A" level scenic spot and a world cultural heritage. Rich in tourism resources and profound cultural heritage. The descendants of grave keepers who stayed in their hometown, relying on the rich tourism resources of Qing Xiling, opened a farmhouse featuring Manchu culture and offered Manchu-style special dishes to tourists from all over the country.

These tourism projects have changed the single mode of agricultural production in the past, promoted the level of economic development near the Qing Xiling, and greatly improved the lives of the descendants of Shouling people.

I believe that under the current excellent environment, the Qing Xiling and its descendants will have a better development.