The Ming Tombs: Stories of Past Lives, Treasures of History and Culture

In the historical process of China in Ming Dynasty, after 276 years, * * * built 18 imperial tombs. Xianling Mausoleum is the mausoleum of the 12 th emperor, which was built from 15 19 to 1566 and lasted for 47 years. It is the tomb of Zhu Shiyuan, father of Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houzong, and Empress Dowager Zhang, mother. Located in Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province.

Xianling Mausoleum is a typical Ming Emperor's mausoleum. Because of the long construction time and huge labor force, high-rise buildings have been formed. The Xianling Mausoleum covers an area of 183. 13 hectares (about 2,747 mu), occupying the whole of Song Lin and being the largest single imperial mausoleum in China in the Ming Dynasty.

It "has a mountain on the left and a spring terrace on the right. It is a place where Hanshui worships the Sect, impartial, excited by good spirit and full of vitality." China's geomantic theory of "the mausoleum system is commensurate with the mountains and rivers", "the negative yin embraces the yang" and "the back of the mountain faces the water" is brought to the extreme by the golden bottle-shaped outer Luocheng, the nine bends around the royal river, the dragon-shaped Shinto and the round inner and outer Tang Ming. Depending on the situation, the patchwork design has completed the genius masterpiece of combining architectural art with environmental aesthetics; Huabiao, stone carving, Yunlong single stroke, bare-handed Sanshui, glazed Qionghua and Shinto stone carving represent the highest level of architecture and sculpture in Ming Dynasty.

The construction of the tomb of the real king and the fake emperor was the product of the great historical event of the "Grand Ceremony" in the early years of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty.

152 1 year, Ming Wuzong died. Since Wuzong had no children, Empress Dowager Cixi and Yang Tinghe, a university student, decided in Historical Records that in Wuzong's testament, they should follow the ancestral motto of "brothers should always be brothers" and "bequest" and "promote the eldest son (Zhu) and" heir to the throne ". Deng Ji, Zhu Houzong, takes next year as the first year of Jiajing, which is for the Ming emperor. According to feudal ethics, Zhu Houzong should be adopted as his son by Xiaozong. However, in order to stand on his own feet, Zhu Houzong followed Zhu Yuanzhang's example, forced his fourth ancestor to be emperor, and worshipped his dead father as emperor.

This move caused fierce opposition from courtiers. Officials such as Mao Cheng, the minister of rites, and Yang Tinghe, a college student, called the meeting, and more than 60 people signed a letter to express their opposition. A small number of people, represented by Zhang Cong, are sycophants. They put forward the idea of "inheriting the great unity instead of inheriting it", and the two sides started a heated debate by quoting the classics.

1524, Chongqing does "now called Xing as a living emperor to pay tribute to the emperor", and the opposition saw that "there are 23 ministers in Daqi, and Hanlin 2 1 person, belonging to various departments, including Langguan and Official Department, Household Department, Rite Department, Ministry of War, Criminal Department, Ministry of Industry and Dali Temple.

Zhu Houzong ordered the bailiff to steal several times, which made the ministers flinch, but the ministers still "bowed down as before" to protest. Zhu Houzong was furious, and the Royal Guards arrested the ministers who were under five products and killed 17 people with a stick. All these 220 people were expelled from the country by the imperial court, and they were also punished by imprisonment, deprivation of salary, demotion of officials and guarding the border. This is the famous "Zuo Shunmen" incident in history. Zhu Houzong finally used force to "quell" the three-year-long debate on the etiquette of the imperial examination.

Afterwards, Zhu Houzong made a big gift, honoring his father Yuan Xing Wang Xian Xing Di Xian and his mother Jiang Fei after rejuvenating the country. Emperor Xiaozong is called Emperor Bocao, and Empress Dowager Cixi is called Aunt Huang. Later, your father was the high arch mother emperor, and God enjoyed the ancestral temple. The name of the temple was "Zong Rui", which was above Wuzong. Respect his mother, Empress Zhang Sheng. Thus completed his own Zhao Mu system. This historical event is called "Grand Ceremony". The construction of the fairy is the physical evidence of the ceremony.

After his father was honored as emperor, Zhu Houzong rebuilt and expanded the tomb of King Xing Xian in Songlin Mountain according to the rank of emperor, and named Dingling as "apparition", which is the origin of the apparent spirit.

The so-called "obvious", the literary brilliance mentioned last week is all around, and it is obvious in the west. Zhu Houzong himself explained faeries: "If the sun and the moon shine on them, those who appear are also bright. Light is everywhere, and the West is obvious. "

From the fourteenth year of Zhengde in Ming Dynasty (15 19) to the forty-fifth year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1566), salty tombs were built intermittently for decades, and 223 tombs and palaces were built with 388 attendants. Xianling has 1593 guard room, commanding more than 5,600 people to guard Xianling. Its large scale, luxurious architecture and rare history. You can clearly see the place names of Jiujiang, Anqing, Nanqing and Jingzhou and the names of the governors in these places from the city bricks. Most of the wood needed for Xianling Mausoleum was collected from places like Hu and Shu, and countless working people went to the alpine virgin forest to cut down and carry wood. I don't know how many people gave their lives for this. "Going into the mountains for 1000, going out for 500" is a true portrayal of the working people at that time, which really wastes people's money.

Although the Xianling Mausoleum is the product of the famous "big gift" debate in Ming Dynasty, and it is also the product of sacrificing the lives of working people with the strength of the whole country, its artistic value and historical and cultural value are infinite. It is the artistic crystallization of the industriousness and wisdom of the ancient working people. Under the condition that the productive forces in feudal society were very backward, they were good at transcending nature and created rich and colorful artistic culture, which reflected the high wisdom and artistic talent of the working people in ancient China.

At the same time, the fairy spirit is the product of human beings' transformation of nature, which embodies China's traditional architectural and decorative thoughts, interprets the world outlook and power view of feudal China which lasted for more than 500 years, and is of great significance to the study of social thoughts, beliefs and the fate of some political leaders in the early years of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty.

However, this historical and cultural treasure was destroyed in the baptism of time. According to Tan Qian's Guo Que, in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642 65438+ February), Li Zicheng came to Chengtian (Zhongxiang) to attack the mausoleum and burn the temple, and the wooden structure of the ground building was partially destroyed.

In the Qing Dynasty, with the intervention of local officials, faeries were protected to a certain extent. There is a stone tablet in the fairy, which records the notice of local officials asking the village to protect the fairy. However, during the Republic of China, Xianling became a barren land and cultivated land. The nearby mountain people listened to the rumors that the stone statues were resurrected at night to eat crops, and some of them were smashed. Later, during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, the Japanese invaders occupied Zhongxiang and stole some stone carvings of Fairy Spirit. I have to sigh its sad and deplorable fate.

Fortunately, after the founding of New China, the protection of the Ming Tombs was strengthened. Especially after 198 1 year, the Hubei provincial government allocated funds for maintenance for many times, and restored buildings such as Minglou, Xinhongmen and Waimingtang.

On June 30th, 2000, 165438+ The 24th session of UNESCO World Heritage Committee and the special meeting of its Bureau discussed and adopted a new world cultural and natural heritage project in Cairns, Australia, and Ming Tomb was successfully declared as "China imperial tombs of the ming and qing dynasties" project. At this point, the Ming Tombs were officially listed in the World Heritage List and became the historical and cultural heritage of mankind.

Facing the new century, Xianling is attracting Chinese and foreign guests to visit ancient times and live in seclusion with its beautiful environment, magnificent building scale, unique mausoleum structure and legendary historical background.

If you are a history, culture or travel enthusiast, welcome to Zhongxiang Ming Tombs.