The "human martyrdom" system is a major bad habit in ancient funerals, not only in China, but also in the world, it has existed for a long time. The Mozi once recorded:
The Son of Heaven kills martyrs, hundreds of people, dozens of widows; generals and doctors kill martyrs, dozens of people, and several widows.
In the long river of history, whether it is Qin Shi Huang or Emperor Wudi of Han, when they died, there were people martyrdom incidents. When Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang died, all the childless concubines in the harem were martyred, and as many as 40 concubines went with "Taizu". Ming Chengzu Zhu Di died, and 16 concubines were also martyred. During the reign of Emperor Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, Emperor Ming's own experience led him to finally choose to abolish the system of human martyrdom. Although Ming Yingzong was the only emperor of the Ming Dynasty who was captured, he could "cover up all ugliness with one hand" just by virtue of his achievement of "abolishing human martyrdom", because abolishing human martyrdom is a meritorious achievement.
Emperor Ming Yingzong abolished human martyrdom, which was only within the scope of the Central Plains peoples, and among the nomadic peoples in the north, the system of human martyrdom was once very popular. For example, when the Qing Taizu Nurhaci died, his favorite woman, Abahai, was forced to commit suicide in costume and be buried. When Emperor Taiji of the Qing Dynasty died, his concubines Dundari and Andari were martyred. The Shunzhi Emperor was the first emperor after the Qing army entered the Customs, he had long been influenced by Han culture, and even once believed in Buddhism, so when Shunzhi died, was there a "human martyrdom" incident?
The answer is: Yes! After Shunzhi's death, a man and a woman took the initiative to be martyred for Shunzhi, and these two had special identities, the woman was the empress dowager Dong Eshi; the man's name was Fu Dali. These two people, seemingly taking the initiative to be martyred, in fact, in their identity, must die. This matter should start from the legendary cause of death of the Shunzhi Emperor.
The Shunzhi Emperor ascended the throne at the age of 6, was suppressed by the regent Dolgun for a long time, and at the age of 13, Dorgon died unexpectedly during hunting, and Shunzhi was able to ascend the throne early, releasing his nature and starting an unrestrained imperial career. Empress Xiaozhuang (谥号) successively arranged two marriages for him, he did not like it, Shunzhi thirteen years, 19-year-old Shunzhi Nazheng White Banner Dong Eshi as a concubine, posterity called Dong Efei, since then found their own "white moonlight", Shunzhi favored Dong Efei alone, and even the approval of the recital had to be tired in Dong Efei's palace, Xiaozhuang was very dissatisfied with this.
Later, Dong Efei's only son died of illness, Dong Efei was overly sad, and she also died, and the Shunzhi Emperor lost his lover and was heartbroken, not only did he ignore dissuasion and posthumously crown Dong Efei as empress, but even once had the idea of home. In short, the decadence of the Shunzhi Emperor had a lot to do with Concubine Dong.
In the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", six months after the death of Concubine Dong, the Shunzhi Emperor died of smallpox. Of course, there are also no histories who believe that Shunzhi did not die at that time, but left home.
Regardless of whether the Shunzhi Emperor died or became a monk, Xiaozhuang, as Shunzhi's biological mother, was destined to send his anger to the Dong E clan. Therefore, after Shunzhi's death, the crisis of the Dong Efei family immediately came.
At this time, in the harem, there was a concubine who was the most embarrassed, and she was Dong Efei's sister, Princess Dong E. Princess Zhen was not Dong Efei's sister, but a clan sister. But being born into the same family meant she couldn't escape. According to the Records of the Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty:
When the emperor was admitted to the guest of honor, the gratitude of the encounter was deep, the grief was overcome, and the death of Sui'er xue was difficult to forget.
This sentence means that when the Shunzhi Emperor died, Concubine Zhen was heartbroken and took the initiative to die with her body. On the surface, the death of Zhenfei is because of "love", but behind these words, it is a helpless move that must be made to avoid the liquidation of the Dong E clan.
As it turned out, the concubine's choice was correct. After The Concubine took the initiative to be buried, she not only received the approval of Xiaozhuang, but also posthumously honored him as a Concubine (the title of Concubine was posthumously, before it was Concubine).
Among the closest people of the Shunzhi Emperor, in addition to Concubine Dong, there were two other people, one was the eunuch Wu Liangfu, and the other was the bodyguard Fu Dali. Wu Liangfu was a personal eunuch of the Shunzhi Emperor, who had taken the place of Shunzhi in shaving his hair two days before Shunzhi's death. After Shunzhi's death, Wu Liangfu was ordered by Kangxi (actually Xiaozhuang) to be beheaded, and the entire clan was involved. Fu Dali followed Shunzhi for many years, and he knew everything about the sins of the Shunzhi Emperor before his death, so after the death of the Shunzhi Emperor, Fu Dali chose to "be loyal" to his son and die of martyrdom in order to keep himself and his family safe.
The Draft History of the Qing Dynasty and the Sacred Ancestors of the Book of Benji records:
In April of the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, fu Dali, a martyred bodyguard, was buried.
This passage is very interesting, the Shunzhi Emperor died in the eighteenth year of Shunzhi (1661) on the seventh night of the first lunar month, Fu Dali was martyred immediately after the death of the Shunzhi Emperor, why did Kangxi order the Ministry of Rites to hold a sacrifice for Fu Dali who died of martyrdom in April? It can be seen that The death of Fu Dali is unusual, and some people even speculate that Fu Dali may not have taken the initiative to be buried, but was given death by Xiaozhuang. Whether Fu Dali took the initiative to ask for death or was given death, his "martyrdom" was a kind of helplessness.
In the twelfth year of the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, Yushi Zhu Fei played:
"The husband rebukes the slave by the Lord's commandment, or fears the might and does not dare not obey, or wilder does not tolerate and does not obey, neither of which can be disciplined." ...... Sacrificing one's life is not appropriate for a prosperous world. ”
Kangxi heeded the advice and ordered the abolition of the martyrdom system. As a result, the Shunzhi Emperor became the last emperor in Chinese history to be buried alive. Concubine Dong E and the bodyguard Fu Dali also became the last concubine and bodyguard in Chinese history to be martyred.
The Chinese nation has a history of five thousand years, and the system of human martyrdom is destined to be abandoned by history. While inheriting traditional culture, we must also distinguish between the good and the bad, after all, history is developing, and not all "traditions" are right.