In ancient China, the most cruel of the emperor's mausoleum system was martyrdom.
Burial refers to the burial of the deceased in the tomb with utensils, livestock or people and servants to ensure the blessing of the deceased's soul. Human burial is the most common burial method in the ancient funeral system, and the difference between martyrdom and accompanying burial is that the living person is buried with the deceased after an unnatural death by some means.
Human martyrdom is the ugly custom of burying the living in ancient funerals, and it is also a product of class confrontation, and it is also a cruel and barbaric act. There is no special requirement for the number of people buried at each time, but there is a general range. Mozi once said: After the death of The Son of Heaven, the number of martyrs is as high as hundreds, ranging from dozens to dozens, and at the level of general doctor, the number of martyrs is as high as dozens, and the number of martyrs is as small as a few.
In class societies, human martyrdom was a widely popular funerary rite.
The main reason for this phenomenon was the increase in social productive forces at that time, the development of commodity exchange and the emergence of private property. This series of changes led to class division within the clan.
In ancient times, some important people would choose some innocent people after their deaths and accompany the dead into the cold mausoleum, and they hoped to ensure that they would not be alone after death. These martyrs are voluntary and forced, and the helplessness and grievances in them are incomprehensible to ordinary people.
Although this system was barbaric, it was still relatively popular during the Qin and Han dynasties. It was not until the Han Dynasty that the rulers discovered that this system was not only impersonal, but also of no benefit to the progress of the country, so the system gradually declined. This is mainly manifested in three aspects: one is the decrease in the number of people who are buried at one time; the second is the reduction in the force of martyrdom; and the third is the decrease in the probability of martyrdom.
Of course, the martyrdom of the Han Dynasty still existed: during the Three Kingdoms period, the famous Eastern Wu general Chen Wu died in the Battle of Hefei, Sun Quan "ordered his concubine to be martyred", the Northern Wei uncle Sun Jun was 28 years old when he died, and his spouse was also very young, emperor Mingyuan said: "Husbands and wives are born together, there is no suitable cave, and those who can be martyred can be arbitrary." It can be seen that the martyrdom at this time has been cloaked in the cloak of "voluntariness".
It can be seen that they are all victims of the background of that era.
In the Ming Dynasty a thousand years later, unexpected things also happened, and in the twenty-eighth year of Ming Hongwu, after the death of Zhu Yuanzhang, the second son of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, he was buried with two princesses, the first evil example of the burial of concubines and palace women in the Ming Dynasty.
So, how did these concubines and palace ladies who could not escape the disaster be enforced by this system?
The Ming Dynasty, a relatively special period in Chinese history, was not only the last feudal dynasty established by the Han Chinese, but also restored the long-abolished system of martyrdom. During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, some people in the imperial court talked about this system. Moreover, after the death of Zhu Yuanzhang's second son Zhu Biao, he ordered that the two childless concubines of the second son be buried with him. Because, he felt: only in this way, his son will not be alone.
After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the new emperor Zhu Yunjiao, according to his will, asked the concubines in the harem who did not have children for him to bury with him. When this decree was first promulgated, the former dynasty and the harem were in chaos, the harem concubines cried about their own lives, and the former court ministers were in chaos because they regretted the loss of their daughters to oppose this will. It is in this chaotic situation that many officials not only take the opportunity to embezzle a lot of money, but also vent their personal grievances.
For example, some concubines who have no heirs bribe officials to keep themselves out of the matter and do not go to the funeral; while some concubines with children, because of some grudges with officials, cause officials to take the opportunity to vent their anger, and in the end, they can not escape the unjust fate of martyrdom, and there are many such examples. However, what the world is more concerned about and curious about is: how did so many martyrs die en masse, such a difficult task, how was it accomplished?
Later scholars have been arguing about this issue, and some people think that these concubines may have ended their lives by a white silk. However, it was soon refuted that, after all, there were so many concubines, and not everyone was willing to choose to die obediently with a white silk, so the probability of voluntariness in this matter was not so high.
Therefore, some people speculate: after the new emperor issued the holy decree, he gathered the names of these concubines who had not given birth to children in a book, and when the day of the martyrdom, he gathered the eligible people in a room. The eunuchs had already placed the same number of Taishi chairs in the room, each chair corresponded to a white silk, and some concubines who saw through the red dust had no choice but to die simply and neatly. Under the watchful eye of the eunuchs, for a few minutes, the martyred concubines stopped breathing.
In the end, the remaining concubines who remained in the world and refused to be martyred were forcibly executed by the eunuchs next to them. They were already struggling, but at this time they struggled even harder, and soon they lost their breath...
In addition, it is believed that these martyred concubines ended their lives because they were forcibly infused with mercury. The purpose of this was to ensure that their remains, like those of the previous emperors, would not decay.
However, this statement is extremely cruel: on the day of the burial, the concubines to be buried are given a cup of sleeping pills, and when they are asleep, they use a copper spoon to start from the head and pour a large amount of mercury into the body. When the amount of mercury reaches a certain level, the head is stitched together with needle and thread, and when everything is done, none of the concubines will survive.
Both forms of burial have their own raison d'être. However, in contrast, the first way is more in line with the background of the time, the biggest reason is: if mercury is used, then, when archaeologists find the mausoleum, the people inside it should be ageless and incorruptible in such a well-sealed ancient tomb, but this is not the case.
Therefore, the real burial method of these concubines is likely to be the first: with a white silk, everything ended themselves.
At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there were still living people buried, and after the death of Taizu Nurhaci and Emperor Taizong Taiji, some people were martyred. After the death of Shunzhi, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty, more than thirty concubines were martyred. The coffin of the martyrdom followed the coffin of the Shunzhi Emperor, and the scene was spectacular. After the Kangxi Emperor ascended to the throne, he deeply abhorred this evil deed, so he ordered the abolition of martyrdom.
This barbaric system, in the end, also became the dust of history with the development of the times.
Resources:
["Mozi Festival Burial", "Records of Li Dynasty Sejong", "The End of the Ming Chronicle"]