1. North Mountain Tomb Group
"The tombs on the North Hill are listed, and the ancient times are against Los Angeles. The city is singing at sunset, and the only sound of pines and cypresses can be heard on the mountain. This is an ancient poem written by the Tang Dynasty poet Shen Qi, who was more than a thousand years ago, in which Shen Qiqi borrowed the celebrities buried on the Beiqi Mountain to express the feelings of short life and the impermanence of wealth. Located in the north of Luoyang City, Henan Province, on the south bank of the Yellow River, Beiqi Mountain is the remnant of the Qinling Mountains, stretching more than 300 miles from east to west, with a total of 30 peaks. However, the Beiqi Mountain has neither a beautiful scenery nor a humorous atmosphere, however, it is such an inconspicuous mountain, but it is the burial place of many princes and generals, and even the famous poet Bai Juyi has also issued an exclamation of "what is not with the East Luoshui, whose family is buried in the Beiqi Mountain".
The Tombs of the Northern Wei Mountains mainly bury the imperial tombs and celebrity tombs of the Eastern Han, Cao Wei, Western Jin and Northern Wei Dynasties, covering an area of up to 750 square kilometers, according to historical records, the Tombs of the Eastern Han Emperors in the Northern Wei Mountains are: Guangwu Emperor Mausoleum, An Emperor Mausoleum, Shun Emperor Mausoleum, Chong Emperor Mausoleum and Ling Emperor Mausoleum, Cao Wei Emperor Tomb has Emperor Wen Mausoleum, Western Jin Emperor Tomb includes Xuan Emperor Mausoleum, Jing Emperor Mausoleum, Wen Emperor Mausoleum, Emperor Wu Mausoleum and Hui Emperor Mausoleum, Northern Wei Emperor Tombs include Xiaowen Emperor Mausoleum, Xuanwu Emperor Mausoleum, Xiaoming Emperor Mausoleum and Xiaozhuang Emperor Mausoleum. In addition, Liu Chan, the emperor of the Shu Kingdom, Li Yu, the lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Buyeo King of baekje, the Zongheng family Su Qin in the Warring States period, and lü Buwei, the prime minister of the Qin State, were all buried in the Northern Mountains, which shows that the tombs on the Northern Mountains can be described as "brilliant stars".
Second, why are there many ancient tombs in Beiqi mountain?
So, why are there so many ancient tombs on the North Mountain? In fact, there are two main reasons:
One is because of Luoyang's strategic location. "Under the yellow river ferry, north of the mountain under the road." But the tomb was tired and there was no land to plant pine trees. "Since the Han Dynasty, Beiqi Mountain has been the burial place where dignitaries and celebrities aspire. The reason why Beiqi Mountain will become a necropolis is closely related to the strong position of Luoyang, among the seven ancient capitals in China, Luoyang is the oldest, with 13 dynasties building the capital in Luoyang, Luoyang in the most glorious period and even the city residents more than one million, which is also a big city today. Luoyang is the place where the royal qi of the Central Plains is located, and the Beiqi Mountain is close to Luoyang, which is naturally contaminated with the Wang Qi, and people want to be buried in the Beiqi Mountain to witness the prosperity of Luoyang.
The second reason is that the feng shui of The Northern Mountains is excellent. North of the Yellow River, south of Yi que, high terrain, the field of vision is quite open, in ancient feng shui, according to the mountains and water is excellent feng shui, the mountain means calm, water symbolizes agility, flexibility, according to the combination of mountains and water, indicating that the tomb owner can control the heavens and the earth after death, enjoy unlimited glory. In addition, the soil layer in the Beiqishan area is very deep, and the soil is quite compact, which is very suitable for burial tombs, so beiqishan will become a popular burial place. The Tang Dynasty poet Wang Jianyou has a poem: "The northern mountains are less idle, and they are full of old tombs of Luoyang people." There are many old burials in the old tombs, and there is no place to buy them with gold. It can be seen that by the time of the Tang Dynasty, people were buried everywhere on the Beiqi Mountain, and even if gold was used, a cemetery could not be bought.
Third, the wind of tomb robbery caused by a railway
However, it is precisely because the tomb group of Beiqi Mountain is extremely large, which has also attracted a large number of tomb robbers. In ancient times, because people were more feudal and superstitious, they believed that the things in the cemetery were ominous things, so few people stole the tomb, even if it was a funerary product washed out by the rain, people would not take it home, so the tomb group in Beiqi Mountain was very well protected. In fact, the real destruction of the Beiqishan tomb group had to start with the Qing government's construction of the Biluo Railway. It was 1905, when the Qing government borrowed money from a Belgian company to build the Biluo Railway, when the railway was built to the southern foot of the Beiqi Mountains, some ancient tombs were excavated, and a large number of funerary pottery was obtained, and foreign experts were very interested in these funerary pottery, so they sent them back to China, which immediately caused a sensation in the European and American markets. Collectors in Europe and the United States loved these ancient Chinese pottery and bought them at high prices, and foreign merchants saw that they were profitable, so they came to the Beiqishan area to "buy for heavy money".
At that time, from the government down to the people, there was no sense of cultural relics protection at all, they did not know that these funerary products were the treasures of Chinese culture, simply for the sake of the small profits in front of them, looking for antiquities everywhere and selling them to foreign merchants. Suddenly, farmers in the Beiqishan area moved out one after another, a large number of ancient tombs were excavated, and funerary products were also looted. Most of these precious cultural relics were bought by foreigners, and Mr. Luo Zhenyu, a famous scholar at that time, was very sad about it. Especially in the 1920s, as the price of cultural relics was pushed up, the trend of tomb robbery became more and more rampant, according to statistics, at that time, there were as many as 10,000 people who stole tombs for a living. It is worth mentioning that the Luoyang shovel was also invented at this time. After people dug out jade and bronze ware, they used baskets and horse-drawn carriages to pull them, and a large number of cultural materials were sent overseas, and to this day, museums in Europe, the United States and Japan still collect a large number of precious cultural relics excavated from the North Mountain.
In 1948, the People's Liberation Army entered Luoyang, Luoyang was liberated, and the tomb robbery that lasted for more than 40 years was brought to an end, when the people's government issued a notice that tomb robbery was strictly prohibited, otherwise it would be severely punished. However, although the tomb robbery in the Beiqishan area has ended, the loss has been irreparable, according to statistics, as many as 50,000 ancient tombs in the Beiqishan area have been stolen, and as many as 500,000 cultural relics have been excavated, of which 480,000 pieces have been exported overseas. What is even more distressing is that tomb robbers often destroy other cultural relics in the tomb that may be more valuable after taking away cultural relics, and even the murals are devastated.
IV. Conclusion
The Beiqishan Tomb Group is a treasure of Chinese culture, although it is no longer the glory of the past, but it still carries the spirit and integrity of the Chinese descendants, we must protect it. Today, many construction single-location cultural relics protection laws disregard the destruction of ancient tombs, and the relevant management units are also turning a blind eye from economic interests, which is very undesirable.