One day in 1975, a very special ancient tomb was issued on the outskirts of Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Unlike other ancient tombs unearthed bronzes, gold and silver objects, the cultural relics unearthed in this tomb are made of wood, and many of the treasures made of wood are the first time in China.
Farmers build homesteads on Shugang Mountain in Caizhuang, Hanjiang County, Jiangsu Province, China, in 1975. One day the workers found an engraved stone brick, and after digging it twice, it was surrounded by the same stone bricks. The cultural relics experts arrived at the news and immediately concluded that this was an ancient tomb.
When the tomb was opened and only excavated to the east side of the antechamber of the tomb, the experts made a surprising discovery. A group of ancient wooden instruments has been unearthed here, including six clapboards and wooden instrument holders. The most important thing is that a wooden lute wood carving was unearthed in the burial chamber.
The curved-necked lute is 55 cm long and 19 cm wide, with a simple and generous shape and smooth lines. The pipa surface does not have a complicated pattern, and the simple wooden texture highlights the ancient charm of more than a thousand years. In particular, the four chord shafts of this lute are divided into left and right, but the neck of the lute is curved backwards in a 90-degree bend.
Academics generally believe that the ancient lute is divided into two types: straight neck and curved neck. Straight-neck pipa appeared earlier in China, and the straight-necked pipa in the Qin and Han dynasties was called "Qin Hanzi".
The curved-necked pipa was introduced to the Central Plains through the Silk Road during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, from Persia through present-day Xinjiang. The curved-necked pipa played by musicians can be seen on the dunhuang flying sky murals and the stone carvings of the Yungang Grottoes.
The wood-carved curved-necked pipa of the Five Dynasties period is the only one in the country, which fills a gap in the history of Chinese music and is of great research value.
Only a side chamber in the front chamber of the tomb has unearthed such a special artifact that people are curious about this unusual ancient tomb. Why are the excavated artifacts made of wood? Who is the owner of the wood-carved curved-necked lute?
Archaeologists probed the back chamber of the tomb, only to find that it had been stolen and that only a skull was left in the coffin of the owner who was supposed to contain the gold and silver objects. The shape of this tomb is basically the same as that of the Southern Tang Emperor Li Fu found in Nanjing, and it can be determined that it is at least a noble tomb from the Five Dynasties period.
According to the ceremonial system, the coffin of this tomb should contain some gold and silver jewelry, but it was stolen more than a hundred years ago. However, in the eyes of archaeologists, it is not only bronze gold and silver that are the most valuable treasures. Rare cultural relics such as wood-carved curved-necked pipa, which have not decayed for thousands of years, can also uncover the mystery of the tomb owner's life and tell the historical legend.
Extrapolating from the excavated wood-carved lute, the owner of the tomb was most likely a woman. According to the scientific identification report of the skull in the coffin, it was concluded that the deceased was a woman and the time of death was about 40 years old.
After consulting the information, the experts combined with the historical data came up with a name - Princess Xunyang. The local historians of Yangzhou are no strangers to the name of Princess Xunyang, because more than 1100 years ago, the history of Yangzhou City and even the entire Jiangnan region was changed by Princess Xunyang.
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the central plains were chased by deer, the feudal towns were divided, and wars were frequent. In the Jiangnan Valley, Wu Yue occupied the southwestern part of present-day Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang and Fujian, while Yang Wuguo occupied Hubei, Anhui, jiangxi and other places centered on the current Yangzhou.
More than 1,100 years ago, the neighboring Yang Wu and Wu Yue were at war over border issues, and the people were not happy. For the sake of peace between the two countries, Princess Yang Wu Xunyang married wu yue at the suggestion of the chancellor, and finally resolved the contradiction between the two countries, so that Yang Wu and Wu Yue, who had been fighting for decades, no longer fought each other.
Princess Xunyang was the eldest daughter of Yang Wuguo, who was only 16 years old when she married, while her husband Wu Yueguo's crown prince was only 14 years old. The two had only met once before they got married, but the two had a deep affection.
It is said that Princess Xunyang was very frugal and did not talk about eating and wearing, but only loved music and often played for her husband. So when the wood carving of the curved-necked lute was unearthed in the tomb, the experts thought of Princess Xunyang.
Later, after examination, there is such a record in the "Yangzhou Painting Record", "The eldest princess died in the year 38, and was buried in Yuanshu Village, Xingning Township, Jiangdu County in the second year of the former Zhen Dynasty". This location is Hanjiang County. From this, archaeologists concluded that the large tomb of the wood-carved curved-necked pipa excavated was the tomb of Princess Xunyang more than 1100 years ago.
Why the tomb of Princess Tangtang will only use some wooden cultural relics to accompany the burial, this is most likely the last wish of Princess Xunyang herself.
It turned out that after Princess Xunyang married Wu Yue, she took it as her duty to maintain relations between the two countries. She popularized Yang Wu's medical and handicraft techniques in Wuyue and was deeply loved by the people. Moreover, Princess Xunyang herself is very frugal, she has 6 men, 6 women and 12 children, but she never wastes extravagantly.
Before the princess died, she especially missed her hometown, but in those years, Wu Yue suffered a series of natural disasters, and the princess gave up the idea of returning to her hometown because she was afraid that the carriage and horse would work hard and hurt the people.
After the princess's death, her husband specially escorted her back to the countryside for burial, and the princess also chose to make funerary products in the form of wooden pottery to save labor as much as possible. This also has the tomb of the princess who has unearthed many wooden artifacts.
Nowadays, the wood-carved curved-necked pipa is treasured in the Yangzhou Museum, and she interprets the legend of a picturesque princess with a simple wooden color and simple shape, which makes future generations have more gentle and moving charm when talking about the smoke of war in the five generations and ten countries.