In feudal society, a funerary custom of using people for burial has long been popular.
The cruel act of burying living people in tombs as funerary objects along with utensils and livestock was not uncommon from the Yin Shang period to the Ming and Qing dynasties.
It was not until after the Xinhai Revolution that this cruel practice was eradicated in the legal sense.
The ancients believed that "the dead should be born", and the scale and quantity of funerary goods were regarded as a symbol of the status of the tomb owner, so the burial system throughout ancient China was not completely prohibited. Confucius lamented in the Analects: "The initiator has no consequences", and the original meaning of "figurine" refers to those who are forced to be martyred.
And in order to correct this bloody custom, many monarchs have made efforts,
The birth of the Terracotta Warriors is an example. The replacement of living people with terracotta warriors has to be said to be a historical progress. The large-scale Qin Terracotta Warriors derived from this are known as "one of the eight wonders of the world".
When a female tourist visited the Qin Terracotta Warriors, she found that one of them was "wrong", and immediately reported to the police after seeing it.
First, the Qin State forbade martyrdom, and the Terracotta Warriors and Horses came out
The first large-scale period of human use as a martyr's product in China's history was the Yin Shang period, when the princes and even regarded the living as the most advanced kind of martyrdom.
In order to express his sorrow for the owner of the tomb, he chose a large number of slaves or prisoners of war as martyrdom.
This situation was once improved during the Zhou Dynasty,
The Zhou Rites, formulated by the Duke of Zhou, emphasized "Bao De An Min" and opposed the use of living people for burial.
however
The chaotic Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period fell into the "collapse of ceremonies", and the custom of employing people to be buried revived. The State of Qin once prevailed in the use of the practice of living martyrdom, and it was not until the reign of Duke Xiangong of Qin that it "stopped from death" and stopped the practice of using human martyrdom.
The king of the Qin dynasty stopped martyrdom, the main purpose was to retain the population and accumulate national strength. However, at that time, the practice of using people for burial had been widely circulated, and Qin Xiangong's practice also caused controversy. The unique funerary products made the Qin state accused of disrespecting the ancestors.
It was in order to calm these controversies and make posterity marvel at the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses that came out.
In order to meet people's needs for mourning,
The King of Qin ordered that clay and wood be made of exquisitely crafted and lifelike clay figurines and wooden figurines to replace the original living people and be buried with the tomb owner as martyrs.
At the beginning of the birth of the Terracotta Army, it was only to replace the living, so it was not yet necessary to pay attention to how beautiful it was, until the appearance of Qin Shi Huang, the Qin Terracotta Army underwent a great change.
According to the "Records of History", the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin was planned and designed by the minister Li Si, and the general Zhang Handan was responsible for the specific supervision, and it was built for 39 years before and after.
With the construction of the imperial tomb, the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses, as funerary objects, also began to be created and produced on a large scale. Perhaps at the behest of Qin Shi Huang, skilled craftsmen threw themselves into the manufacture of the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses and produced exquisite works.
In March 1974, the Qin Terracotta Warriors, which had sunk underground for thousands of years, were discovered by archaeologists, and the vivid Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses provided quite direct evidence for scholars to study the historical customs of the Qin Dynasty, and their exquisite form made countless people feel broken.
The "Qin Terracotta Warriors" also went abroad as a Chinese cultural business card, attracting many foreign tourists to stop and watch.
Second, visit the Terracotta Warriors and horses, and be alarmed by panic
After years of excavation and verification, the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit, which is the funerary product of Qin Shi Huang, has a total of three large pits, and the number of terracotta warriors in each pit is between 7,000 and 8,000, and it is also equipped with a large number of chariots and warhorses made of clay, etc., symbolizing the division of the king who once fought for Qin Shi Huang in the southern and northern wars and unified the world.
These terracotta warriors not only have different shapes and excellent workmanship, but even the facial expressions of each clay figurine are different, varied, majestic and majestic from a distance, and extremely beautiful from close range.
After careful identification, archaeologists also found that according to the different armor, clothing and weapons of the pottery figurines, the pottery figurines can be divided into pottery figurines
High-level military figurines, intermediate military figurines, subordinate military figurines, general samurai figurines, etc.
It is conceivable that the manpower and material resources required to shape such a large number of terracotta warriors and horses that are so well-made and changeable to each other must be quite amazing. Perhaps because of this, since the excavation of the Qin Terracotta Warriors, it has attracted an endless stream of tourists who want to see these great works of art.
During the visit, some things often make people can't help but be funny.
Once, a group of tourists who went to Xi'an to visit the Terracotta Warriors arrived at the museum and were fascinated by the vivid terracotta warriors, and stopped to carefully observe these different forms of terracotta warriors.
Suddenly, a female tourist let out a scream. It turned out that she was surprised to find that one of the many terracotta warriors looked quite wrong.
Just when the female tourist approached the pit to carefully observe the strange terracotta warriors, the terracotta army moved inexplicably, frightening the female tourists into disobedience. After seeing clearly, the female tourist immediately called the police.
Third, the police came to the scene and took away the clay figurines
After receiving the alarm call from the female tourist, the police rushed to the scene. When asked the female tourists the reason for the alarm, the tourists and the police present felt ridiculous, thinking that the female tourists were dazzled and scared themselves.
When the female tourist insisted on her own statement, the police went to the corresponding location but did not find an abnormality, the matter was deadlocked.
In view of the fact that the terracotta warriors were created in order to make funerary goods for kings like Qin Shi Huang, some people could not help but be frightened after listening to the female tourists' vows. But the police did not think that this would explain anything, and turned around to leave. At this very moment,
Some of the tourists on the observation deck exclaimed, and they also saw the terracotta warriors that would "move".
In the midst of the exclamations of the crowd, the police immediately conducted a carpet search of the terracotta warriors in the pit and finally found the "moving" terracotta warriors.
It turned out that it was a "fully armed" living person who played a pottery figurine, and when I looked closely, I found that it was still a foreigner from a foreign country.
It turned out that after this foreign tourist mixed into the museum, he changed his clothes according to the appearance of the terracotta warriors, stood in the pit and "stood guard" with other terracotta warriors, making it difficult to distinguish the authenticity from a distance, and even the police who found him sighed: "It is so similar!" Subsequently, the foreigner, who likes to "role play", was taken away by the police for interrogation.
It turns out that the foreigner who blended into the terracotta formation is a German fan who loves the terracotta warriors, and in his opinion, these lifelike terracotta warriors highlight a unique artistic style.
Driven by curiosity, the German boy began to understand all aspects of the terracotta army, and finally "customized" a set of "terracotta clothing" and took the opportunity to blend into the formation.
According to the German guy's explanation, he did not deliberately scare others' ideas, but was deeply fascinated by such artistic clay figurines, mixed into the formation just to feel the artistic charm contained in it. The police were also crying and laughing at such a reckless behavior, and after criticizing and educating this terracotta enthusiast, they finally calmed down a storm.
brief summary
:
It is often said, "There is no lack of beauty in the world, just a lack of eyes to find beauty". The spectacular and exquisite Terracotta Warriors attract countless tourists, but there is indeed a "lack" of people like this German guy who are obsessed with dressing themselves as terracotta warriors and seeking pleasure and experience from them.
Having said that, the Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses are indeed cultural relics that represent the extremely high artistic level of ancient China, and it is not surprising that it can attract many tourists to visit. But as future generations, we should protect these precious cultural relics that have withstood the test of time, and we should not disturb or damage them just because we like them.
Then again, in addition to letting us see the ingenious skills and ingenious arrangements of the ancients, the excavation of the Qin Terracotta Warriors is even more touching that it is a cultural relic that appears in the history books and people's vision in order to replace a bloody and cruel burial system. This is its invaluable historical development significance.
References: Analects, History, Interesting Facts about Visiting the Terracotta Warriors
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