In 1928, the last emperor Puyi, who had abdicated, learned that Cixi's mausoleum had been stolen, and he was furious and overwhelmed with excitement, and soon after he woke up and shouted to the heavens: Ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, I am sorry for you. In order to "comfort" Cixi and Qianlong, Puyi specially set up a spiritual hall and made three requests to the Nationalist Government: to accuse Sun Dianying of his behavior, the second was to hope that the Nationalist Government could pay for the maintenance of the mausoleum, and the third was to hope that the Nationalist Government could send troops to guard the Tanglin Tomb, and planned to go to the spiritual seats of Qianlong and Cixi himself to visit until the mausoleum was completed.
In the spring of 1928, Ma Futian, a bandit who was originally recruited by the Feng Army, led his troops to defect and went straight to Ma Lanyu, next to the Qing Tombs, deliberately digging graves and stealing treasures for a long time. At that time, the Northern Expedition of the National Revolutionary Army had entered the Hebei region, and the Feng army withdrew to the north, while there were many bandits scattered in the eastern Hebei area, which was extremely rampant. Under these circumstances, the National Revolutionary Army sent Sun Dianying's troops to suppress Fufu. On the way, Sun Dianying often saw the grand hall of the Tanglin Temple, and in order to raise funds for the suppression of bandits, he had the idea of robbing tombs. Therefore, in the name of the exercise, the army was sent to excavate the tomb of Cixi.
Because of the strong attitude of Puyi and other Manchu Qing widows, the Nationalist government had to hold Sun Dianying, the culprit in the excavation of Cixi's mausoleum, accountable, and Sun Dianying had no choice but to do anything for a while, so he bribed the military commander and people around Chiang Kai-shek with the treasures obtained from the tomb robbery. Who is Sun Dianying? How dare he steal the imperial tomb of the Qing Dynasty?
Sun Dianying was born in 1889, the character Kuiyuan, when he was young, he had a flamboyant personality, such as a ranger, and later became a bandit, defected to the warlord, pulled out a team, was absorbed by the national army, and had a formation. He not only excavated the Cixi Mausoleum, but also found two reasons for himself, the first is "ancestral hatred", and the second is "family hatred". Sun Dianying was a descendant of Sun Chengzong, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty's military department Shangshu and Dongge University, who led the people and families of the city to resist the Qing army when the Qing army entered the customs, and after the defeat, he hanged himself. Sun Dianying's father, who was imprisoned for the township people to argue with the flag people, was beaten to death in prison.
Sun Dianying's reputation was hit by tomb robbery, so Chiang Kai-shek could not reuse him. He later died in prison. Sun Dianying was still very remorseful for his actions when he was dying, but he had a son named Sun Tianyi, who later became the president of the Yellow Emperor's Tomb Fund. Born in 1931, Sun Tianyi graduated from the Department of Western Languages and Literatures at Fu Jen University in Beijing at the age of 21, then served as a professor and dean of Xi'an Chinese College, and in 1994, Sun Tianyi also served as the president of the Yellow Emperor Mausoleum Foundation in China.
When Sun Tianyi was a professor, he served as an intensive reading, extensive reading, grammar, linguistics, speaking, listening, writing and English literature courses in all undergraduate grades, cultivating many foreign language talents, in addition to visiting the United States, Japan and other countries many times, teaching courses such as Chinese and Chinese, Chinese literature and Chinese culture, so that foreign friends can better understand China.
The contrast between his father is a tomb robber and his son is a tomb keeper is still quite large, it can be said that even if his old son has committed a crime, then the son can try to make up for it, which can be regarded as atonement. Sun Tianyi has become a well-known big person, and it is estimated that Sun Dianying did not think that his son's life would make him smile. In fact, the lives of fathers and sons are very different, and they often happen in history.