In our tradition, the deceased are "buried in the ground", whether in ancient times or modern times, the deceased are buried in the ground (except for individual ethnic traditions). This is both a tradition and a custom. However, in Harbin, an ice city in the north of China, there is a unique cemetery. The reason why he is unique is mainly because this cemetery is built on the ground, and it is built in his own courtyard, and the cemetery is still in the downtown area. These three points illustrate what makes them unique.
Ancient tomb history
The ancient tomb in harbin is located in the courtyard of Dazhi street eye hospital in Nangang District. Dazhi Street is a very prosperous street in Harbin, and the location of this cemetery is also the center of Harbin.
This ancient tomb should be called the tomb tower, and the owner of the tomb is Zhang Kongshi, and the person who erected the monument is named Zhang Tingsheng. According to the records, the Zhang family's ancestral home is Shouguang, Shandong, during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Tingsheng's parents came to Heilongjiang from their hometown in Shandong, and first settled in the rural area of Acheng, relying on the hardships and hard work of the Shandong people, the Zhang family became rich. In 1898, Zhang Tingsheng's father decided to take the whole family to live in Harbin, so the Zhang family moved to Xiangfang District, and Zhang Tingsheng, as the youngest son, was sent to a private school to study. The Zhang family pinned their hopes on Zhang Tingsheng and sent him to a Russian school, where he became a translator.
Zhang Tingsheng learned to deal with the Russians and began to engage in business, after which he opened theaters, shopping malls, gold shops and silver trumpets, and also opened wineries, grain processing factories, and purchased real estate, and had his own many properties in Harbin and other counties, becoming a wealthy person.
After Zhang Tingsheng became rich, he built a three-storey European-style luxury mansion at No. 157 Dongdazhen Street, which is now the location of the Heilongjiang Provincial Eye Hospital.
Zhang Tingsheng's status is very high, and he began to intersect with some celebrities in the northeast, including Zhang Zuolin, the king of the northeast. The two interacted because they were both surnamed Zhang. Zhang Zuolin came to Harbin and visited Zhang Tingsheng's home. After Zhang Zuolin's death, Zhang Tingsheng and the young marshal also maintained contact. The young marshal also gave Zhang Tingsheng a German-made magazine gun. Therefore, in the courtyard where this cemetery is located, Zhang Zuolin once lived, which is the relationship between this tomb and Zhang Zuolin.
For Zhang Tingsheng's business, his father was not optimistic, believing that Zhang Tingsheng was not doing his job, so he got angry and went to live with his fourth son in the countryside. In 1922, Zhang Tingsheng's 95-year-old mother Zhang Kongshi died, and then Zhang Tingsheng handled the funeral for his mother, mourning for his mother for three months, and the Zhang family also opened a porridge shed for 100 days. Zhang Tingsheng invited monks to chant the sutra, and Zhang Zuolin also sent Zhang Zuoxiang to mourn and send a group of Taoist monks to do things, when the spectacular scene was reported by Harbin and became a historical memory.
It can be seen that another relationship between this tomb and Zhang Zuolin is that Zhang Zuolin once sent someone to mourn.
Reasons for construction
The tomb tower that Zhang Tingsheng built for his mother was located in his home on Dazhi Street, and Zhang Tingsheng invited many local skilled craftsmen and southern carvers to build the cemetery. It is said that when the tomb tower was built, the stone used in the tomb tower was mined from the mountains of Bin County, but it was very difficult to transport it from Bin County to the city, and it is said that it took two years to be transported. It can be seen that the construction time span of this tomb tower is very long.
In 1925, Zhang Tingsheng spent three years to build a three-story pavilion-style tomb tower with a diameter of 7 meters and a height of 12 meters, with a total of six sections, seven eaves and octagonal corners. This tomb tower, also known as the "Liuhe Pagoda", is divided into six directions: heaven, earth, east, south, west and north, which means to encompass all things.
Many people do not understand, why did Zhang Tingsheng build his old mother's tomb in his home?
There is a precedent in the history of our country of building cemeteries in homes, but this is rare. Zhang Tingsheng built a cemetery at home, and it is indeed not easy to preserve it so well now. But the cemetery was chosen at home, and Zhang Tingsheng had a plan. He was afraid that his descendants would not be filial in the future and sell his family property, so he decided to build the cemetery in his home so that his descendants could not sell it.
Escaped both
The tomb tower built by Zhang Tingsheng for his mother began construction in 1922 and was completed in 1925, which has a history of 97 years. However, in the past hundred years, this tomb tower in the center of the city has experienced the War of Resistance and the War of Liberation, and after the founding of New China, it still stands on the original site.
However, by the end of the 1960s, some people wanted to demolish the tomb tower, but because the tomb tower was built strong, it was not successful. According to the records, in 1987, the Provincial Drug Inspection Institute wanted to build an office building and a family garden in this area, and planned to demolish the tomb, but after reporting to the relevant departments, the relevant leaders gave instructions: It is not allowed to demolish this tomb tower. As a result, Zhang Kong's tomb tower was fortunate to be preserved and became a class of protected buildings in Harbin.
Some people say that the tomb tower was lucky to escape the two disasters, which is related to the fact that Zhang Tingsheng did a lot of good deeds before his death. When the Temple of Literature was built in Harbin, Zhang Tingsheng's relationship with the young marshal paid a lot of money to build it. Kek Lok Si also has a record of Zhang Tingsheng's donation. Of course, the claim that the tomb tower escaped being demolished is only a superstitious claim.