There are many rumors in the folklore that the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty will kill the sixty-year-old man, and as long as the elderly live to the age of sixty and have not died, they will be forcibly buried alive. This kind of thing sounds very cruel, is it true? Or is it alarmist?
Since ancient times, ancient people have advocated filial piety and paid attention to ethics. For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Confucian school paid attention to the idea of "benevolence" and even preached that "hundred goodness and filial piety come first". Most of the later dynasties respected Confucianism and naturally preached filial piety, so how could they bury a sixty-year-old man alive?
So how did these rumors come about, and in which dynasty did they appear?
Let's take a look.
Image: Stills of a sixty-year-old man
The earliest rumor is during the Shang Dynasty, when the King ordered that all the elderly people aged sixty and above be arrested and buried alive. The reason is that these old people have lost the ability to work, but they are still consuming survival materials, and living in that era of material shortages is too resource-intensive, which is why this is the next policy.
However, at that time, a filial son disobeyed the order of the King of Sui, secretly hid the old mother, and then delivered food in the morning and evening to prolong the mother's life. One day, this filial piety saw the "Xie Bao Emperor List" on the streets of the capital.
It turned out that a western country had paid tribute to the king of The Dragon, but the cow looked very strange and had a head similar to that of a mouse. The king wondered, so he asked what kind of animal was this?
As a result, the tribute did not answer, but instead laughed at such a large Shang Dynasty that no one recognized what it was, and the Minister of Culture and Military Affairs in the Dynasty was like a decoration.
Photo: The son delivers stills of food to his mother in the morning and evening
This infuriated the King of Sui, who ordered the killing of many ministers. In the end, a minister suggested that the imperial list be posted and let the people think about what this thing is.
Takako returned home to share this new story with her mother, but her mother actually knew the answer, saying that she had heard people of the older generation say that "the west rat is like a cow, whether it is a rat or a cow, you will know it when you try it with a cat." So the filial son hid the cat in the cuff of his clothes and entered the treasure.
Under the verification of Takako, this large cow-like animal was indeed a mouse. Xiaozi was rewarded by the King of Sui, and Xiaozi also confided in him, saying that it was the credit of his mother in the family.
At this time, the King of Lu suddenly realized and sighed: "People are still getting older and more powerful." So another order was issued, deposing the "exemption from death after the age of sixty."
In addition, during the reign of Qin Shi Huang, there are also relevant wild histories that record the matter of "burying sixty-year-old people alive". So why did Qin Shi Huang issue this decree? In fact, there are two main reasons.
The first is that Qin Shi Huang believed that the old man over the age of sixty had experienced the experience of the first half of his life, and that becoming older than the young man would shake the foundation of his rule. Another reason is that the elderly over the age of sixty have no labor force, which will slow down the development of society.
Of course, such a statement only exists in the history of the wild, and there is no relevant record in the history of the canon. It is rumored that at that time, Qin Shi Huang advocated the construction of the Great Wall to resist foreign enemies, and the construction of the Great Wall was a huge project that required a lot of manpower and material resources.
Men from the age of eighteen to fifty-nine were conscripted.
Photo: Stills of ordinary people participating in the construction of the Great Wall
You must know that once you go to build the Great Wall, there is a good chance that you will not be able to come back. Therefore, in order to escape the suffering of labor, some men in their forties and fifties lied about their age, saying that they were sixty years old and incapable of working, so that they could avoid labor.
For a time this method was abused, and many people in their forties also lied about sixty, but it did not look like a body at all. In the end, this method was recognized. Qin Shi Huang was very angry when he learned of this, so he directly issued an order: "If you don't die at the age of sixty, you will be buried alive."
In this way, many people dare not lie that they have reached sixty, and even the elderly who are more than sixty years old dare not report their true age. In this way, the problem of labour shortages was quickly resolved. In fact, this record in the history of the wild is probably not true, but only to highlight the brutality of Qin Shi Huang.
Photo: Stills of ordinary people over sixty years old
In addition, there is a rumor about "burying sixty-year-olds alive", that is, crock pot graves. When the old man had reached the age of sixty, his son would place the old man in a crock pot grave built on the mountain in advance, deliver food every day, and add a brick to the grave.
A year later, this grave was blocked by bricks and stones, in fact, this matter is "burying the old man alive". There are also some legends that resemble crock pot graves, for example
"Flower armor burial, sixty return warehouse"
etc., the difference is not big.
"Flower armor burial" refers to the placement of a sixty-year-old man in a pre-dug hole in the ground, and then capping at the entrance of the cave. Initially, it was not completely sealed, and a round hole with a diameter of twenty centimeters was left for the elderly to breathe.
Then every two days the old man's name is shouted at the entrance of the cave, and if there is an answer below, it means that the old man is not dead. If there is no response, it means that the old man is dead, and his son will plug this small round hole, even if the old man is buried.
Image: Add a brick still to the grave
Under the investigation of experts, it was found that such rumors were true, and archaeologists have excavated many "crock pot graves" sites. In fact
These are the customs of the nomadic people.
During the Yuan Dynasty, this custom was promoted to its peak.
Because the Han dynasty promoted "filial piety", it would not promote such a custom, let alone become popular. The Yuan Dynasty was ruled by the Mongols, so the customs of the nomadic peoples were popularized, and as early as before the pre-Qin, this custom spread among the nomadic peoples.
Because the living environment during that period was very harsh and harsh, and the fertility of animal husbandry was not high. Therefore, in order to adapt to the environment and improve the survivability and combat ability of the entire tribe, the nomads had to abandon the elderly who had lost the ability to work.
Slowly, this custom became popular. It's cruel, but it's the only way the whole tribe can survive better.
Image: Caricature of an old man in a crock pot grave
In summary, whether it is those rumors or the real existence of the "crock pot grave", etc., there is a common feature, that is, the old people aged sixty and above have lost the ability to work, and will only consume the materials in society and become the "waste" in society.
In order for the young and middle-aged labor force to develop better, there has been a social phenomenon of abandoning the elderly. In fact, not only will such a cruel situation occur in ancient China, but it will exist all over the world, which is also the unique sadness of that era.
Fortunately, the era in which we live is an era of progress.
"The old have support, the old have dependence", the old people can enjoy the old age in peace, rather than being seen as a person who consumes social materials and has no existence value
。
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!