Ancient China advocated a thick burial after the death of relatives, which not only highlighted the family situation, but also showed the filial piety of the younger generations and the etiquette of the family. The funerals of the royal family and the princes and nobles are even more solemn, not only the chosen cemetery is a feng shui treasure land, but the funerary goods are often of great value.
Because the price of funerary goods in the tomb is not cheap, it often attracts many unscrupulous tomb robbers, which also has a great impact on the cultural inheritance of the country, but some ancient tombs are very lucky, and they are still preserved intact when they are found, and have high research value.
There is such a good ancient tomb in Persimmon Garden Village, Yongcheng City, Henan Province, and there is also a national treasure in the ancient tomb, which is a beautiful mural, which experts have named "Four Gods and Clouds".
Discoveries in ancient tombs
In May 1986, a farmer named Zhao Deyou in Yongcheng, Henan Province, went to a nearby contracted quarry to collect the stone materials that were missing from the construction of the house at that time.
In the process of mining, Zhao Deyou went down with a hammer to cut a huge hole, and his stone hammer also fell into it, and when he landed, he also made several crisp sounds.
Because there were similar cases in the local area before, Zhao Deyou guessed that he might have excavated the ancient tomb, and he immediately ran to the local cultural relics protection department to report what he had experienced, and several local cultural relics experts quickly rushed over after hearing about it.
After several experts' research and discussion, they believed that there was a high probability that there was an ancient tomb underground, and the research team immediately decided to start excavations downwards.
Unsurprisingly, there is a huge tomb underground, and after some research, experts have successfully opened the door of the tomb. As soon as the tomb door was opened, you could see a long copper coin road at the entrance of the tomb, which was 10.5 meters long and 4.56 meters wide, and such an extravagant scene shocked everyone on the spot.
All the experts have never seen such a luxurious tomb, and the copper coins on this road have been counted by experts for a total of about 2.25 million pieces, weighing up to 3 tons and worth 450,000 yuan now.
After the research of many experts, it was finally speculated according to relevant historical materials that the owner of this ancient tomb should be Liu Mai, the gongwang of the Western Han Dynasty in the second century BC, who was the nephew of Liu Qi, the Emperor of HanJing, and died in the seven years of the hereditary prince.
The arrangement in the ancient tomb is very ornate, and it is very similar to the arrangement in the homes of ancient emperors. At the same time, a large number of cultural relics of high historical value such as carriage and horse tools, pottery figurines, and weapons have been excavated from this ancient tomb.
The archaeologists followed the narrow passage into the deep burial chamber, and the lamp in their hands shone on the top of the burial chamber, and a large red color appeared in front of them, and this discovery shocked everyone.
A dragon head with a long beard flutters into view, and this is the national treasure-level mural, which has been praised by Chinese and foreign experts and scholars as "Dunhuang before Dunhuang" and "Dunhuang outside Dunhuang": "Four Gods Cloud Qi Map".
The trepidation experienced in the Four Gods Cloud Qi Map
The "Four Gods Cloud Qi Map" began at the west end of the top of the tomb and extended to the east of the tomb roof, and the overall length of the mural was 5.14 meters and the width was 3.27 meters.
The main body of the "Four Gods Cloud Qi Map" is a huge green dragon, in addition to the dragon, there are three major sacred beasts on the mural, namely the White Tiger, the Suzaku and the Xuanwu, and the four sacred beasts of ancient China gathered here.
The four divine beasts are all highly powerful, no one can match, among them, the green dragon and white tiger palm in all directions, and the Suzaku Xuanwu is Shun Yin yang, the whole mural appears magnificent, the painting technique is very delicate, the details are also amazing, the content gives people a kind of king-like domineering and casual.
After some deliberation, the experts decided to officially name this beautiful mural "Four Gods Cloud Qi Map".
Ancient people believed that people would ascend to heaven after death, implying that death was the continuation of life. Therefore, in the "Four Gods Cloud Qi Map", the ideal and desire of the tomb owner Liu Mai to ascend to heaven by the dragon and still enjoy himself after his death are highlighted.
Later, in 1991, Liu Mai's tomb was rated as one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in China. The Four Gods Cloud Qi Map has a long history, a grand scale and the content of the murals is very rich and diverse, and it is the earliest and highest tomb mural treasure of the chinese surviving era and the highest level of tombs.
Unfortunately, after the discovery, due to the lack of timely protection, the "Four Gods Cloud Map" was seriously damaged, and the tomb robbers and local people regarded this tomb as their home, going back and forth, going in and out.
In just two months, because they lit candles to see the mural, a layer of charcoal particles had been attached to the mural, and the color had dimmed somewhat.
And because of the change of air and environment after the burial chamber was opened, these also caused various lesions in the fresco.
After Visiting the "Four Gods and Clouds Map", Comrade Yu Youxian, director of the Propaganda Department of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, felt that persimmon garden was not suitable for preserving it.
In order to protect the "Four Gods and Clouds", Comrade Yu Youxian and Mr. Yang Huancheng, who was then the director of the Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, discussed how to remove the murals and preserve them, which was also the first case of the murals in China.
At that time, Chen Jinliang, an expert of the Cultural Relics Protection Association, tried his best to uncover the murals according to the requirements of the leaders. The overall mural of 16.8 square meters is not easy to remove intact, and after the team discussed and decided, the "Four Gods Cloud Map" was divided and unveiled.
Chen Jinliang divided the "Four Gods And Clouds" into 5 pieces in total, and the staff set up shelves and cut the murals little by little with a batch of gray knives, and this huge project took a total of one and a half months before and after.
After the murals were removed, the murals were transported to the Henan Museum piece by piece, and the museum staff spent 5 days to install the scattered 5 murals, and the "Four Gods Cloud Map" became one of the "treasures of the town courtyard" of the Henan Museum.
Later, according to the expert Mr. Chen Jinliang, "The time of this project was too tight and the speed was too fast, but fortunately there was no major problem." ”
In an interview with a reporter, he questioned: "Is it still fast for nearly two months?" Expert Chen Jinliang replied: "In Italy for hundreds of years of mural paintings, engaged in these, not a few years and more than a decade at all, discussion, argumentation and scientific experiments, people will not leave anything 'in case'!" ”
When talking about the funding of the research, Mr. Chen Jinliang said: "We are stupid and bold, think about it and be afraid!" We don't have money, 150,000 yuan of funds, and it's okay not to do it!"
In the absence of sufficient funds and technology, the "Four Gods Cloud Qi Map" can be preserved so well by relying only on the efforts of experts and staff, which shows that it has also experienced some trepidation.
Leo Tolstoy once said: "History is the biography of the country and mankind." ”
China has a long history, but also has a more distant future, and every cultural relic we protect now is for future people to learn more about China's past and culture.
The nervous experience of the "Four Gods And Clouds" reminds us that we cannot destroy the cultural relics found at will, but should protect the cultural heritage found now and pass on the Chinese spirit of our country forever.