Among the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian and Tang Gaozong's Qianlong are undoubtedly the most interesting. Guo Moruo, an expert on cultural relics, once said to Premier Zhou: "Open the Qianling Tomb, and perhaps Wu Zetian's hundred volumes of the "Vertical Arch Collection" and the ten volumes of the "Golden Wheel Collection" can be seen again." Maybe the portrait of Empress Wu, the handwriting of Shangguan Wan'er and others can be seen."
In fact, as Guo Moruo asserted, when Tang Gaozong and Wu Zetian were buried, they were in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, and the funerary products in the tomb were naturally of great value. There must be a large number of gold, silver and jade utensils, Tang Sancai utensils in the funerary items, and possibly silk, classics and calligraphy and paintings. Some people speculate that the treasures inside may not be less than 500 tons, which is an immeasurable sky-high wealth.
Although Guo Moruo had proposed to excavate the Qianling Tombs, fortunately Premier Zhou did not approve it. The reason why there was no reply was related to the excavation of the Tomb of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty that year.
In 1956, the Ming Tombs were excavated. Although a large number of cultural relics and treasures have been unearthed, but also brought endless regrets, due to the immaturity of technical conditions, the silk items that have just been unearthed have met the air and flourished, the coffin of the Wanli Emperor has been smashed and destroyed, and the skeleton of the Wanli Emperor himself has also been pulled out and burned in the subsequent turmoil.
Based on this lesson, the archaeological community has never taken the initiative to excavate the imperial tomb. Qianling, since 1961, was announced as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units, has been well-protected, and it is very likely that it is the only Tang Dynasty imperial tomb that has not been stolen and excavated.
However, recently, with the progress of archaeological technology in China, the proposal of "scientific excavation of Qianling" has begun to become active, and some archaeologists have also held a favorable argument. They said that it was now the right time to excavate Qianlong. There are two reasons for active excavation: First, active protection, "the damage caused by groundwater leakage to underground buildings cannot be ignored." Moreover, the problem of protecting excavated cultural relics is not insoluble, and some cultural relics can continue to be placed in the imperial tombs, and after taking special isolation treatment, it will not affect the visit. ”
The second is to promote historical and cultural tourism, which can be used as a stimulant to revitalize Shaanxi's economy. "Some economists predict that once Qianling opens, Shaanxi will increase its number of tourists by at least 5 million per year, how great an economic benefit will this be, and how much investment will this bring to the large-scale development of the western region?"
From the technical point of view, at present, our cultural relics protection technology level has laid a solid foundation for the protection of cultural relics unearthed in Qianling, which can give good protection to the excavated cultural relics, and excavation is actually a kind of protection.
So, should Qianling be excavated in the end, and what do you think?