The world-famous mausoleum (also known as the mausoleum) of the thirteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, located in the foothills of Yanshan Mountain in Changping County, a northwestern suburb of Beijing, is a famous monument and sightseeing spot. However, many people may not understand, why should the tombs of ancient emperors be called "tombs"?
Ming Tombs
According to legend, when li Bai, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, traveled to the old ruins of Qin and Han, he wrote "Remembering Qin'e" because of his touching on the scenery:
Qin E's dream broke Qin Louyue. Qin Louyue, every year willow color, Baling hurt farewell.
Leyouyuan on the Qing Autumn Festival, Xianyang Ancient Road sound dust. Sound and dust, the west wind is still shining, and the Han family is lingque.
The "Han family tomb que" in the word refers to the tomb of the Western Han Emperor located on the Loess Plateau in present-day Guanzhong, Shaanxi. "Ling" originally meant Datu Mountain, such as "Zuo Chuan , Thirty-two Years of the Duke of Qi": "There are two tombs in the cuisine." "That is to say, there are two big mountains in the dish. In fact, before the Zhou Dynasty, the tombs of kings were called "tombs" instead of "tombs". For example, "Book Taijia Shang": "Taijia is standing, unknown, Yi Yin put Zhu Tong." ”
"Zhou Li Chun Guan Tsuka Ren": "Hold the land of the cemetery, discern its trillion domain and map it." "Zhou Li Chunguan Tomb Doctor": "The area of the tomb of the Fan State." "The duty of the tomb man is to take charge of the tomb of the prince, distinguish the location, the terrain and draw a map; the tomb master is in charge of the cemetery of the whole country and draws a map of the situation of the tomb. Therefore, the tombs of the kings of the Zhou Dynasty are also called "tombs" and not "tombs".
The tombs of Chinese emperors began to be called "tombs", and from about the middle of the Warring States period, they first appeared in the zhao, Chu, Qin and other countries. The "History of the Zhao Shijia" says: Zhao Suhou operated Shouling for fifteen years. The "Qin Shi Huang Benji" contains: Qin Huiwen King Burial Tomb, Mourning King Wu Burial Yong Mausoleum, King Xiaowen Burial Shou Mausoleum. It can be seen that this is the beginning of the king's tomb called "mausoleum". Because the king's power was constantly enhanced at that time, in order to show the supremacy of the king, his tomb not only covered a vast area, but also the height of the fiefdom was like a mountain mausoleum, so the tomb of the emperor was called "mausoleum".
Dingling
According to the regulations, the emperor's tomb can be built nine feet high, and the tomb of the common people is called "grave", which is limited to three feet, and the tombs of other ministers also have specification restrictions and cannot be easily surpassed.
Map of the distribution of the Ming Tombs
After the Han Dynasty, almost every emperor's mausoleum had a title. For example, the mausoleum of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty is called "Mao Ling", and the mausoleum of Li Shimin of Tang Taizong is called "ZhaoLing". There are also those who did not become emperors before their deaths, because their descendants became emperors, and after their deaths, they were posthumously honored as emperors, and their tombs were also called "tombs". For example, after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he posthumously honored his father Zhu Shizhen as Emperor Chun and established the temple as Renzu, and built the original tomb of Fengyang in Anhui as an imperial mausoleum; posthumously honored his grandfather Zhu Chuyi as Emperor Yu and the temple number as Xizu; posthumously honored his great-grandfather Zhu Sijiu as Emperor Heng and established the temple as Yizu; posthumously honored his great-grandfather Zhu Bailiu as Emperor Xuan, with the temple number being Dezu; indie and Yi'erzu's burial site is unknown, so the tomb where Xizu Jiangsu was buried with three ancestral empresses was crowned, and the tomb where the three were buried together was called Zuling.
Shinto before the Ming Tombs
Another example is that Sima Yan, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, became emperor for usurping the Wei regime, and posthumously honored his grandfather Sima Yi as Emperor Taizuxuan, and the tomb was called GaoyuanLing; his uncle Sima Shi was posthumously honored as Emperor Sejongjing, and the tomb was called JunpingLing; and his father Sima Zhao was posthumously honored as Emperor Taizuwen, and the tomb was called Chongyang Mausoleum. And this kind of posthumous situation has almost been experienced by successive dynasties.