In the ancient feudal society, each emperor would build a large-scale mausoleum for himself in front of him to show his dignity, such as the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, the Ming Tombs and so on. In order to prevent the tomb from being destroyed, the imperial tombs have been specially guarded by people in previous dynasties, and such people are also called "tomb keepers".
The tomb keeper system originated in the Shang Dynasty for more than 3,000 years, and ended with the end of the feudal society of the Qing Dynasty, and the people responsible for this task were generally the royal relatives and nobles who were not valued. After receiving the task of guarding the tomb, these people will move to live near the imperial tomb, and the father will pass on the son, the son to the grandchild, and the generations will be passed on, and the number will increase after a long time, and gradually form a special village.
Don't think that the tomb keepers are far away from us, in fact, there are still many tomb keepers in life, such as the Qing Dynasty tomb keepers. The Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in China's ancient history, established in 1636, overthrown in 1912, a total of 296 years, experienced 12 emperors, in addition to the Qing Taizu NurHaci, Qing Taizong Emperor Taiji buried in Guan, the last emperor Puyi did not have a mausoleum, the remaining 9 emperors have tombs in the Central Plains.
The Qing Emperor's Mausoleum is located in Zunhua City and Yi County, Hebei Province, each one hundred miles away from the east and west of Beijing city, so it is called "Qing Dong Ling" and "Qing Xi Mausoleum", covering an area of about 2500 square kilometers, which is one of the large-scale and perfectly built imperial tombs in China.
It is reported that most of the Qing Dynasty's mission to guard the tombs were the descendants of the Fallen Eight Banners, or the courtiers who made major mistakes. These people were often assigned to the vicinity of the imperial tomb, for generations to guard the tomb, these people in addition to the annual rich Feng Lu, the Kangxi period also specialized in the prime minister Yamen, the tomb keeper also became a special department of the Qing Dynasty, and their descendants can enjoy the treatment of 7 pin officials.
In addition, the Qing government also established a school in the gathering place of the tomb keepers to facilitate the descendants of the tomb keepers to go to school, in addition to learning a lot of knowledge related to sacrifice, and when they became adults, they would take over their fathers and be responsible for guarding the imperial tomb. It is reported that at most, the number of Qing Dynasty tomb guards exceeded 3,000, and these people settled near the imperial tombs, and over time they formed stable villages, some of which are still there, such as Yongling Town in Liaoning Province.
In 1912, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi, announced his abdication, but as a condition, the Republic of China government needed to provide necessary expenses for those who guarded the imperial tomb, of course, the treatment was much worse than before, so many of the tomb keepers were unwilling to continue to keep it, some of them sought another high, and some of them even stole a lot of funerary goods from the imperial tomb to escape, leaving only a very small number of people who were loyal to the Qing Dynasty royal family to insist.
Later, after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there were fewer and fewer people guarding the tombs of the Qing Emperor, but there were always people, and until now, a small number of people still remember the ancestral precepts and spontaneously undertake the task of guarding the tombs, which is a responsibility passed down from generation to generation for them, and it is also a kind of faith.
China is a country that attaches great importance to ancestors, and in ancient times, whether it was ordinary people, dignitaries and dignitaries, and even relatives of the emperor and the state would worship their ancestors. And the emperor's mausoleum is more important, the emperors of the past dynasties began to build a large-scale mausoleum when they were alive, in order to protect their own mausoleums, they also arranged for people to protect, these people are the so-called "tomb keepers". Most of the tomb keepers scrupulously fulfill their duties, taking the tomb keepers of the Qing Dynasty as an example, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, they still insisted on guarding the tomb, which is really admirable.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu Qing, who lived in the northeast, began to rise, and taking advantage of Li Zicheng's uprising, the Manchu Qing, led by the traitor Wu Sangui, invaded Guannei and cleared the obstacles to establish a unified dynasty. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the tombs of the ancestors remained in the northeast, and in order to protect the tombs of the ancestors, the emperor arranged many people to protect them. Don't think that keeping the tomb is a chore, in the Qing Dynasty, it is a very high honor to be able to guard the tomb of the emperor, and the tomb keepers and descendants can get very high treatment!
In 1606, the Qingyong Mausoleum was completed, and the mausoleum itself cost countless silver, which was already very magnificent, and in order to show the royal style, the Qing Emperor sent more than 3,000 people to stay there to guard the tomb! The northeast has always been regarded by the Manchu Qing dynasty as the land of Longxing, and successive Qing emperors have also attached great importance to Yongling, and the Kangxi Emperor has set up a prime minister yamen in Yongling to be responsible for the daily affairs of the imperial tomb. Keeping the tomb is not a simple thing, ancient China attached great importance to the etiquette norms, the wine and meat used for the imperial tomb sacrifice are specially prepared, which is also the duty of the tomb keeper! The tomb keepers usually need to brew wine, grow grain, and raise cattle and sheep for sacrifice, and it is precisely because the tomb keepers are so complicated that the emperor sent more than 3,000 people!
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Manchu Qing Emperor wanted to be buried in his hometown in the northeast after his death, but Beijing was some distance away from the northeast, and the remains were already rotten after death to the northeast under the conditions at that time! In the end, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty decided to bury himself in Guannei and built a huge Qingxi Mausoleum, which not only buried the emperor, but also concubines, and the number of tomb keepers was even greater! These tomb keepers worked very hard in the imperial tomb, and the emperor gave them very good treatment in exchange for their loyalty. In the historical records, the highest position of the tomb keeper was an official who had served as a Zhengsanpin. As soon as the children of the tomb keepers are born, they can obtain the title of seven pins, and they can also get a house, and the tomb keepers will naturally work harder to be grateful to the emperor, and the emperors are also well aware of this truth, and there is no ambiguity in the treatment of the tomb keepers!
According to records, the Bai family, the nursing mother of Princess Shuoduanjing, received two thousand taels of silver from the Qing court every year, and the children were born with seven or two pieces of silver, and the nearby land was also leased to the locals by the Manchus who guarded the tomb. According to statistics, in the three years of Qianlong, the monthly salary of these tomb keepers reached 28,000 taels, and more than 4,000 stones of rice stones per month. It can be seen that the life of the tomb keepers during the Qing Dynasty was quite rich.
After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the tomb keepers lost their source of livelihood, and some directly found another way out, and some still conscientiously guarded the imperial tomb. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese army invaded the Qingxi Mausoleum, and an elderly tomb keeper went to the meeting with a single knife to personally negotiate with the Japanese army, and after listening to his words, the Japanese devils actually gave up attacking the imperial tomb! As for what the elderly tomb keeper said, we don't know!