As we all know, the Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in China, after which China entered a new era.
Historically, especially under the patriarchal society, the ancestral grave land is related to the development of future generations, so whether it is from the high-ranking officials and nobles to the people of Li, they have attached great importance to the ancestral land.
As the royal family of the feudal dynasty, they paid more attention to the construction of the mausoleum and the protection.
Guarding the mausoleum not only guards the family 'feng shui', but also protects their last pure land with a heart of admiration for the ancestors and the virtue of gratitude.
Moreover, under the ancient burial system, the imperial tomb has undoubtedly become a "fragrant feast" in the eyes of tomb robbers, so it is imperative to arrange for the tomb keepers.
So now that the Qing Dynasty has been dead for a hundred years, there is no oppression of imperial power, and there is no Qing Dynasty's Feng Lu, why is there still a tomb keeper in the imperial tomb.
Who are they, why do they stick to it, and where does their income come from?
Imperial Tomb of the Qing Dynasty
The imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty are divided into Guannei and "Three Tombs outside Guanwai".
Strictly speaking, the "Three Tombs of Guanwai" is the real ancestral tomb of the Qing Dynasty, and before entering the Central Plains, the emperor and his concubines who died in the royal family were buried here.
The main cemeteries are the Qingyong Mausoleum, the Qingfu Mausoleum, the Qingzhao Mausoleum and the Qingtong Tomb, of which the famous Nurhaci is buried in the Qingfu Mausoleum.
After the Qing army entered the customs, the "Guanwai Mausoleum" was too far away, so it was decided to rebuild the royal mausoleum, and finally selected Zunhua City and Yi County in Hebei.
The scale of the construction of the cemetery is huge, and because it is located in the east and west of Beijing for 100 miles, it is called "Qing DongLing" and "Qing Xi Mausoleum".
The pavilions, monuments and palaces in the park are interspersed, magnificent, and full of royal style.
Later, the imperial tombs of the Great Qing Dynasty refer to the imperial tombs of Guannei.
The imperial tomb was built in 1661 and took 247 years to complete, which is a huge project, time-consuming and costly.
In this imperial mausoleum, a total of nine Qing emperors except Puyi were buried, as well as fourteen empresses and one hundred and thirty-six concubines.
Such a huge imperial tomb, and the jewelry and rare treasures in the mausoleum are countless, naturally need to arrange people to guard, that is, we call the tomb keepers.
Guardian of the Imperial Tomb
Qing Dynasty tomb keepers are not anyone can do it, after all, the "imperial tomb" is related to the royal face, coupled with ancient feudal superstitions, thinking that the imperial tomb is the dragon vein, guarding their political stability, coupled with the rich funerary goods in the garden, a little carelessness will cause chaos.
Therefore, it must be a loyal and trustworthy person to act as a tomb keeper.
Therefore, the tomb keepers must be selected from the royal family and the eight banners, and for the selected tomb keepers, it is not a "punishment", but a "glory".
In ancient times, ghosts and gods were also respected by ancestors, and the emperors who had died were even more people they admired, because guarding the emperors of previous dynasties and guarding the dignity of the royal family was a kind of glory for them.
There are three main types of tomb keepers, one is the tomb keeper directly appointed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, one is the guardian of the tomb selected by the Eight Banners, and the other is the guardian of the tomb appointed by the emperor himself.
Compared with the first two types, the last type of ministers is really forced away from the center of political power, and most of the ministers who have lost their wives or made mistakes and have been "degraded" are more helpless.
In addition to the third type of guardian ministers, the other two types of tomb keepers, although far from the center of political power, far away from the lively capital, live a "secluded" life, but their life is much more moist than we think.
Ordinary tomb keepers not only have high positions and rich salaries, but their families are also properly placed by the government.
These two types of tomb keepers are basically hereditary ranks, equivalent to their children having a certain job position as soon as they are born.
Not only does it continuously inject new blood into the guardianship of the imperial tomb, but also allows these tomb keepers not to worry about the future development of the family, let alone worry about the work of their children.
The work of the tomb keeper is complicated and varied, not only as the guardian of the cemetery, but also to take care of all the things in the cemetery, including sacrifices, maintenance and so on.
Where did the tomb keepers go after the fall of the Qing Dynasty
The tomb keepers who guarded such an iron rice bowl were already accustomed to this kind of day after year, day after day, as long as they waited for the government's lulu.
But who knows that this kind of stable day, with the decline of the Qing Dynasty, is gradually coming to an end.
In the late Qing Dynasty, due to the corruption of the Qing government, the emptiness of the national treasury, and the invasion of foreign powers, the government was still in no way to preserve, and everyone was in danger, so naturally they would not pay too much attention to these people, far from the center of power.
Therefore, the treatment of the tomb keepers since the late Qing Dynasty was reduced again and again, until the qing government collapsed, they were no longer left unattended, and the source of income was eliminated.
When Puyi first abdicated, the Government of the Republic of China promulgated regulations on preferential treatment of the imperial family in order to stabilize people's hearts and minds, including the regulations on the management of the imperial tomb.
However, the way the Republic of China government managed the imperial tomb was to directly assign a team to guard the imperial tomb, and this group of soldiers was paid by the Republic of China government, while the original Qing government tomb keepers were still managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
However, the Qing government was dead, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was naturally gradually abolished, and the tomb keepers had no source of income.
The tomb keepers left the cemetery one after another to find another way to make a living, and only a few people with respect and respect for their ancestors voluntarily stayed behind and stuck to their posts, guarding the imperial tomb for generations.
However, even with the voluntary remaining tomb keepers, coupled with the escort soldiers arranged by the Republic of China government, the imperial tomb was inevitably looted in the era of war and chaos.
The period from 1924 to 1928 was the time when the imperial tomb was completely destroyed.
In the past four years, not only have some tomb keepers and ministers who are familiar with the cemetery guarding and stealing themselves, but also reselling countless cemetery treasures, but also there are arbitrary "bandits" who blatantly loot the cemetery.
The most famous "robbery of the imperial tomb" is Sun Dianying, when he directly led the army, broke into the mausoleum, and in a rough way, directly excavated the tombs of Qianlong and Cixi, stole countless treasures, and suffered heavy losses in the cemetery.
After Sun Dianying, the Japanese army also targeted the Qing Emperor's Mausoleum and sent a team to go, when one of the older people in the tomb was responsible for negotiations, I don't know how they talked specifically, in short, in the end, the Japanese army let go of the cemetery and went directly.
The imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty can also be regarded as well preserved, although the treasures have been robbed and stolen countless times, but the tomb keepers still dutifully take care of and repair them.
epilogue
The imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty can be described as many disasters and difficulties, and the imperial tomb keepers have paid a lot, and under their efforts, although the imperial tombs have lived up to the glory of the year, they have also maintained its dignity as much as possible.
And these hard-working and high-ranking tomb keepers who always insisted on staying were either descendants of the Eight Banners or descendants of Qing officials, and even if there was no source of income, they still followed their ancestral wishes to guard this place.
Nowadays, most of the tomb keepers can get a meager living subsidy from the local cultural relics department, but most of them rely on their own development of local characteristic industries, such as tourism, farmhouses, etc.
A hundred years of inheritance is also a hundred years of turmoil, and they are willing to endure for many years because of a promise and a faith, and this firm belief is worthy of admiration.