With the founding of New China, the ancient feudal dynastic system has also become a thing of the past. Among them, the system of "profession" of tomb keepers no longer exists.
However, there are always some loyal people who still follow the traditions of the previous generation and stick to their posts in obscurity.
Qin Guoan is known as the last imperial tomb keeper, and the ruins of Tangya Tusi City that he guarded are the imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty. However, the Qing Dynasty has been destroyed for more than a hundred years, why is he still struggling to hold on? With only a salary of 1200 yuan a year, who will pay him this money?
Qin Guoan was born in Xianfeng County, Hubei Province, and since the end of the Yuan Dynasty, his ancestors have been the keepers of the ruins of Tangya Tusi City in Enshi, Hubei Province, and it is said that he has been the twenty-third generation of guardians of Qin Guoan.
For people now, land resources are in urgent need, and the measure of the state to vigorously develop public cemeteries has been accepted by more and more people, so for the profession of tomb keepers, most of them are still strange.
However, tomb keepers are not unique today, as early as ancient times, there has been such a profession, and this profession is often a lifelong appointment system. In China's feudal dynasty, not everyone can have the treatment of a tomb keeper after death, and often only people with a certain status have the qualifications to guard the tomb.
Since ancient times, the emperors have always attached the most importance to their royal identity and face, so they will choose a separate site to build a royal mausoleum for the majesty of the royal family, and often build it in advance.
Because the royal family will have a special amount of valuable treasures such as gold and silver jewelry to accompany the burial, it will also attract some tomb robbers, so as to enjoy a life of unearned gain.
Therefore, the royal tomb will also be equipped with the corresponding royal tomb keeper, the main purpose is actually to prevent these tomb robbers from stealing.
The royal tomb keepers are very different from the tomb keepers of ordinary nobles, and the tomb keepers of ordinary nobles are far inferior to the royal tomb keepers in terms of status, remuneration and reputation.
The fate of the tomb keepers
Now, most of us may think that tomb keepers are a humble profession. However, in the past, the tomb keepers were mysterious, and most of them had a high status.
Ordinary tomb keepers may be just one person, while the tomb keepers of royal cemeteries are often a village or a family.
Once selected, the tomb keepers usually spend the rest of their lives at the site of the tomb, and their descendants will assume the responsibility of guarding the tomb for generations. Their source of income also depended mainly on the rich money given by the royal family.
Most of the locations of the imperial tombs will choose to be built in a secluded place in the mountains, so the royal tomb keepers will basically live a life of incognito, trapped in this place for a lifetime.
Most of the tomb keepers are distant relatives of the imperial family, some people for their own faith, some people also in order to survive, they all voluntarily dedicate their lives to guard the imperial tomb.
Because the tomb keepers not only have to maintain the safety of the imperial tomb, but also often hold ceremonies such as sacrifices, so around the imperial tomb, they will also build shelters for the tomb keepers to facilitate their position work.
These people basically mean imperial power in the local area, not only have a lofty political status, but also hold a rich salary, which can be said to be worry-free.
Ancient emperors often associated the address of the mausoleum with the national fortunes of their own countries, and during the Qing Dynasty, the emperor's mausoleum was also built without custom, and strict institutional norms were formulated.
In the Qing Dynasty, the tomb keepers even enjoyed the preferential treatment of the children of the imperial family. At that time, the system stipulated that after the construction of the royal mausoleum, the eight banner disciples in the three banners of the Manchu people could guard the tomb for the imperial family. According to their positions and official ranks, the imperial court would give them corresponding monthly salaries every month.
At that time, the Qing Dynasty gave them a very high social status, as well as a generous remuneration, and also arranged a separate house for the tomb keepers to live in, and the job of keeping the tombs was relatively idle, so they would be loyal to their duties.
From the perspective of position, the social status of the tomb keepers can still have the royal prestige, and the officials of the Qing Dynasty who guard the tombs are as high as the official positions of Zheng Sanpin.
In addition to guarding the tomb robbers and holding sacrifices, the tomb keeper is also responsible for guarding the internal affairs and etiquette in the cemetery, including some maintenance work, and each tomb keeper has a clear division of labor.
Some of the Eight Banners disciples who were elected as tomb keepers were punished to guard the mausoleum, and some members of the royal family were directly sent to the cemetery as guardian ministers.
At that time, the Imperial Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty, which was built in Tusi City, covered an area of more than 700,000 square meters.
However, with the decline and fall of the Qing Dynasty, food and clothing became a dream for the tomb keepers of the ruins of Tusi City, and their Feng Lu was directly ordered by the imperial court to be halved.
Without the rich fenglu of the imperial court, the life of the tomb keepers of Tusi City was greatly affected. However, even so, the tomb keepers here are still loyal to their duties and diligently guard this large area of land.
Later, with the establishment of the Republic of China, the source of livelihood for these tomb keepers depended on the salaries paid by the Republic of China government.
But salaries are often not paid on time, and the lives of tomb keepers become more difficult.
By 1924, the Republic of China government began to allocate land, allowing these tomb keepers to make a living from farming.
Some people have no way to adapt to the life of cultivated land, so they choose to leave here and go outside to find a way out.
But there are also some people who stay here and earn a living on their own hands, and have since become ordinary local farmers.
After 2000, many of the royal tombs of the Qing Dynasty have become famous tourist attractions. In the past, the tomb keepers also seized the opportunity to show the local folk characteristics to tourists, so as to get paid accordingly. The ruins of Tangya Toast City are also one of them.
Ruins of Tangya Toast City
The ruins of Tangya Toast City are located in Tangya Town, Enshi, Hubei Province, and have been inhabited by Tujia people since ancient times. Many of these streets and alleys have also made it a political and cultural center for the Tujia people, and once had a splendid history of nearly four hundred years.
At its peak, Toast City even had more than thirty courtyards and many laneways. From the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it was ruled by the Mushroom clan.
However, with the development of the times, the prosperity of the past has long gone, and most of the buildings in the city have disappeared, leaving only a small part, but most of them are also upside down and collapsed.
However, fortunately, with the careful protection of the descendants of the Qin clan, the royal tomb in Tusi City was basically not damaged. Through these buildings, you can still see the prosperity of this land.
In 2006, the ruins of Toast City have been listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit, and it is also considered to be the most representative toast site in the southwest region. The state will also pay Qin Guoan a salary of 1,200 yuan per year.
According to Qin Guoan's recollection, although such a long time has passed and the system of feudal dynasties no longer exists, there will still be many scholars who will come to try to open up this past history and understand the prosperity of that period.
Qin Guoan said that he once had a family tree in his home, but he was "borrowed" and said that it was "borrowed", but he has not returned it until now.
However, Qin Guoan was unwilling to watch the glory of his former family being annihilated, and he still insisted on his post, watching the flowers and trees in the cemetery and cleaning up the weeds in it.
Thanks to their dedication to duty, people today can still see the exquisite toast culture. Not only is the interior decoration eye-catching, but their profound carving skills and aesthetic art are also a treasure of human culture.
It is precisely because of the careful carving of ancient craftsmen and the careful protection of generations of toast tomb keepers that the ruins of Toast City are well preserved, so it is of great significance to the study of this period of history and the study of tomb culture.
Therefore, at the national level, it will certainly be listed as a priority object of protection, and preparations will begin to apply for heritage.
Qin Guoan's home is only a few minutes away from the site, and when the country is preparing to apply for the heritage, others are preparing to move out, and only a few old houses are left, and Qin Guoan's family is listed among them.
Successful application
In the past, in addition to the salary of 1200 yuan given by the state every year, Qin Guoan would also get some additional income, that is, if someone wanted to enter the mausoleum to visit and visit, he would symbolically give Qin Guoan a few yuan as a hard fee for cleaning the imperial tomb.
In 2015, the ruins of Toast City were officially added to the World Heritage List and further protected. This also means that Qin Guoan is no longer qualified to continue to guard the royal mausoleum of the mausoleum, and he became the last royal tomb keeper.
Since then, Qin Guoan has moved his family to the town, and at the same time, there is no stable economic income, and he and his wife can only rely on part-time work to survive.
Qin Guoan's daughter has been married and has children, but his son has been with his father since he was a child, and it is no accident that this will also be his life's career. However, with the successful application for the ruins of Toast City, his son will also face the dilemma of unemployment.
What was once a family inheritance has now become a thing of the past. But for the Mushroom Guohua family, this is not only a family glory, but also a responsibility and responsibility, and it is also the main source of their family's economy.
They have a strong affection for the job, so the Heritage Protection Authority has also said that it will give them the opportunity to re-employ and provide them with a more suitable job in the future, depending on the development of the mausoleum in tourism, so that they can return here as much as possible.
The prosperity and glory of the past have long ceased to exist with the torrent of the times, but this perseverance has always been deeply rooted in the hearts of Mushroom Guohua and his family.
In the past, they stuck to their posts in obscurity, but now they have received widespread attention because of the successful application for the national heritage, and they have also touched the hearts of the Chinese people.
Many people feel that in modern society, to inherit the tomb keeping system of the previous generation is undoubtedly to waste this life. However, none of us are imperial tomb keepers, nor have we experienced the rise and fall of his family, and we cannot appreciate the feeling that we are destined to spend our lives here from birth, so we are not qualified to judge. Perhaps in Qin Guohua's heart, he would still silently guard this glory and remember this responsibility in his heart.