The Terracotta Warriors and Horses of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin have been praised by the world, but how many people can remember that the "initiator" is a criticism of the Qin State. The magnificent bronzes of the Shang Dynasty were constantly studied and exhibited, and the patterns on the bronzes were also explained and praised again and again. But few people seem to focus on the ornaments that illustrate the scenes of martyrdom.
There are two main reasons for this, one is that the burial ornaments are beyond reproach, and the other is that the fit between the martyrdom ornaments and contemporary culture is not high.
Let's talk about the funeral ornament itself. We know that during the Shang Dynasty, ghost and god culture prevailed. It is precisely because we have to ask God about major national events that we have seen a large number of oracle bones today. At that time, the Shang Dynasty was still in a slave society, the level of social development was low, and the culture was not yet developed. Merchants at that time believed that after death, the soul of a person still lives in another world. The "people" of that world live no differently from the world. Thus, when the nobles died, in order to continue their relatively luxurious lives, they needed his servants to "travel" to that world with him. The system of martyrdom came into being.
There is no doubt that the system of burial is cruel. In the Shang Dynasty tombs excavated in Anyang, Henan, a skeleton with its head cut off and placed aside was found; the hand was tied behind the back, and the skeleton with obvious signs of struggle was found. Looking at the entire tomb, some of the skeletons are placed next to the carriage, implying that these people are slaves driving; some people have dog bones around the skeleton, which means that these people are slaves who keep dogs; and some people have swords on the side of the skeleton, indicating that they are slaves who serve as samurai.
In the eyes of people at that time, this was a common social culture. Today, from a contemporary perspective, martyrdom is a bloody, inhumane act. But in the older antiquity, not only in China, but also in the Everbright region of Latin America, there was also a system of martyrdom. Some people in ancient times even had the understanding that martyrdom was glorious.
Looking back today, we should not overly criticize this practice of the ancients. We stand in different era backgrounds, and naturally have different understandings. The burial system naturally had its value in the Shang Dynasty, and we did not overly criticize it, but we did not praise it much, so it was put aside.
In contemporary times, culture is far more developed than in the Shang Dynasty. Now that we emphasize human rights and oppose bloodshed, it is difficult for us to accept such a backward system of martyrdom.
In this era of peace, such a method of martyrdom is not advocated. As a result, the system lost many opportunities to play.
And we also said earlier that the cultural basis behind the burial system is the culture of ghosts and gods. Although we have different beliefs or concepts today, ghosts and gods are no longer the focus of life for most of us. Therefore, many people in contemporary times cannot actually accept or understand the culture of martyrdom.
People are not interested, and naturally not many people are willing to mention it. In time, researchers occasionally turned out these ornaments, and they were not much welcome. Finally, under such a little alienation, the funeral ornaments on the bronzes of the Shang Dynasty were covered with more and more dust.
Some say that history never changes because of our lack of attention. The burial ornaments on those bronzes, which we see or don't see, are all there. The stories relayed by the bronzes, whether we listen or not, will not disappear.