The system of martyrdom originated in the period of ancient slave societies, and this cruel system has existed for thousands of years. The rulers at that time believed that they should also enjoy the treatment of life after death, so in their tombs, in addition to putting their favorite daily necessities and a large number of gold and silver jewelry, they also demanded that after their deaths, they needed the service of people around them, so that people could be buried for themselves.
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We can see such a scene in many film and television dramas, when the emperor died, many concubines and slaves were sent to the imperial tomb for burial, and people's cries and pleadings along the way were continuous, and the scene was very tragic.
In fact, in ancient times, the emperors used human martyrdom to be divided into two types, one is the burial of the living, and the other is the burial of the dead.
As the name suggests, the burial of the dead is to kill the heat and then bury it in the mausoleum. Although this method is also cruel, it is far from the case of a living person being buried.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, the system of martyrdom was still very popular, and at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the King of the State of Wu built a very large mausoleum for his daughter, put a large number of jewels in the tomb, and on the day of burial, attracted tens of thousands of people to watch. So he ordered all the people to be imprisoned in tombs and buried alive for the burial of their daughters.
It is said that at that time, the cries and cries of the people continued to disappear after four days, so it can be seen from this that the living can live for about four days after entering the cemetery, of course, this statement may be a bit exaggerated. However, this may also be because the scale of the mausoleum is relatively large and the oxygen is relatively sufficient. If the tomb is small, people can generally only live for a few hours at most, but during this time, the fear in people's hearts will be infinitely magnified, and the despair in the hearts of the martyred can be imagined.
In fact, in ancient times, the number of martyrs was also exquisite, and it was recorded in the "Mozi":
This kind of living burial gradually disappeared after the Qin and Han Dynasties, and Qin Shi Huang used a dummy burial made of pottery figurines, which may have a lot to do with the rapid decline in population at that time after years of war. However, from another point of view, Qin Shi Huang was not so cruel and unkind.
However, during the Song Dynasty, jin liao restored this decadent system, and there was also a phenomenon of living burial. In the Ming Dynasty, the living martyrdom was recreated by Zhu Yuanzhang and moved out. According to records, starting from Zhu Yuanzhang, a total of hundreds of concubines were martyred. The concubines who were martyred were usually given to Bai Aya and hanged themselves. Another way is to first stun the living person with medicine, and then open the head to fill it with mercury, so as to retain the appearance of the mourner for a long time, when Zhu Yuanzhang took this way to make the concubines martyred.
This system of martyrdom was not abolished until the time of Emperor Ming Yingzong. However, in the early qing dynasty, there were still people who followed the tradition of living burial, and it was not until the Kangxi Emperor that the official edict was abolished, and the cruel living burial system that existed for thousands of years really ended.
There is no distinction between human life and lowliness, and everyone has the right to survive. With the continuous development of science and technology and the change of people's perception of the world, the absurd phenomenon of martyrdom will eventually be spurned by future generations.