In the process of moving from slave society to feudal society in ancient times, not only the social system was changing, but the funeral system was constantly updating new contents, as the beginning of the feudal dynasty of the mainland - the Qin and Han dynasties.
I. The understanding of funeral rites and the development of burial chambers that progressed with the continuous development of the social system during the Qin and Han dynasties
1. Before the Qin and Han dynasties, human beings had different behaviors in burying the dead with the development of society
People in primitive society did not have a clear understanding of life and death, and people at that time did not think that death was a matter of grief, nor was it worth fearing because of the fear of death, so there would be no excessive solemn burial of the dead, which can be seen from the murals and other cultural relics that have been excavated, and people at that time even had a warm and cheerful act for death.
It was not until the Zhou Dynasty that people began to realize that human death was a solemn thing, but there was still no emotion of grief, and people at that time generally believed that although man's body died, his soul still existed in the world, and it could still affect the life of the living, which forced the living to have the idea that everything in the world has a soul.
With the development of society, society began to have a hierarchical concept of dignity and inferiority, a preliminary view of the good and evil of the soul, and a reverence for the soul of the deceased, so the initial funeral ceremony appeared, thus beginning to consciously think about the disposal of the body of the deceased, and with the emergence of the idea of hoping that the deceased soul could protect himself and his family, the ceremony of burying the deceased became more and more standardized.
2. Changes in the funeral chamber caused by the continuous evolution of various systems between primitive society and the Qin and Han dynasties
First, everything that people lived in primitive societies came from nature, including the caves where they lived and the food they ate and drank, and the most important thing for people at that time was that they had something to eat and a place to sleep every day. Therefore, there is not much attention paid to the burial of the deceased, and there is no special tomb or burial chamber.
But as people began to make and use tools, social productivity has developed slightly, after the problem of eating and wearing is solved, they began to think about other problems, after having a preliminary understanding of the soul of the deceased, the handling of the corpse of the deceased has also changed, and began to consciously bury these corpses, which is the initial funeral burial chamber.
Second, after the pre-Qin period, society also entered the slave society, in this period, the society began to have the emergence of opposing classes, that is, slaves and slave owners, the development of social hierarchy, bringing about the gradual differentiation between nobles and commoners, Xia Shang Zhou period of different classes of people after death, the tomb began to have a difference, although the mainstream tombs at that time are rectangular vertical pit tombs, but the most obvious point is the size of the tomb, only nobles and other high-class people can use large and medium-sized burial chambers, Commoners such as slaves waited to use small burial chambers.
And only the upper class can use the wooden coffin; the tombs of the Shang Dynasty and the Western Zhou Dynasty basically inherit the style of the previous dynasty, but the tombs of royals such as Tianzi are even larger, including tomb passages, steps, the main chamber where coffins are placed, the ear chamber where funerary products are placed, etc. The tombs of the royal family and nobles have become more complex and luxurious, and in the later period, the shape of the tombs has begun to change more, but they are strictly followed according to the identity and status of the deceased to build the tombs.
Third, in the Qin and Han dynasties, the development of society has made great progress, the country has a situation of great unification, and there have been unified requirements for the social etiquette system, among which there has been further development for tombs, and the tombs of the Qin and Han dynasties have basically inherited the style of the previous dynasty, but at that time the social productive forces have made great progress, and the construction of tombs has been more exquisite.
During the Western Han Dynasty, the cliff cave tombs and vertical cave cave tombs built by digging mountains were popular in the upper class, and the construction style of the tombs was more diverse, and in some of the tombs, there were also portraits, such a phenomenon showed that people at that time had a huge development of the concept of life and death, and began to linger on the noble status and rich life of the real world, and the portrait phenomenon in this tomb well reflected the people's views on the concept of life and death at that time.
Second, the funerary products in funerals that have gradually increased with the development of social productive forces since the primitive society to the Qin and Han dynasties
First, because primitive human beings regard the soul of the deceased as incapable of dissipation, and always firmly believe that such a deceased person is still alive in the world in a way that they think they are, when burying the deceased, some daily necessities and so on will also be buried, such as some clay pots and bowls, in order to hope that the deceased has a better life, limited by social productivity, and the funerary products at that time were mostly some production tools such as grinding stone tools.
Second, in the Xia Shang Zhou period, the social productive forces at that time had a lot of development, and the Stone Age was also developing towards the Bronze Age, so in this period, people's funerary products were mostly some bronze products, but such funerary products only appeared in the tombs of the upper class, and there were still only a small number of clay products or even no funerary products in the tombs of slaves and civilians;
Later, during the chaotic period of the Warring States, the hierarchical system was also destroyed, with the promotion of iron production tools, social productivity has been further developed, the types of burial varieties in the tombs of royal nobles have gradually increased, and ordinary people have also begun to place funerary goods in the tombs of the deceased. Moreover, with the different regions, the types of funerary products in the tomb are also special colors, some places have many weapons funerary products, some regional life funerary products are more, and the quality and quantity of funerary products in various places are also different.
Third, after the period of unification of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the funerary products have changed again, the most famous of which is the Qin Dynasty Terracotta Warriors and Horses, which are also gradually reflecting people's views on life and death at that time, hoping that after death, they can still have a very high status; and in addition to some common funerary products in the Han Dynasty, silk technology has been greatly developed because of the opening of the Silk Road, thus making silk clothing and other products gradually become important funerary products.
In addition, a large number of copper coins and currency and grain and fruits were also placed in the tomb, hoping to let the deceased live a rich life after death, and after solving the survival problem of the deceased, they began to use some items such as piano, chess, calligraphy and painting as funerary items for their cultural entertainment in the afterlife world.
Third, from the funeral customs that gradually developed during the Qin and Han dynasties, the views on life and death in that era were obtained
1. During the Qin and Han dynasties, due to the social atmosphere at that time, it had different influences on funeral customs
Funerals for people in ancient times, because of the various restrictions of the times, so that funerals have been extremely simple, but after the Qin and Han Dynasties, due to the development of social productive forces and the continuous progress of social systems, people are more vigorously advocating filial piety culture, coupled with people's views on the concept of the soul and the pursuit of immortal social customs at this time, making people pay more attention to the solemnity of funerals, and thus the funeral customs of thick burials were born. That is, to bury the deceased with very large mausoleums and rich funerary items.
This social atmosphere has also greatly cost social wealth and caused many undesirable social extravagant atmospheres. The opposite is the idea of thin burial, which holds that the soul of a person after death cannot affect the development of future generations and society, and it is meaningless to waste money and money to hold a thick burial, advocating a simple burial view of returning to nature after death.
2. From the thin burial and thick burial in the Qin and Han Dynasties, people's cognition and concept of life and death at that time were derived
With the unification of the Qin and Han dynasties, the rulers of the country began to pursue immortality, and from the extremely solemn funerals at that time, especially the terracotta warriors and other funerary items in the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, it can be seen that people at that time were full of reluctance and nostalgia for the noble status and life before they died. As early as the pre-Qin period, people constantly discussed life and death, and death was gradually regarded as an inevitable part of life.
However, people still believe that the soul and the body can live separately, and hope to make their souls have a good life after death through funerals, which is a deep belief in the concept of soul immortality, but it is not difficult to find from the promotion of thin burial, and some people have a negative attitude towards the survival of the soul after death.
IV. Conclusion
Life and death are two situations that a person must experience, compared with life, death has a more important meaning for a person, and funerals, as an important ritual after death, have been given various meanings since ancient times, including the remembrance of ancestors, as well as the hope and blessing of current life. In the ever-evolving funeral rites, the ancients' incessant discussion of life and death, from the theory of the immortality of the soul to today's scientific explanation of the soul, which includes the efforts of generations of people.