Zhao Tingyin was a man of the Five Dynasties period, who assisted Ming Jun in founding The Later Shu and became a founding hero.
At first, Zhao Tingyin was only a general of Later Liang, and later, he followed Meng Zhixiang into Xichuan, because the leader of the army was promoted to the commander of the infantry. In the first year of Changxing, Zhao Tingyin led his troops to occupy Jianzhou, blocking Shi Jingyao's march and protecting Xichuan. Not long after, Zhao Tingyin broke Dong Zhang's army and invaded Zizhou, finding a breakthrough for the army's eastward advance. Subsequently, Zhao Tingyin successively captured the five prefectures and counties of Lang, Guo, Peng, Qu, and Kai. Later, he was promoted by Meng Zhixiang to the deputy commander of the army. Guangzheng died in the thirteenth year (950) and was given the nickname "Chungmu".
At the end of 2011, in Qinglong Village, Shiling Town, Longquanyi District, Chengdu, people were surveying the area to see if there were any historical relics. A road to the outside world will be built here, and people need to judge in advance whether construction can be started here. Unexpectedly, they really found a historical relic, which was an ancient tomb left by Later Shu.
Archaeologists then came here to carry out excavation work, and five months later, they saw an ancient tomb sitting west to east, with an area of more than 500 square meters, revealed. After that, the antiquities and archaeology team began to go underground to explore the tomb. They walked down the steps, past the cemetery, and came to a tomb door. The tomb door is made of tall brick tiles with many exquisite patterns, including clouds, painted patterns, etc.
Open the tomb door and inside is the burial chamber of the deceased. The burial chamber is fifteen meters long and eighteen meters wide, and the walls are painted in color. Although these murals are old, they can still make out the content of their paintings, including phoenixes, mandarin ducks, white clouds, and portraits of people. The layout of the burial chamber is similar to the "three rooms and one hall" of the house, with a main chamber in the middle, two ear chambers and a rear chamber.
The main room is mainly to house the coffin of the master, and a coffin is built in the center; the ear room and the back room mainly display some funerary items, and there are many types of funerary items. At the entrance of the ear chamber on the right are two terracotta warrior figurines, which are only 1.4 meters tall, and the samurai's hat still has golden marks. On the left side of the ear chamber door are a chicken and a dog, which are also pottery.
In addition, archaeologists also found more than a hundred funerary items from the ear chamber and the back room, of which more than 40 pieces of pottery in the single pot type were found. However, among the funerary items, the most eye-catching is the fifty painted pottery figurines. These clay figurines were all based on people from all walks of life at that time, including civilian figurines, samurai figurines, and trick figurines, which varied in size and height between half a meter and a half meters.
On the inner wall of the burial chamber, archaeologists also found a one-meter-long epitaph wall, which revealed to us the situation of the tomb owner.
It turned out that this tomb was zhao tingyin's tomb. The epitaph shows that Zhao Tingyin was a fierce general of Meng Zhixiang, who followed him to fight the world, and after the establishment of Later Shu, Zhao Tingyin was given the title of Taiwei (太尉) and ranked third duke because of his outstanding merits. The epitaph inscription on the inner wall has a number of up to 3,000 words, which details the life of Zhao Tingyin, including the time of his birth, the time of death, and the family situation.
In addition, the epitaph provides us with important documents for the study of the historical materials of the Five Dynasties period, and even fills in the gaps in the historical books. Moreover, Zhao Tingyin's epitaph basically coincides with the historical records, but some modifications have been made in terms of the place of birth. According to historical records, Zhao Tingyin was born in Kaifeng, Henan, which is inconsistent with the Gansu Tianshui mentioned in the epitaph, so it needs to be corrected.
However, Zhao Tingyin's tomb has also experienced the presence of tomb robbers, but it is relatively lucky. The first tomb robbery occurred during the Northern Song Dynasty, when thieves entered the tomb and took some funerary goods. Since then, the door of the burial chamber has collapsed, and no one has ever entered it until the most recent archaeological excavation. Therefore, many funerary items in the burial chamber have been preserved.
In addition, there are some trick figurines in the funerary items, and the number is about a dozen. The instruments in their hands are different and different in shape, enough to form a band, which can be regarded as the most exquisite combination of tricks ever found.
Although the height of the figurines is only half a meter, they are relatively independent. In addition, the appearance of these clay figurines is not only painted, but also a specially customized version, which is very precious. It can be said that through this band, we can imagine the kind of singing and dancing life of the high-ranking officials and aristocrats at that time. Moreover, the costumes of the figurines were also in an out-of-home style, which showed that Western culture had already spread to the Central Plains at that time.
In addition, in Zhao Tingyin's tomb, there is also a small courtyard, and the items inside are also made of pottery, including bedrooms, boxes and so on. In the courtyard, archaeologists found a seated statue of Zhao Tingyin, dressed in red official clothes, with a relaxed demeanor, surrounded by five subordinates who served him. In this regard, archaeologists introduced to us that this courtyard is likely to be a portrayal of Zhao Tingyin's daily life.
Because Zhao Tingyin was very satisfied with his residence, he ordered someone to make pottery and accompany him to the burial.
In the Sichuan region, less than 10 tombs of the five dynasties with a clear age have been found so far. The tomb of Zhao Tingyin excavated this time is the most complete and exquisitely preserved ancient tomb after the tomb of the Former Shu King and the tomb of Meng Zhixiang of later Shu, and is the third largest discovery of the five generations of tomb archaeology in Sichuan. So, will these more complete and exquisite discoveries be opened up in the future, so that the people can have a glimpse of the luxurious life of the high-ranking officials and nobles a thousand years ago? Today, archaeological excavations have long since ended, and cultural relics experts are working on the restoration of painted terracotta figurines, and there is no notice as to when they will open.
Resources:
[History of the Old Five Dynasties, Vol. 136, Biography of the False Column III, History of the New Five Dynasties, Vol. 64, And later Shu Dynasty No. 4