Emperor Shun, surnamed Yao Chonghua, was the humanistic ancestor of the Chinese nation and was known as one of the Five Emperors of the Ancients. In his lifetime, he always adhered to the principle of self-cultivation with sincerity, filial piety to maintain the family, rule the country with virtue, and peace with the world, pioneered the moral culture of the Chinese nation, created a glorious period known as "Yao Tian Shun Day" in the ancient times, and became the teacher of the emperors of all generations. In his later years, Emperor Shun, with the broad mind of "benefiting the world and not one person", gave way to Dayu, and himself went to the south to hunt, and finally "collapsed in the wilderness of Cangwu and was buried in the Nine Doubts of Jiangnan". In order to mourn this humanistic ancestor of the Chinese nation and the master of the emperor, the rulers of successive dynasties have made it a must to sacrifice the tomb of Emperor Shun of the Nine Ridges Mountain. In order to commemorate this pioneer of moral culture, people continued to build the ShunDi Mausoleum Temple on the Nine Ridges Mountain. For thousands of years, in the process of historical identification, the Temple of Emperor Shun of Ningyuan Nine Doubts Mountain in Hunan Province is an important symbol in the most representative collective memory of the Chinese nation. As a result, the state attaches great importance to it. The tombs of Emperor Shun and the tombs of Emperor Shun on Jiuling Mountain were listed as national cultural relics protection units, and the ShunDi Festival was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage.
From ancient times to the present, the continuous construction of the Shundi Mausoleum Temple in Ningyuan Jiuling Mountain has deepened the historical memory and solidified the historical and cultural symbols.
Whenever the country moves toward reunification, society toward stability, and the economy moves toward development, there will be large-scale construction of the ShunDi Mausoleum Temple on the Nine Ridges Mountain, and there will be high-level sacrifice activities, and the incense will be exuberant and the bells and drums will always sound. The earliest sacrificial temple of Jiuling Mountain was built in the Xia Dynasty, in the "Creek of the Great Sun". During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Chu moved the Temple of the ShunDi Mausoleum of the Nine Doubts Mountain from the "Great Yang Stream" to the foot of the Shun Peak (also known as the Three Points Stone) in the Nine Doubts Mountain. Because legend has it that Emperor Shun ascended to heaven at Shunfeng. The mausoleum temple is magnificent and magnificent, and the King of Chu Ling once imitated it to create Zhang Huatai, so the history books also contain the historical allusion of "The King of Chu Ling made Zhang Huatai to resemble Shun". In the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang moved the Temple of emperor Shun to build the "One Hundred Steps Before the Jade Rock". Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty not only further expanded the Shunling Temple, but also adjusted the administrative division to strengthen the management of the Shun Emperor's Mausoleum in jiuling mountain. In the sixth year of Yuan Ding (111 BC), in order to make Lingdao County centralize the management of The Shun Emperor's Mausoleum, the southwestern part of Lingdao County was divided out and Yingdao County was established separately. From the Qin dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty, the Shunling Temple of jiuling mountain was the largest sacrificial temple at that time. This can be seen from the map of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed at Mawangdui in Changsha. In the first year of Emperor Taizong's zhenguan, the emperor ordered: Where there are ancient emperors sleeping in the prefectures and counties of Tianxia, all of them add Tang characters. Therefore, Shunling's county was renamed Tangxing County, and later renamed Yantang County (present-day Ningyuan). During the reign of Emperor Qianfu of the Tang Dynasty (874-879 AD), Yan Tang ordered the rebuilding of the Shunling Temple. During the Jianlong period of Taizu of song (960-963 AD), the then Daozhou assassin and inspector Taibao Wang Jixun was ordered to rebuild the Shun Emperor Mausoleum Temple on Jiuling Mountain. ZhiZhi Zhi Zhang Feng wrote a monument. During the Jianlong period of the Song Dynasty, the reconstruction of the Shun Emperor Mausoleum Temple on The Nine Ridges Mountain was expanded and rebuilt on the basis of the Tang Dynasty. In terms of management, five households were placed as tomb keepers. The second major overhaul of the Song Dynasty was in the sixth year of Qiande (968). According to the fragments of the Records of the Taiping Huanyu of the Song Dynasty, it is stated that "in the second year of the Imperial Dynasty Qiande, Zhang Yongxi, the transfer of Shi Zhang Yongxi in Jinghu Lake, was small in hukou, and its Dali County and LinglingChang were cut into Yantang County, and its Yantang County was changed to Ningyuan County." Shun Temple is in the southern part of the county sixty miles nine doubts mountain, Qiande six years of edict. According to two archaeological excavations at the site of the ShunDi Mausoleum Temple in Jiuling Mountain from 2002 to 2004, the Ruins of the Song Dynasty revealed that the construction scale of the Shun Temple was grand, much larger than the current mausoleum temple. In various dynasties, the imperial court's management of the Shunling Temple was very orderly and very strict. During the Southern Qi Dynasty, Wuwei Temple (also known as Bao'en Temple) was built next to the Shunling Temple to protect the Shun Temple. In the Song Dynasty, five years after the Taiping Revival, Wuwei Temple was renamed Yongfu Temple to guard the Shun Temple. It can be seen that the Han to Song Dynasties strengthened the historical and cultural symbol of the Shun Emperor Mausoleum Temple on the Jiuling Mountain. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne of God, and he gathered scholars all over the country to examine the tomb of Emperor Shun, and confirmed that the tomb of Emperor Shun was built at the foot of the mountain north of Shunyuan Peak after confirming that the Tomb of Emperor Shun was built in Ningyuan Jiuling Mountain. Zhu Yuanzhang personally wrote the sacrifice text, sent Hanlin to edit Lei Fu, and went to Jiuling Mountain to worship Shun in the fourth year of Hongwu (1371 AD). After the Ming Dynasty moved to the foot of Shunyuan Peak, the Temple of Emperor Shun was built and built, and it has not been relocated. As a result, the Ming Dynasty solidified the historical symbol of the Shun Emperor Mausoleum Temple on jiuling mountain. In the Qing Dynasty, starting from the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651 AD), the maintenance and management of the Shundi Mausoleum Temple also had fixed economic support. Whenever the emperor directly sent officials to worship Shun, the Temple of Emperor Shun had to be renovated once. In some cases, the imperial court also allocated special funds for expansion. Major renovations and expansions include the 45th year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1706 AD), the 2nd year of Yongzheng (1724 AD) and the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. The mausoleum of Emperor Shun of Jiuling Mountain underwent large-scale renovations, and the existing "Monument to the Reconstruction of Yu Temple" is recorded.
The tomb of Emperor Shun of Jiuling Mountain is sacrificed to connect old and new memories and promote historical identity.
The sacrifice activities of the Shun Emperor's Mausoleum on jiuling mountain began with "Yu Nan Tour, to Hengshan to build a purple golden platform, looking at the nine doubts and offering sacrifices to Shun", Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of han looked forward to the nine doubts, and then the various dynasties sent officials to make sacrifices, until the modern public sacrifices that continue to this day, for more than 4,000 years, the sacrifice activities have been passed down. In the Southern Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Song Dynasty, Liu Yu, sent officials Zhang Shao and Yan Yanzhi, and Tang Xuanzong Li Longji sent the official Zhang Jiuling to jiuqi to sacrifice Shun, all of which left sacrifice texts. In the Ming Dynasty, in the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang personally made the imperial sacrifice text, and sent the Hanlin Academy to edit lei fu to the Nine Ridge Mountain to sacrifice Shun, and the Nine Ridge Mountain Sacrifice Shun gradually formed a fixed system, and the Ming Dynasty Imperial Sacrifice was fifteen times. In the Qing Dynasty, the imperial sacrifice reached forty-five times. In order to show their orthodoxy, the emperors of the past could not do without the sacrifice of the Tomb of Emperor Shun of the Nine Ridges Mountain. Whenever the dynasty is unified, it is inevitable to sacrifice the five emperors, including the dispatch of officials from the Tomb of Emperor Shun of the Nine Ridges Mountain. The sacrifice of Emperor Shun's mausoleum means inheriting Emperor Shun's ruling ideology and carrying forward the highest "Taoist system" to prove the legitimacy of his emperor. This is fully reflected in the content of its offerings. Hongwu's fourth-year Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's sacrifice of Shun Lingwen emphasized that "great virtue is infinite, the law is still there", "look up to the holy mo, the law of all generations", which is to expound the way of the dynasty to imitate The way of governing the country of Emperor Shun, and to inherit orthodox ideas. The Qing emperors of the Manchu dynasty used the sacrifices of the Shun Emperor's mausoleum on the Nine Doubts Mountain to proclaim orthodoxy more prominently. In the sacrifice texts, it is also inseparable from the inheritance of the Taoist system, such as the words and phrases such as "ruling the Taoist system, showing the world" and "successively throwing" are not uncommon. It can be seen from this that they have inherited the political rule since the Yellow Emperor in the form of a sacrifice to Shun, and also inherited the ideological tradition since the Emperor Shun. It seems that the words are very simple, but in fact, the connotation of thought is incomparably rich. This can be seen as a high generalization of historical and cultural identity.
The Jiulingshan ShunDi Mausoleum Festival is closely related to historical and cultural identity, and it is the backbone of the historical symbol, the ShunDi Mausoleum of Jiuling Mountain, connecting historical and cultural identity.
By highlighting cultural symbols, the ability to connect with history, and the interpretation of current reality, the Nine Ridges Mountain Festival can either resurrect old collective memories or create new ones; Collective memory is closely related to historical and cultural identity, and by creating consensus and radiating discourse power, collective memory can effectively promote historical and cultural identity. The Mausoleum of Emperor Shun of Jiuling Mountain played a role in inheriting historical and cultural identity through ritual activities. The Mausoleum of Emperor Shun of Jiuling Mountain is a historical and cultural symbol that embodies national identity and unites people's hearts to join the big family of the Chinese nation, and must have a spiritual foundation for historical identity. The backbone of the Chinese historical system is: Fuxi, Shennong, Yellow Emperor, Emperor Zhao, Yao, Shun, Xia, Shang, and Zhou. All ethnic minorities or frontier nationalities that have been integrated into the Chinese nation will spiritually identify with this historical system, and those who think that this historical system is "our" history will also find their ancestors from this historical system. The Tuoba clan of northern Wei considered itself to be a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, the Yuwen clan considered itself to be a descendant of the Shennong clan, and the "Xianbei clan" was after the Yellow Emperor's younger son "Changyi". Today's Han chinese mostly consider themselves to be "descendants of Yanhuang" or "descendants of the Yellow Emperor", while the Qiang people in northern Sichuan firmly believe that they are descendants of Dayu. Because of this, no matter which ethnic group calls the king and the emperor, there are activities to sacrifice the ancestors of the humanities, so the tombs of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors have become historical symbols that embody national identity and unite the hearts and minds of the people. Cohesion, which represents the centripetal force of a nation to develop in the same direction because of its common identity and sense of belonging, is a great spiritual force that unites and maintains the survival and development of the entire nation. In peacetime, cohesion is often manifested through large-scale events.
The ancestor-seeking and ancestor worship activities of the Shun Emperor's Mausoleum in the Nine Doubts Mountain embodied the historical identity of the nation in history, and the same ancestors and ancestors of all ethnic groups not only played a role in promoting historical identity, but also showed the cohesion of the Chinese nation.
As Chen Shouren, president of the World Shun Clan Association, wrote an inscription for the tomb of Emperor Shun of Jiuling Mountain during the 2008 Jiuling Mountain Shun: "Being overseas, the roots are in the Nine Doubts." Like the expressed will, "Rooted in the Nine Doubts" embodies the national cohesion of Emperor Shun's mausoleum. The Mausoleum of Emperor Shun of Jiuling Mountain is a historical symbol that embodies national identity and unites the people's hearts and minds that has been gradually formed in the long history of the Chinese nation for more than 4,000 years. Today, the Mausoleum of Emperor Shun of Jiuqi Mountain, on the basis of the emergency repair of the mausoleum and temple in the 1990s, has been expanded into a mausoleum of Emperor Shun with comprehensive functions such as tourism, sacrifice and education. The provincial, municipal and county public sacrifices of Emperor Shun's mausoleum have been continuously rotated, and have been customized with the approval of the central government. Various forms of folk sacrifices also emerged. The Mausoleum of Emperor Shun of Jiuling Mountain will continue to play its positive role in the historical and cultural identity of the Chinese nation, unite national feelings, and become an irreplaceable historical symbol for the rejuvenation of China. The Temple of Emperor Shun of Jiuling Mountain has a history of more than 4,000 years of architecture since ancient times, and despite many migrations and continuous construction, the positive role of the Tomb of Emperor Shun of Jiuqi Mountain in historical identity has never diminished. Whether you regard Emperor Shun's southern tour and burial of the Nine Doubts as a historical fact or as an ordinary legend, the mausoleum of Emperor Shun of Jiuling Mountain as a historical symbol of the collective memory of the Chinese nation is already an indisputable fact; promoting the historical and cultural identity of the Chinese nation still plays an important role today.
(The author Ou Lisheng was the deputy county magistrate of Ningyuan County, and the commander of the restoration project of the Shun Emperor's Mausoleum in Jiuling Mountain)