In 1956, Guo Moruo insisted on opening the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum, resulting in serious damage to thousands of cultural relics, and all the archaeological team members who participated in this mission had a fatal change in fate without exception......
In October 1955, several state leaders came to the Ming Tombs for an outing, including the famous literary giant Guo Moruo, and the famous historian and vice mayor of Beijing, Wu Han. After arriving at Changling, everyone talked about the mausoleum of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty.
Guo Moruo is not only a literary scholar, he is also a historian, so he is very interested in the ancient tomb, so he advocated the excavation of this imperial tomb, but the mainland did not have complete excavation technology and means at that time, and there was no condition to protect the unearthed cultural relics, so many people opposed the excavation of the imperial tomb at that time.
One of the main reasons why he wanted to excavate the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum was that he believed that the Yongle Grand Ceremony was brought into his own tomb by the Ming Wanli Emperor, that is, the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum. The Yongle Canon was compiled by Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, and is said to be a collection of ancient Chinese classics in Dacheng.
If the imperial tomb can be opened, it will inevitably provide corresponding help for the historical research of the Ming Dynasty in the mainland, and finally the state approved it. Although during this period of time, Guo Moruo insisted on excavating the Changling Tomb, but due to the technical limitations, mainland archaeological experts did not succeed in finding the entrance to the Changling Tomb.
In desperation, Guo Moruo and others could only shift the excavation target to Dingling. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, all kinds of waste were waiting to be rebuilt, and China's archaeological undertaking was just starting, and there were no advanced instruments and how to protect the unearthed cultural relics.
At that time, many people speculated that this must be different from any previous archaeological excavation, and that it must have been carried out by a strong and well-trained expert! When everyone was waiting for them to come up with one or two academic reports that shocked the world, Guo Moruo led a group of people to start the excavation work "lightly."
Guo Moruo looked at the magnificent imperial mausoleum in front of him, and the group dug directly to the door of the Dingling Mausoleum, and the door was suddenly opened. The mysterious imperial mausoleum that has been sealed for hundreds of years is like a lonely child, exposed to everyone's field of vision.
When the archaeologists entered the tomb from the entrance, they were completely shocked by the gold and splendor in the room, countless calligraphy and paintings, silk costumes, porcelain and jewelry were almost everywhere, which made many people intoxicated for a while, and the luxury of the imperial tomb really shocked them.
More than 3,000 pieces of precious cultural relics were unearthed in the Ming Dynasty, although it provided real artifacts for the study of the Ming Dynasty in the historical circles, but a large number of cultural relics were oxidized and destroyed immediately after contact with the air, all kinds of precious calligraphy and paintings, silk fabrics disappeared in an instant, and the excavation of Dingling Tomb also became the number one tragic event in the history of Chinese archaeology.
The huge golden silk nan wooden coffin of the Wanli Emperor is still well preserved after being buried deep underground for more than 300 years, and it is said that it can still smell a faint fragrance when it is unearthed. Eventually, they were thrown into the canyon and dragged home by the villagers down the mountain and beaten into furniture. The remains of the Wanli Emperor and Empress have decompensated, leaving only skeletons.
Although the body of Emperor Wanli has decayed, his costume is still there, wearing a dragon robe, a jade belt tied around his waist, and a black gauze wing crown on his head, he is still so majestic and rich. As soon as everyone was fascinated, the dragon robe suddenly disappeared like magic.
More than 3,000 treasures were mostly destroyed, and when people looked at them later, there was nothing to marvel at except that they were ruins. So up to now, in addition to feasting their eyes on those gold and silver jewelry, in addition to knowing that the Ming Ding Mausoleum brings a lot of income every year, they still don't know what the essence of the excavation of the Ming Ding Mausoleum is.
These precious cultural relics in the tomb of the Wanli Emperor can never be recovered in China, which is an eternal loss. This also made the director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage distressed, and in order to protect other mausoleums and cultural relics, the director applied to the State Council to stop the improper excavation. The Prime Minister, who was aware of the matter, immediately approved the proposal.
Needless to say, the excavation of the Ming Ding Mausoleum is the most tragic archaeological tragedy since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and this major mistake in the history of archaeology that is purely man-made has made many people heartbroken. What's even more strange is that after this, Guo Moruo and others actually applied for the excavation of other imperial tombs again.
The archaeological excavation of Dingling was carried out in secret until September 6, 1958, when Xinhua News Agency announced the news to the world. This explosive news also shook the international archaeological community, and many people were speculating about what shocking secrets were hidden inside, but for the mainland, this was the biggest archaeological tragedy in history.
Throughout Guo Moruo's life, the world's comments on him have been half discredited from beginning to end. It is undeniable that his literary attainments and merits are very great, but the loss of cultural relics caused by the excavation of Dingling by leading the archaeological team is an irreparable regret!