In Chinese history, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was a magnificent era, but also an era of great turmoil and great division. The Eastern Zhou Dynasty was divided into two stages: the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the princes dominated and the status of the Son of Heaven continued to decline; during the Warring States period, the hegemons competed for dominance, and the status of the Son of Heaven plummeted. In any case, Zhou Tianzi is still nominally the "co-lord of the world"!
The Eastern Zhou Dynasty lasted from 770 BC to 256 BC, with a period of 515 years, and 25 kings in the calendar. So, where are the tombs of these Heavenly Sons? There are still many mysteries! Most people in Luoyang today know that Luoyang has three Eastern Zhou King's Tombs, namely: Zhoushan Wangling District, Jincun Wangling District, and Wangcheng Wangling District. However, carefully calculated, Luoyang should also have a royal tomb area, which is the early Spring and Autumn Royal Tomb Area that is still missing! Let's take a closer look.
1. ZhoushanLing District
In Luoyang, Zhoushan, also known as Qinshan, is located in the southwest suburbs of Luoyang (luoyang high-tech industrial development zone sunqitun township). Zhoushan Mountain starts from Kunshan Mountain in the east, ends in Luoyang in the east, passes through Luoning, Shichi, Yiyang, Xin'an, high-tech zone, winding and undulating, up to more than 180 kilometers, with an altitude of 216.93 meters.
Zhoushan is named Zhoushan because there is a tomb of the King of Zhou on the mountain. Because there are three kings mausoleums, also known as "three mountains". There is a Zhou Valley at the bottom of the mountain, which is the land of Zhou. After 2002, pines and cypresses were widely planted on the ZhouShan Mountain, which became a forest park. From 2019 to 2020, the upgrading project of the core area of Zhoushan Forest Park, covering an area of about 1,500 acres, was completed, becoming a place for citizens and tourists to travel for leisure and fitness.
Zhou Shan is the mausoleum area of tianzi in the Zhou Dynasty, and there are four large tombs, and the top of Zhou Mountain is the tomb of the Zhou Ling King. In front of the mausoleum, there is a stone stele of "Tomb of the King of Zhou Ling" erected by Gong Songlin of Luoyang Zhi County during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. About 750 meters east of the Lingwang Mausoleum, there are three tombs juxtaposed, called "Wednesday King's Mausoleum", commonly known as "Three Mountain Mausoleum". The middle one is 34 meters high and 76 meters in diameter, the east one is 30 meters high and 65 meters in diameter, and the west one is 26 meters high and 61 meters in diameter.
For the Zhoushan Tombs, the "Notes on the Water Classics" says: "Luoshui flows through Zhoushan, and there is the Tomb of the Zhou Ling King, hundreds of meters east of the Zhou Ling Tombs." The Imperial Catalogue compiled during the Cao Wei dynasty states that "King Ling of Zhou was buried on the Zhou Mountain in Baiting, southwest of Henan City (Luoyang)." Because the Zhou Dynasty did not seal no trees, and the Zhou Ling King's Mausoleum was the first tree to seal the mound, two or three hundred years earlier than the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, it is known as the first mausoleum in China.
For the Zhoushan King's Mausoleum, the western side is a separate Zhou Ling King's Mausoleum, and there is basically no objection. The Tomb of the Three Kings in the east is believed to be a Han Dynasty tomb. In order to find out its shape, in 2002, archaeologists investigated it and found that the "Three Kings Mausoleum" has two tomb passages in each north and south, a total of six, and two opposites. All four tombs are in the shape of "A characters" or "sub-characters". It is the same as the Eastern Zhou Tomb system in the Mausoleum Area of Wangcheng Square. Provides an archaeological basis for the age and nature of the Tomb of King Zhoushan.
For the descendants of the "Three Kings Mausoleum" of Zhou Mountain, it is generally believed that the burial is the King of Zhou Jing (also known as the King of Zhou Ding), the King of Zhou Mourning, and the King of Zhou Jing, but there is no exact examination of who the tomb owner in each mausoleum is. The author believes that the middle is the King of Zhou Jing, and according to the Zhaomu system, the left (east) is the mourning king, and the right (west) is the king of Jing.
According to the literature, perhaps due to the twenty-second year of king Zhou Ling, the water in the north valley of the royal city soared, and the royal city was washed away by the flood, and it was not appropriate to rebuild the mausoleum in the royal city, so the tomb of the King of Zhou Ling was built on Mount Zhou. Subsequently, the father and son of King Jing of Zhou, the king of Zhou mourning, and the king of Zhou Jing, were also buried in Mount Zhou.
Who are the four Zhou Tianzi in the Zhou Shan Wang Mausoleum Area? Further archaeological excavations are needed before they can be finalized.
2. Jincun Wangling District
During the reign of King Jing of Zhou, due to the great power of the prince dynasty in Wangcheng, he moved the capital to Chengzhou City (present-day the ancient city of Han and Wei). It was expanded on the basis of the original city site in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty. After that, except for the last Tianzi King of Zhou Zhao, who moved back to the former royal city, the rest of the Zhou Tianzi took Chengzhou as the capital. After moving to Chengzhou, the kings of Zhou were buried near Chengzhou City, that is, near Diquan, that is, in the JincunLing District (present-day Jincun and Zhai Quan, Pingle Town, Mengjin County, Luoyang).
The discovery of the Tomb of king Jincun was during the Republic of China period. In the summer and autumn of 1928, a heavy rain fell in Luoyang, and the surface collapsed not far from the east end of Jincun Village. After the heavy rain stops, underground tombs are exposed. The crowd discovered that it was an old tomb. Next, the local villagers began to excavate the artifacts in the tomb. Shortly thereafter, a Canadian in Kaifeng, the capital of Henan Province, heard the news. Huai Luguang and Warner entangled a large number of people and excavated the tomb of Jincun. According to later accounts, a total of 8 large tombs with long burial passages were found here. The tombs are arranged in two columns from north to south, with the first column of 6 and the second column of 2. Among them, the pits of Tomb No. 5 are about 12 meters long and wide, about 14 meters deep, and the tomb is more than 70 meters long. The surrounding stone of the wooden rafter chamber is charcoal, and there is a door that communicates with the tomb passage. This is 8 royal tombs of the Eastern Zhou and Warring States periods, and 8 tombs have excavated thousands of precious cultural relics, most of which were shipped abroad. Warner took the most jade products with him, and was shipped to more than 10 countries, including Canada. Wai Luguang placed the artifacts in the Royal Ontario Museum of Canada.
To this day, there are still some antique owners in Hong Kong who use "Jincun soil" to describe the particularly exquisite Warring States jade, and most of the cultural relics unearthed in Jincun are sold to the United States, Canada, Japan, and France. In 1937, some of them were compiled by Tsunehara Sueji of Japan into the book "Luoyang Jincun Ancient Tomb Juying", with both pictures and texts. The book contains 238 quintessential artifacts, most of which are found at the Harvard Art Museum.
In 1982, the Institute of Archaeology excavated a large tomb in the northeast of the ancient city of Han and Wei. The tomb is 60 meters long, and the side of the grave is 9 meters long, 14 meters wide and 12 meters deep. There are also more than 20 large and small tombs and carriage and horse pits around the tomb, which is undoubtedly the tomb of the King of the Nine Dings. A total of 10 generations of Zhou kings have been buried here, from King Yuan of Zhou, King Zhending, King of Lai, King Si, King Kao, King Weilie, King An, King Lie, King Xianwang to King Shenliang. This is the largest Tianzi Mausoleum area in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. It has always been said that there is a huge bronze ding underground there, in 1996, the author went to inspect with a person in charge of the Cultural Relics Bureau in Luoyang at that time, and in 2020, someone used an instrument to explore, and the Luoyang Archaeological Institute was also preparing for archaeological excavations. It is difficult to say whether it is one of the legendary Nine Dings!
3. Wangcheng Square Mausoleum Area
WangchengLing District was built in 2002 after the Luoyang Municipal Government relocated to Luonan, and the original downtown area was built as a central square. As soon as the construction began, hundreds of Eastern Zhou tombs and more than 30 pits were discovered. In the No. 5 large carriage and horse pit (today's Zi Driving Six), 26 cars and 68 horses were found, of which the No. 2 car in the west row was a six-horse carriage and a car, which confirmed the description of "Tianzi Driving Six" in the literature. In March 2006, archaeologists found another late Eastern Zhou "Tianzi Driving Six" car and horse pit (Tanggong Road Primary School) in the site of the WangLing Cemetery, and found a total of three cars and horses, one for six drivers and two for drivers. Based on various discoveries, archaeologists concluded that Wangcheng Square was a royal tomb area in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. We believe that there are five tombs of Tianzi kings in Wangcheng Square, namely: King Xiang of Zhou, King Qian of Zhou, King Kuang of Zhou, King Ding of Zhou, and King Jian of Zhou.
4. The Missing Early Spring and Autumn Tombs Area
According to legends and records, the last heavenly son of the Warring States of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was Ji Yan, the King of Zhou. Ji Yan succeeded to the throne in 314 BC and reigned for 59 years. In 256 BC, the State of Qin demoted Ji Yan as a vassal and expelled wang du, with a fief southwest of Ruzhou. In the same year, King Jiyan of Zhou zhao died, and the burial places were three: Sishang Village, Qingcheng County, and Zhangjiajie in Mangchuan Town, Ruzhou City. Ruzhou is credible.
There were 25 Tianzi in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, and three mausoleum areas are known. It is preliminarily determined that there are a total of 19 Heavenly Sons buried in the above three Tianzi Tomb Areas. In addition to Ji Yan, the King of Zhou Zhao, there should also be 5 Heavenly Sons who do not know where they are buried. The five heavenly sons were: King Ping of Zhou, King Huan of Zhou, King Zhuang of Zhou, King of Zhou, and King Hui of Zhou.
King Zhou Ping was the founding son of Eastern Zhou, and King Zhou Ping reigned for a long time. In 2002, the Cultural Relics Team excavated two Eastern Zhou tombs near luoyang no. 27 middle school. One of them is a "Sub" glyph-shaped tomb, the burial chamber is 6.6 meters long and 5 meters wide, and there are 4 burial passages. This tomb is the highest level tomb of the early Eastern Zhou Dynasty found in China so far. A broken bronze ding was excavated from the tomb, with the inscription "Wang Zuo □ Yi". The middle word is missing, and archaeologists speculate that it should be the word "treasure". According to the shape, ornamentation and inscription of the word "Wang Zuo" excavated from the bronze, archaeologist Yu Fuwei speculated that the "Ya" glyph tomb was the tomb of a Tianzi in the early Spring and Autumn Period, most likely the first generation of The Eastern Zhou Dynasty Tianzi Zhou PingWang. These two high-grade tombs, the passage and the tomb are stacked on top of the teaching building, and cannot be further excavated.
What is puzzling is that these two high-level tombs are within the walls of the Spring and Autumn King's City, and when the Spring and Autumn King's City Wall was built, the builders may not have known where the tombs were located. If these two tombs are related to the King of Zhou Ping, then it is possible that the five Heavenly Sons Mausoleum area in the early Spring and Autumn Period is nearby. However, because it has been 2,600 years ago, coupled with the fact that this area was once the imperial city of Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the central area of Luoyang City after the 1950s, there are many modern buildings, and archaeological excavations have been difficult to carry out. The missing Spring and Autumn Tombs of the Early Spring and Autumn Period may never be seen again!