Shaanxi is the province with the most dynasties and the longest era in China's history.
From the Yellow Emperor Mausoleum at the head of the Five Emperors in ancient times, to the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of Qin, who created a unified feudal dynasty, to the tombs of the Han and Tang Emperors in the heyday of feudal society, many imperial tombs of all sizes are scattered in shaanxi.
These imperial tomb cultural relics carry historical memories, which are not only the witnesses of China's social and historical development and the condensation of Shaanxi's history and culture, but also constitute Shaanxi's huge and rich tourism resources, forming a very distinctive historical and cultural landscape.
Today, Xiaobian shares with you the story behind the tomb of Tang Taizong Li Shimin Zhao.
△ Tang Zhaoling Jiucheng Mountain (Photo/ Chinese business netizens water over the stone listening)
Why is Li Shimin's mausoleum called Zhaoling?
Why are there six horses carved in front of his mausoleum?
Is there any secret behind all this?
Maybe your question will be answered in today's article!
△ Entrance to Tang Zhaoling Tomb (Photo/ Chinese businessman Che Yaju)
In the tenth year of Zhenguan (636), the empress dowager's eldest son was critically ill, and she left a last word before her death: "But please bury because of the mountain, no need to raise a grave, useless coffin, all necessary utensils, all with wooden tiles, thrifty and thin." Emperor Taizong of Tang followed Empress Changsun's last words and temporarily buried her in the newly chiseled grottoes of Mount Jiucheng after the collapse of the Changsun clan, named Zhaoling. He also decided to make Zhaoling his home, and when he died, he was buried with the empress. Therefore, the underground palace was dug through the Zhaoling Tomb and large-scale construction projects began.
△ Jiugao Mountain (Photo/Che Ya Ju)
Why did Li Shimin choose to be buried with the empress here? This brings us to the place where Zhaoling is located in the Nine Ridges Mountain.
Jiugao Mountain is located in the northeast of Liquan County, Xianyang, according to Xi'an City, more than 70 kilometers, 1188 meters above sea level, the main peak around the distribution of nine mountain beams to raise it high. Jiugao Mountain is oriented in an east-west direction, from the south direction, it is conical; from the southwest direction, it is in the shape of a bucket; from the southeast direction, it is a gathering of three peaks, like a pen holder, the middle peak is high, the two sides are low, and the Zhaoling Tomb is on the main peak in the middle.
The name of the tomb of Zhaoling is not specifically explained in the history books. The ancient Fa explains the word "Zhao" by saying: "The Holy Wen Zhou Da Yue Zhao, Zhao De has meritorious deeds and Zhao Zhao." The name of Zhaoling is obviously also a beautiful word that "sets the spirit of the emperor" and "Wenzhi martial arts" to sing the praises of merit. It is said that Li Jing, a Yin and Yang scholar of the Tang Dynasty, suggested that the site of the mausoleum be named Zhaoling, highlighting the yang qi, "Zhao" was disassembled into "summons" and "day", "Zhao" had the meaning of gathering and collecting, and "day" was yang, representing the qi of the emperor. This name can make up for the lack of water cutting the dragon vein.
△ Tang Zhaoling distribution map (Figure/Baidu Encyclopedia)
Since the first burial of Empress Changsun in the tenth year of Zhenguan (636), large-scale construction works began. It was not until the twenty-third year of Zhenguan (649) that Tang Taizong was buried, and the construction project was basically completed. In addition to the main mausoleum road underground palace, a large-scale complex of buildings was built around the mausoleum mountain.
Zhaoling chiseled stones along the mountain, opening the precedent of the Tang Dynasty emperor's mausoleum "according to the mountain as a mausoleum". The construction of the Zhaoling Cemetery lasted for 107 years, and a large number of cultural relics remained above and below ground. It is a physical witness to the early Tang Dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and it is a rare treasure house of cultural relics for us to understand and study the politics, economy and culture of the Tang Dynasty and even the feudal society of China.
△ Tang Zhaoling (Photo/Water Over Stone Listening)
About Tang Zhaoling, let's listen to Li Langtao, deputy director of the Zhaoling Museum, introduce its story to everyone.
△ Li Langtao, deputy director of Zhaoling Museum, explained to everyone (Photo/ Che Yaju)
The Zhaoling Project was carefully designed by the brothers Yan Lide and Yan Liben, who came from an engineering family and successively served as masters of the Tang Dynasty. Its layout is different from the sitting west to east since the Qin and Han Dynasties, nor is it the system of "submerged burial" during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but is modeled on the institutional design of Tang Chang'an City.
△ Tang Zhaoling "according to the mountain as a mausoleum" (photo/ water over the stone listening)
Zhaoling Mausoleum area is composed of cemeteries, palace buildings, altars and funerary areas, etc., according to relevant historical records, Zhaoling tombs are surrounded by walls, there are houses and halls on the mausoleum, which is a place for the soul of the tomb owner to play, and the overall layout is largely designed according to the terrain "according to local conditions":
1. The Xuangong of Zhaoling was chiseled on the mountainside of the southern slope of the main peak of Jiugao Mountain, and the cemetery was 60 kilometers in circumference, and an underground palace was built at the bottom of the peak, including the funerary tomb, stretching for tens of miles, magnificent and spectacular.
2. The main mausoleum of Zhaoling resides in the main peak of Jiugao Mountain at the northernmost end of the mausoleum, and more than 200 funerary tombs are fanned out in the south-east direction of the main mausoleum, and the accompanying burials are royal relatives, concubines, meritorious servants, literati, etc., just like the group of courtiers before they died, the emperor faces the south and backs the north, and the courtiers serve the halls, symbolizing the "supreme" rights of the feudal place. (The current location of the Zhaoling Museum is the tomb of Xu Maogong, one of the funerary tombs)
3. There are corner towers in the four corners of the wall, and one door is opened in the middle, which is called "Suzaku Gate" in the south, "Xuanwu Gate" in the north, "Qinglong Gate" in the east, and "White Tiger Gate" in the west.
△ Tang Zhenguan 23 years of major events (photo / Chinese business netizen Guanzhong cattle knife)
Nowadays, the ground buildings of the Zhaoling Tombs are no longer extant, and there are three important architectural sites that remain in the main mausoleum: the Sima Men and the Xiandian Ruins in the south of jiugao Mountain, the ruins of the sleeping palace in the southwest, and the ruins of the north Sima Men altar on the north side.
Ruins of sima men in the north
The Site of North Sima Men is a complete group of buildings symmetrical from east to west, with a length of 86 meters from north to south, and 61 meters at the widest point from east to west, distributed on three small terraces on the mountain beams on the north side of Jiugao Mountain, and the architectural remains are gradually rising from north to south.
△ North Sima Men Que Tai Ruins (Photo/ Che Ya Ju)
On the ground of the first platform, there are three pairs of que platform bases, a pair of corridor sites speculated to be columns, and 4 small buildings outside the north wall; the northern edge of the second platform is the temple-style gate site and the north wall, brick drainage ditch, etc.; above the second platform, only the remains of the west side of the building remain, preserving the partial hall, square small building, stepped corridor and so on.
The excavation of the North Sima Men site was also rated as one of the "Top Ten New Discoveries in Chinese Archaeology in 2003".
"Zhaoling Liujun" stone screen
There are six stone-carved horse floating statues built in the east and west rooms of the Zhaoling altar, namely the famous "Zhaoling Six Horses". Three on each side, all standing with their backs against the back cornice.
"Zhaoling Liujun" is a high-flesh relief stone carving based on the six warhorses that Li Shimin rode in the southern conquest and northern war in the five years from 618 to 622 AD. According to records, the original stone has a Ma Zan poem written by Emperor Taizong of Ouyang Inquiry in the upper corner of each piece, followed by another Yin Zhongrong Lishu engraved on the seat, which is now invisible, and the original poem is included in the Quan Tang Wen.
△ Zhaoling Liujun (Photo/ Chinese business netizen Jiangnan Hongye)
The names of the six horses are "Teller", "Qinghua", "Shivachi", "SaluZi", "Fist Hair (Guā)", and "White Hoofed Wu". Among them, "Salu Zi" and Guā were stolen and transported to the United States in 1914 and are now in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, and the remaining four are now in the Forest of Steles Museum in Xi'an.
The 14 Kingdoms of The Feldspar Statue
In Sima Men, stone statues of the "Commander of the Fourteen Kingdoms" were placed: the Turkic Jieli and Tuli Two Khans, Ashina Sher, Li Sima and Tubo Songzan Gampo, the kings of Gaochang, Yanqi, and Khotan, the leaders of XueYantuo and Tuguhun, the king of Silla, Jin Dezhen, the king of Linyi, Fan Touli, the king of Linyi, and the Brahmin emperor Nayou Emperor Anashun.
These fourteen princes were all kings or chiefs of the surrounding ethnic minorities during the Tang Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty scholar Lin Tong once wrote: "The stone statues are nine feet high", "all have deep eyes and big noses, and bows and knives are mixed", which are vivid and spectacular.
△ Portrait of the Fourteen Emperors (Photo/ Archives of the Shaanxi Emperors)
These stone statues were carved in the early years of Emperor Gaozong and reflect the great unity of all ethnic groups in the country during the Zhenguan period, the Tang Dynasty's exploration of the Western Regions, and the grand relations with neighboring countries. These stone statues were destroyed in the early years, and today there are 7 inscriptions, several body fragments and several fragments of the head.
△ The "Khan" record in the stone carvings of the Tang Zhaoling Stele Forest
More than 100 funerary tombs
The crown of the imperial tombs of the past
The Tomb of Zhaoling was formed in the period of more than one hundred years from the eleventh year of Zhenguan (637) to the twenty-ninth year of Emperor Xuanzong's reign (741). It is fan-shaped and distributed in the south-east direction of the main mausoleum, with a total of more than 200, which is the largest number of funerary tombs in the tombs of the Tang Emperor. The mourners were royal relatives, concubines, meritorious servants, literati and ethnic minority leaders. The number of funerary tombs is so large that it is the crown of the tombs of the emperors of all dynasties.
△ Schematic diagram of Zhaoling (Figure/Baidu Encyclopedia)
The main burial tombs are the tombs of Changsun Wuji, Cheng Yaojin, Wei Zheng, Qin Qiong, Wen Yanbo, Duan Zhixuan, Gao Shilian, Fang Xuanling, Kong Yingda, Li Jing, Wei Chi Jingde, Princess Changle, Wei Guifei, etc., as well as the tombs of 15 ethnic minority generals such as Ashina Sheer. In the 1970s, archaeologists excavated more than 40 funerary tombs, including Xu Maogong (Li Ji), Wei Chi Jingde, Cheng Yaojin, Zhang Shigui, Zheng Rentai, Princess Changle, and Wei Guifei.
△ Xu MaoGong Monument (Photo/Che Yaju)
△ Xu Maogong Monument (Photo/Rat Emperor)
Many funerary tombs set off the grandeur of the main mausoleum, and before each tomb, there are many stone people, stone sheep, stone tigers, stone pillars, and stone steles, which can embellish the prosperous scene of the cemetery. Zhaoling also has 167 funerary tombs such as heroes and nobles, and 57 are known to have the names of tomb owners, forming a huge cemetery.
Tomb of Wei Guifei
△ Tomb of Wei Guifei (Photo/Water Over Stone Listening)
The tomb of Wei Guifei is the closest tomb to the Zhaoling Tomb and the highest specification among the Zhaoling tombs. The underground palace consists of four caves, four patios, anterior passage, anterior chamber, a rear corridor, a rear chamber and four niches, with a horizontal total length of about 50 meters. Among the most representative of the cultural relics unearthed from his tomb are the two-headed human-faced town tomb beast and the Bimatu mural.
△ Two-headed human-faced town tomb beast (Photo/Che Ya Ju)
△ Mural of "Bima Tu" (Photo/Guanzhong Cattle Knife)
Today, although the ground buildings of Zhaoling have been destroyed and repeatedly destroyed by wars, the cemetery is full of monuments and cultural relics, and still contains a large number of ancient art crafts and other cultural relics.
△ Tomb of Wei Zheng (Photo/Che Ya ju)
Tomb of Fang Xuanling
△ Tomb of Fang Xuanling (Stone stele is newly repaired/Che Yaju)
Zhaoling Museum
△ Ye Shengtao's inscription "Zhaoling Museum" (Photo/ Che Xiangju)
Today's Zhaoling Museum is located in the west of Yanxia Town, Liquan County, Xianyang City, relying on the tomb of Li Ji (Xu Maogong), using China's classical axisymmetric courtyard mode, is a thematic museum that shows the culture and history of the early Tang Dynasty, displays many tombstones and epitaphs, preserves a large number of historical materials about the political, economic and other aspects of the Tang Dynasty, and shows the high level of calligraphy art of the early Tang Dynasty.
△ Zhaoling Stele Forest (Photo/Guanzhong Cattle Knife)
The "Zhaoling Stele Forest" is formed by the cultural relics department since the 1970s of the last century, when the cultural relics department relocated the stele of the Zhaoling Tomb. The owners of the stele are all well-known figures of the early Tang Dynasty, including Ouyang Qian's "Wen YanBo Stele", Chu Suiliang's "Fang Xuanling Stele", Tang Gaozong Li Zhi's Imperial Book of "Li Ji Stele", Wang Zhijing's "Li Jing Stele", Wang Xingman's "Zhou Hu Monument", Yin Zhongrong's "Ma Zhou Stele", Chang Zheng's "Cheng Zhijie Stele", and the inscription of Kong Yingda's stele, and the "Flying White Book" covered by Wei Chi Jingde's epitaph are all rare treasures.
△ Rat Emperor", "One of the Zhaoling Stele Forest"
△ Zhaoling Museum (Photo/ Chinese businessmen like cloud time)
△ Cultural relics excavated from the funerary tomb (photo/chejama)
△ Unearthed murals (Photo/Car cornflower)