When is the best time to go to Susan Prison?

The best time to visit Susan Prison: the best time to travel to Shanxi in summer

Susan Prison was built in the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1369 AD), more than 600 years ago It is the only existing Ming Dynasty-style prison in my country and the earliest existing prison. Su San, a famous courtesan from Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, was imprisoned here when she was wronged and killed in Hongdong. Later, as the story of Su San was missing her sweetheart Wang Jinglong, Wang Jinglong had passed the Jinshi examination and was promoted to Shanxi inspector. Although Wang Jinglong heard that Su San was sold to Hongdong, he did not know the truth. After learning about Su San's case, he made a secret visit to Hongdong County to find out the facts of the case. He ordered all the people involved in the case to be quickly escorted to Taiyuan, rescued Su San, and sanctioned Su San. Real criminals. Su Sanqi's injustice was vindicated and he finally got married to his sweetheart. This legendary story has many twists and turns and is very popular. The prison where Su Sanqi was imprisoned also attracted much attention.

Su San, who is famous for his scripts and plays, is almost a household name in China. The story of Yutang's misfortune to find her husband happened in Hongdong County, Shanxi Province. Until the ninth year of the Republic of China (1920 AD), the Judicial Department of Hongdong County still kept Su San's case files. The fact that Wang Jinglong was Su San's hometown was discovered from Su San's confession.

Su San, formerly known as Sister Zhou Yu, was a native of Zhoujiazhuang, Datong Prefecture, Shanxi Province in the Ming Dynasty. His parents died when he was six years old, and he was abducted and sold to the Suhuai brothel in Beijing, where he changed his surname to Su. There were already two prostitutes before she went to the brothel, so she was named San'er, and Yutangchun was her nickname. Wang Jinglong, a son of an official, met Su San in Youyou. He fell in love at first sight and became close friends. Su San asked Wang Jinglong to work hard and vow not to follow others again. Wang Jinglong left Beijing and returned home. Although he couldn't let go of Su San, he devoted himself to studying and went to Beijing for the second time to take the exam. He got eighth place in the exam and was buried. When Wang Jinglong returned home, Su San was sold by the Madam to Shen Yanlin, a horse dealer in Hongdong, Shanxi, for a price of 1,200 taels of silver. Shen Yanlin was away on business for a long time, and his wife Pi had an affair with her neighbor Zhao Ang. Shen Yanlin took Su San back to Hongdong. Pi Shi suddenly became evil-minded and conspired with Zhao Ang to poison Shen Yanlin and frame Su San. During the first trial, the Hongdong County government placed Pi and Su San in prison. Zhao Ang took out more than a thousand taels of silver from Pi's house to bribe him. The county magistrate Wang was corrupt and perverted the law, and tortured Su San severely to extract a confession. Su San could not bear the punishment, so he had to endure the torture and was sentenced to death and imprisoned on death row. However, Pi Shi disappeared outside the law. Just as Su San was facing injustice and aggrieved in Hongdong death row, Wang Jinglong was promoted to Shanxi Inspector. Although Wang Jinglong had heard that Su San had been sold to Hongdong, he didn't know the true story. Therefore, when he took office, he immediately visited Pingyang Mansion and learned that Su San had committed a capital crime. He secretly visited Hongdong County to find out the circumstances of Su San's unjust imprisonment and immediately ordered him to be escorted to Su San's case immediately. All personnel arrived in Taiyuan. Wang Jinglong asked Liu Tuiguan to handle the case on his behalf in order to avoid raising suspicion in a personal trial. Mr. Liu made a fair verdict, Su Sanqi's injustice was vindicated, the real criminal was brought to justice, the corrupt official Wang was dismissed from his post and investigated, and Su San and Wang Jinglong finally got married.

Su San was fortunate enough to reunite with Wang Jinglong like a legend. Feng Menglong, a novelist of the Ming Dynasty, enthusiastically wrote "It's Hard to Meet a Husband in Spring in Yutang", which was included in "Words of Warning" and passed down to future generations. Peking opera and many local operas were compiled into "Su San Qi Jie", "Yu Tang Chun", etc., and were widely performed.

Due to the twists and turns of Su San’s story, the Su San Memorial Hall and Su San Prison became famous and were preserved and maintained for a long time. Su Sangong Hall is the Hongdong County Government Hall. It was built by Yang Mao, the county magistrate in the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. It collapsed due to an earthquake in the 34th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty and was later rebuilt. In the fourth year of Guangxu's reign, Ai Shaolian, the county magistrate, completely renovated the lobby. It was once a provincial cultural relic protection unit, but unfortunately it was destroyed in 1977. It is said that Su San made a memorial ceremony here, was wrongly imprisoned, and was tried three times.

The ancient hall that we see now, about 30 meters long and 20 meters deep, was the county government office back then. It was built in the middle of the Yuan Dynasty and rebuilt during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. It was demolished together with Susan Prison in 1972. In 1984, the Hongdong County Government rebuilt the hall and Susan Prison according to their original appearance. It was here that Su San was tried three times and was beaten to death. Therefore, this county government office was called Su San Gongtang. When you are in it, you can't help but feel a sense of solemnity and menace.

Experience for yourself the prison conditions of China's Ming Dynasty. The arched door at the right corner of the lobby entrance is the prison gate. The prison door is closely connected to the lobby entrance, making it very convenient to interrogate prisoners. The entire prison is extremely carefully designed and has a unique structure.

Please see, the screen wall at the entrance blocks the door very tightly, and you can't see what's going on inside at all from the outside. Only when you walk closer, you find that you can go in on the right side. The passage after entering is very narrow, and you have to turn four right-angled turns in succession, and pass through a door that is narrower than the next before you can enter a narrower and longer passage. This passage is only 1.7 meters wide, with 12 symmetrical small rooms on both sides. These are the cells where ordinary prisoners are imprisoned. The doors of these cells are low and the windows are small. There are several thick and strong wooden lattice erected on them, leaving only a few small gaps for light and ventilation. There is no sunlight all year round in the cell. It is damp and gloomy, with water drops hanging on the walls. The small earthen kang is less than a foot from the ground. The prisoners can only lie down on the kang by curling up and shrinking into a ball. Between the eaves outside the cell and above the passage, there is a large net woven with iron wire, with copper bells hanging on the net, like a dragnet, from which the prisoners cannot escape. The two rooms at the south end of the passage are forbidden rooms, which are the residences of the guards.

The shrines halfway up the large walls on both sides of the forbidden room are the three brick statues of gods in the shrine at the entrance of the Hell Temple. Please see, sitting in the middle is the God of Prison, who looks like an old man with a kind face. All prisoners in prison must worship the God of Prison to seek some comfort.

Standing next to the prison god is a little devil, with a ferocious look and a ferocious face, as if threatening the prisoner to be honest, not to talk or move, or to do anything wrong in prison.

The small hole at the base of the wall on the lower left side of the Prison Temple is the Death Row Cave, commonly known as the Tiger’s Butthole. It leads directly to the street. It is usually built with bricks and is only opened when needed. Because once a prisoner dies in prison, he is never allowed to be carried out through the prison door. He can only be dragged out through this hole, so it is called the death row hole. And because the death row prison is commonly known as the tiger's head prison, the cell door is the tiger's mouth, and people are swallowed by the tiger's mouth while alive, and the dead come out of the death row hole, so the death row hole is also commonly known as the tiger's butt.

Opposite the Temple of Hell is the Death Row. Please look at the green-faced, fanged, angry-looking, extremely ferocious animal on the wall that looks like a tiger head. Its name is Bifan. Bifan is a ferocious animal in ancient Chinese legends. Legend has it that a dragon gave birth to nine sons but none of them became a dragon. The fourth son was named Bifan. He looked like a tiger, was powerful, and was prone to litigation, so he stood beside the prison gate. In the Ming Dynasty, its head was often painted on the prison door, so it was also used as a proxy for prison. Because it resembles a tiger, later people mistakenly thought it was a tiger head, so the death row was called Tiger Head Prison.

Back then, prisoners were sentenced to death and were held on death row while awaiting instructions from superiors and execution. Su San was imprisoned in this death row at that time. Su San Prison refers to this place. The gate of the death row prison has double doors and double walls, forming a passage 1 meter high, 1 meter wide and nearly 3 meters long. There is a threshold and door leaf at each end. One opens to the right and the other opens to the left. It is a standard death row prison in the Ming Dynasty. The door is so strong that you have to bend down twice to enter. Please pay attention to safety when entering. Inside the death row is a small enclosed courtyard. The brick cave in the north is called the pillow kiln, and the one in the west is where Su San was imprisoned, so it is called Su San's cell.

The small well in the center of the courtyard is called Su San Well. Su San fetched water here and washed clothes in the stone trough made of yellow sandstone next to it. This well is about two meters deep. The wellhead is very special. It only has a bowl-sized hole drilled in the middle of a large bluestone about 30 to 40 centimeters thick. The diameter is about 23 centimeters. People cannot put their heads into the hole. It is specially designed to prevent prisoners from throwing themselves into the hole. Well designed to commit suicide. Around the wellhead, there are deep marks left by the well ropes, which illustrates the age of this death row prison.

From the outside, there is nothing special about the walls of the death row. In fact, the wall here is 1.1 meters thick, and the southern wall is even thicker to 1.7 meters. The wall is 6 meters high, and the outside is made of blue bricks. It is built with quicksand inside. As long as someone digs a hole in the wall, the sand will flow out of the hole. The prisoner will never be able to escape by digging a hole in the wall. This is such a simple, labor-saving and effective prevention method.

This place is eerie and terrifying, and the barriers are so tight that it is impossible to escape. A weak woman who has been wronged and suffered is imprisoned here, waiting for the arrival of death. We can't imagine Su San's inner emotions too much. All gone, what is left to us now is only the legendary and moving story of Su San, and this ancient prison with unique architectural style, which makes us think deeply, sigh with emotion, and make us think a lot.

Wang Yeqiu, a cultural relics expert, wrote in a poem: The tiger's head is in a prison, dressed in red, and a song is stirring up the smelly water. Where is Mr. Wang now? There are only eight feet and eight walls of space here.