Chinese Emperor Ba Ling: The mistake that lasted for 2000 years was finally corrected

Li Bai mentioned in "Recalling Qin'e·Xiao Shengyan" that "the willows are colored every year, and Baling is sad to say goodbye". This "Baling" refers to a "Baling Bridge", which is It was a traffic artery in the east of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty. People at that time often bid farewell to their relatives and friends here. The name of Baling Bridge comes from "Baling", also known as "Baling". It is the location of the tomb of Liu Heng, Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty.

Recently, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage announced that the tomb of Emperor Han Wen was discovered. Its location is not Fenghuangzui as rumored in the past, but the Jiangcun Tomb about 2.1 kilometers south.

Hidden pit outside Jiangcun Tomb. Photo provided by Beiwan New Vision

Why was Fenghuangzui wrongly judged as Ba Tomb?

How was the location of Emperor Hanwen’s mausoleum spread by rumors in the past? Let us turn our attention to Xi'an and Xianyang, Shaanxi.

Today Xi'an and Xianyang are two cities, but during the Qin and Han Dynasties, the urban areas of Xi'an and Xianyang have long been under the jurisdiction of the same administrative region, that is, Xianyang County where the Qin capital Xianyang is located, and Chang'an County where the Han capital Chang'an is located. Friends who travel to Xi'an all know that Xi'an has the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum Museum and the Qin II Mausoleum Site Museum, and Xianyang has the Han Jing Emperor Yangling Museum and the Han Wudi Maoling Museum. As for other Western Han imperial tombs, although no museums have been established, monuments for the protection of cultural relics have been erected.

On the Xianyang Plain to the north of the Weihe River, from west to east, there are Emperor Wu’s Maoling, Emperor Zhao’s Pingling, Emperor Cheng’s Yanling, Emperor Ping’s Kangling, Emperor Yuan’s Weiling, Emperor Ai’s Yiling, Emperor Hui’s Anling, and Gaozu’s Changling and Jingdi Yangling, except Kangling which is slightly to the north, the other tombs are basically connected in a line. These tombs have tall mounds of earth.

In addition, there are two imperial mausoleums that are not distributed in Xianyang Plain. One of them is the Emperor Wen Ba Mausoleum located at the northeast end of Dongbailuyuan, Xi'an City, and the other is Emperor Xuan Du's Mausoleum located in Dongyuan, Nandu District, Xi'an City. Mausoleum. Among them, Du Ling also has an obvious earth sealing mound, but Ba Ling is unique. Its cultural relic protection monument is not located next to the earth sealing mound on the flat ground, but under the hill of Fenghuangzui.

The mausoleum stele of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty erected under the mouth of the Phoenix

Emperor Wen was buried in Ba Ling, which was recorded as early as "Historical Records·Xiaowen Ji". It mentioned that Emperor Wen ordered that "all mausoleums should be made of earthenware, and should not be decorated with gold, silver, copper, or tin. Graves should not be rectified. In order to save the province, do not bother the people." Death, a lavish burial to ruin one’s career, and heavy clothing to ruin one’s life, I will not accept it...Baling mountains and rivers will not be changed for their own sake.” Ba Ling is named after the nearby Ba (Ba) River, which first provided the coordinates for the location of Ba Ling.

Surrounding Ba Ling are the Mausoleum of Queen Dou and the South Tomb of Queen Mother Bo. Empress Dowager Bo was the mother of Emperor Wen. According to "Historical Records: A Family of Wife's Family", "Emperor Xiaojing died two years ago and was buried in the Nanling Tomb. Empress Lu was buried in the Changling Tomb, so she built her own mausoleum, close to the Ba Mausoleum of Emperor Xiaowen." Nanling, generally It is thought to be south of Baling. Empress Dou was the empress of Emperor Wen. "The Family of Foreign Relatives" stated that "Emperor Xiao Jing died at the age of six and was buried together in Ba Ling." This means that Empress Dou and Emperor Wen were buried together in Ba Ling. Emperors and empresses of the Han Dynasty were often buried in the same tomb in different caves. That is to say, although they were buried in the same cemetery, they had their own tombs and mounds of earth on the tombs.

"Book of Han: Chronicles of Emperor Wen" Ban Gu praised: "To manage the mausoleum, all earthen vessels are not allowed to be decorated with gold, silver, copper and tin, because the mountain cannot afford tombs." Basically inherited from "Historical Records" , and there are three words "because of the mountain", so later generations generally believe that the Ba Mausoleum should be based on the mountain as the mausoleum, that is, digging a cave in the mountain as the mausoleum and building it with stones. This is better than using the cave as the tomb and building the earth. The other imperial tombs in Weiling were more economical, in line with Emperor Wen's frugal character. For example, Ying Shao of the Eastern Han Dynasty said: "Because the mountain is a hiding place, there are no more tombs, and the rivers under the mountain are not stopped, so the name of the water is the name of the mausoleum." Huangfu Mi of the Western Jin Dynasty said: "The mausoleum is buried because the mountain is the body."

As we all know, the tombs of emperors in the Tang Dynasty were buried in this way, so it seems to be more confirmed that Ba Tombs were also built in the mountains.

The "Shui Jing Zhu" written by Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty has a more detailed record of the Eleven Tombs of the Western Han Dynasty. It mentions that "Ba River and Chan River on the left are connected to the east of Bailuyuan, which is the west of Ba River." Yangyi... Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty was buried on it, and it was called Ba Ling... thirty miles southeast of Chang'an." It was first pointed out that Ba Ling was east of Bailuyuan, but the scope was too large and there was no specific reference. Until the Yuan Dynasty, Luo Tianxiang's "Leibian Chang'an Chronicle" stated that "Emperor Wen's Ba Mausoleum is located at the mouth of Fenghuang in the north of Bailuyuan, forty miles east of Tonghua Gate in Jingzhao." It was the first to point out that Baling was located under the mouth of Fenghuang in the north of Bailuyuan, which further confirmed that Baling should be It is under the Phoenix Mouth of the hill northeast of Bailuyuan.

During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Bi Yuan (yuán) was a great scholar. When he was the governor of Shaanxi, he researched dozens of ancient tombs in Shaanxi Province. He not only recorded the records in the book "Illustrated Records of Guanzhong Scenic Spots", but also erected steles for these ancient tombs one by one. Among the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty where Bi Yuan erected monuments, they include the Ba Mausoleum of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the Mausoleum of Empress Dou, and the South Mausoleum of Empress Dowager Bo. Among them, the Ba Ling Monument is under the Phoenix Mouth on the hill.

In 2001, Ba Ling was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit, and the cultural protection stele was erected under the Phoenix Mouth; in 2013, the Mausoleum of Queen Dou and the Southern Tomb of Queen Mother Bo were also listed as national key cultural relics Protected units and cultural heritage monuments are located next to their respective mounds. Bi Yuan's point of view was recognized.

Modern archeology proves that Qing Dynasty scholars were wrong

Bi Yuan’s research provides clues to modern archaeology.

After the founding of New China, the protection and investigation of the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty emperors was gradually carried out. By the beginning of this century, the locations of the Imperial Tombs of the Western Han Dynasty had basically been confirmed. The "Drilling Survey Report on the Imperial Tombs of the Western Han Dynasty" compiled by the Xianyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology (Cultural Relics Publishing House, 2010 edition) recorded the information of these imperial tombs in detail.

With the progress of archeology, many of Bi Yuan's views are considered wrong. Now the Han Yangling Museum has a stele "Han Hui Emperor's An Tomb" erected by Bi Yuan, but it is actually the tomb of Emperor Hui and Queen of Han Jing, and the real An Tomb of Emperor Hui was verified by Bi Yuan as the tomb of King Zhao Liu Ruyi; the tomb of Empress Lu was originally in Although Bi Yuan determined the location of the two mausoleums to the east of Gaozu Changling, he reversed Gaozu Changling and Lu Hou's mausoleum. In addition, he mistook Emperor Ping Kang's mausoleum for Yuan Emperor Wei's mausoleum, and mistook Yuan's Emperor Wei's mausoleum for Zhao's Ping. The mausoleum of Emperor Zhao was mistaken for the mausoleum of Emperor Ping Kang; the mausoleum of empress Shangguan of Zhao was mistaken for the mausoleum of Emperor Ai.

Bi Yuan’s bigger fallacy lies in his research on the royal tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty. He researched the Tomb of King Wen of Zhou, the Tomb of King Wu of Zhou, the Tomb of King Cheng of Zhou, the Tomb of King Kang of Zhou, the Tomb of King *** of Zhou, the Tomb of Lu Shang, the Tomb of Zhou Gong and the Tomb of Luhou Boqin on the Xianyang Plain. It is popular in the tombs of the dynasties to "no trees and no seals". There are no trees or seals as signs. Research now shows that these tombs are all Qin or Han tombs and accompanying tombs.

Of course, Bi Yuan also had some views that were considered correct in the past, such as the markings on the Ba Mausoleum of Emperor Han Wen, the Mausoleum of Empress Dou, and the Southern Tomb of Empress Dowager Bo. There are indeed archaeological discoveries in the Mausoleum of Queen Dou and the South Tomb of Queen Mother Bo that can corroborate historical data.

Cultural relics unearthed from Jiangcun Tomb and Queen Mother Bo’s Southern Tomb

In 1966, 47 burial pits were excavated in the west of Queen Dou’s Mausoleum, and painted figurines of female attendants, clay pots, and half a coin were unearthed , animal bones and grains, etc.; in 1981, 20 burial pits were also discovered outside the west wall of the Nanling Mausoleum of Queen Mother Bo, and pottery figurines, pottery pots, animal bones, etc. were unearthed. There seems to be nothing that can be questioned about Ba Ling, except that Ba Ling is built on a mountain, so there are no such archaeological discoveries. However, no mausoleum has been found at Fenghuangzui, and there are no chiseling marks on the mountain. Such evidence is still lacking.

Until recently, the real Ba Ling was finally discovered, not at the Phoenix Mouth as people thought.

A group of pottery figurines unearthed from the outer pit of the Southern Tomb of Empress Dowager Bo, courtesy of New Vision in the Late Northern Dynasty

The Jiangcun Tomb is the real "Baling"

2002 In 2006, six Western Han Dynasty pottery figurines appeared at auctions in the United States, attracting the attention of relevant departments. After detailed investigation, in 2006, archaeologists finally located the unearthed location of the pottery figurines at the Jiangcun Tomb on Bailuyuan. Jiangcun Tomb is located about 2.1 kilometers south of Fenghuangzui, about 800 meters southwest of Queen Dou's Mausoleum, and less than 2 kilometers northeast of Queen Mother Bo's South Mausoleum. Overall, Jiangcun Tomb is located between Fenghuangzui, Queen Dou's Mausoleum and Queen Mother Bo's South Tomb, and is closer to Queen Dou's Mausoleum from Fenghuangzui. The fact that the tomb owner can be buried in this position is enough to show the special relationship with Queen Dou.

Because some of the outer storage pits and accompanying tombs of Jiangcun Tomb have been robbed, archaeologists carried out rescue excavations on these tombs and conducted archaeological exploration of Jiangcun Tomb. Archaeologists discovered that around the Jiangcun Tomb and Queen Dou's Mausoleum, there is a larger cemetery site, which is 1.2 kilometers long from east to west and 860 meters wide from north to south. This actually means that Jiangcun Tomb and Queen Dou's Mausoleum are located together. In a cemetery. As mentioned earlier, the imperial mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty implemented the system of "same tombs in different caves", so we can already make preliminary inferences about who the owner of the Jiangcun Tomb is.

In addition, archaeologists also discovered that the Jiangcun tomb is shaped like a "Ya" character, with a tomb passage on each of its southeast, northwest and four sides. "Ya"-shaped tombs are also a typical feature of the tombs of emperors and queens of the Western Han Dynasty; while the tombs of princes and kings are generally "中"-shaped, with only two tomb passages in the east, west or north and south; as for the tombs of Qing officials, they are generally "A"-shaped, with only one tomb passage. There is a tomb passage on the side. Since the Jiangcun Tomb is in the shape of "Ya", its owner is naturally either the emperor or the empress. This can also be confirmed by the scale of the tombs. The Jiangcun Tomb covers an area of ??5,256 square meters, while the largest tomb of the Western Han Dynasty princes and kings discovered in the past was only 1,295 square meters.

In addition, supporting cemetery facilities such as rammed earth city walls and gates were also found in Jiangcun Tomb. There are 115 burial pits distributed around the tombs in the cemetery. According to the 8 pits excavated, cultural relics such as pottery figurines, pottery, ironware, bronzes, chariots and horses were unearthed. In addition, there were "Zhongsi Kongyin", "Zhongsi Kongcheng", "Cangyin", "Liaoyin" and "Utensils". "Mansion", "Chefu" and other seals, these seals are some ghost weapons. The Han people attach great importance to "death as life", and these burial pits are equivalent to simulating a set of government agencies for the deceased tomb owners. Similar cultural relics were also unearthed in the Yangling Tomb of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty.

The seal unearthed from the pit outside the Jiangcun Tomb. Photo courtesy of New Vision in the Northern Late Dynasty

Based on the above evidence, archaeologists believe that the Jiangcun Tomb is the real tomb of the Han Dynasty emperor , such a view is naturally well-founded and consistent with the records of the original documents. "Historical Records·Xiaowen Ji" says "the graves are not repaired", which only means that Ba Ling did not seal the mound. "Hanshu·Wen Di Ji" says "because of the mountain, no graves can be built", but the "because of the mountain" here should just mean Building a mausoleum based on a mountain does not mean using a mountain as a mausoleum.

However, Ying Shao, Huang Fumi and others in the Han and Jin Dynasties had a wrong understanding, which is why there was the theory of Phoenix Mouth in the Yuan Dynasty and the erection of a stele by Bi Yuan in the Qing Dynasty. This fallacy has been circulated for nearly two thousand years.