Walking around Changling

In the past few years, traveling between Xitong and Xitong, I have passed by Hanyang Tomb countless times. In my impression, every autumn, Airport Road, which has always been sparsely populated with cars, extends to the vicinity of Hanyang Tomb. It seems that the scene has changed and it immediately becomes congested.

It turns out that it is the time when the ginkgo trees are in full bloom in the garden. The sun is shining brightly and the sky is high. Standing on the Liangcun Plateau, you can see as far as the eye can see. The Wei River is gurgle in the south and the Jinghe River is in the north. The rare weather is different. It’s such a beautiful scenery, it’s strange that no one comes here.

But I always feel sad.

If it weren’t for this most beautiful ginkgo forest, who would have thought there was an imperial mausoleum here? Who would have thought that Liu Qi, the Han Jing Emperor who pioneered the "Wen-Jing Dynasty", would be buried in this loess? I'm afraid there are very few. Does such a large Han Yang Mausoleum need a forest to "declare" its existence?

This phenomenon is not unique. This is the case with Tang Zhaoling. Up and down Jiuwei Mountain, on one side is the popular Liquan Yuanjia Village, and on the other side is the slightly lonely Tang Zhaoling Mausoleum. It has to be said that the popularity of Yuanjia Village has once again put Zhaoling in front of people, making it attract a lot of attention.

After all, there are only a few people who enjoy such a geographical advantage, especially in Xianyang Plateau where there are many imperial tombs (not to mention the more than 200 burial tombs).

Qianling is an outlier among them - it never lacks worshipers. An unmarked monument, a generation of empress Wu Zetian, and a Huangchaogou ditch are enough to explain the problem. And places like Changling, Anling, Baling, Maoling... although they have long been famous in the history of turmoil, they are inevitably forgotten day by day.

The rolling Yangtze River flows eastward, and the waves wash away the heroes.

Success or failure turns into nothing.

The green hills are still there, and the sunset turns red several times.

The white-haired fisherman and woodcutter on the Nagisa River are used to watching the autumn moon and spring breeze.

A jug of turbid wine brings happiness to each other.

Many things in ancient and modern times are all discussed in a joke.

—— "Linjiang Immortal·Rolling Water of the Yangtze River Passes East" by Yang Shen of the Ming Dynasty

The setting sun sets in the west, and the remaining clouds roll in at dusk. I planned to go to Jingyang with my friends, but accidentally discovered Liu Bang's Changling. The gravel road is more than ten feet wide, running from north to south. There are dense pine trees on both sides of the road. They are not very tall. The farmer driving the rotary cultivator is turning the steering wheel carefully.

The mausoleum is square in shape and looks like an overturned bucket. We climbed to the top of the tomb, following the path that had been trampled by others. On the hillock more than 30 meters high, the west wind howled and chilled people. Looking south, the Wei River looks like a silver belt, white and shiny. White smoke rises straight from the tall chimneys of Xianyang Chemical Industry Zone and into the sky.

Not far away, I saw Queen Lu’s mausoleum. It had the same shape, but was much smaller. It is located in the southeast of Changling, in the direction of Chang'an and Peixian. Empress Lu's mausoleum is obviously several times larger than the tombs of Xiao He, Cao Shen and others next to it - "The high tower of Changling is here to shelter Liu, and there are numerous burials for all the princes."

No one can avoid thousands of years. The final fate of the pile of bones that followed. In the face of death, everyone is equal. No one is the same when it comes to the ritual of death. Princes and generals have the etiquette of princes and generals, and common people have the etiquette of common people.

Throughout thousands of years of human history, few people have been able to transform a common man into a king.

What is extremely rare is that Liu Bang grasped his destiny.

As a petty official, he can go up; as a bandit, he can go down.

It was too difficult for Liu Bang to go from Peixian to Chang'an.

How many times have you been defeated and how many times have you regrouped, how many times have you been pursued and intercepted and how many times have you saved the day, how many times have your life hung by a thread and how many times have you come back... Is King Xiang brave? To be feared or not? Liu Bang suffered repeated defeats and battles. He lasted until the end.

He became the king of Guanzhong and the king of the whole world.

Times change.

Like Liu Bang’s struggle, few people today are willing to live in inaction for the rest of their lives. As long as a person lives, he must do something. Not only must he leave a lasting mark, but he must also create something of value. Otherwise, how different it is from an ant!

There are too many tombs in Xianyang Plateau that are gradually forgotten like Changling. They come from the depths of history and will go to the future. The meaning of their existence seems to be to verify that history is really like this, and they always vaguely remind us that some truths and laws have remained the same for thousands of years.

No one can understand the mystery of this. But everyone is connected to it all the time. It lies between us and our ancestors. It comes from the era of our ancestors, passes by our generation, and leads to our children and grandchildren in the next generation. Without the past of our ancestors, there would be no us now, let alone future generations.

It does exist. Thousands of years ago, there was indeed a king who stepped on the land in front of me. He had thoughts, worries, wishes and plans just like me. In front of Liu Bang's tomb, I smelled the breath of the Han Dynasty...

For these mausoleums, barren tombs and graves from long ago, I seemed to feel a little comfort besides the sadness - living history It is there, never at the mercy of your will. Regardless of the scenery or the loneliness, it is indeed there. Its existence speaks volumes.

If it is not here, it must be somewhere else. No one can deny this. Whether you know it or not, remember it or not, it doesn't matter. To deny the past is to deny the present. This is logic.

May 5, 2017