Yongchang Mausoleum

Yongchang mausoleum is the mausoleum of song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin (927-976), located in today's Gongyi City under the jurisdiction of Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. The emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty were all buried in Gongyi. Zhao Kuangyin served in the forbidden army of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and became a senior general of the army because of his bravery. At that time, he was the chief inspector. In the spring of 960, the famous "Chenqiao mutiny" was launched in CHENQiao Town, Fengqiu County, Henan Province. Instead of the Later Zhou Dynasty, he declared himself Emperor and named the state "song". He was in office for 17 years, and he was 50 years old. In order to prevent the recurrence of history, he made his generals return home by "drinking wine to release military power", which became a classic move in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Yongchang Mausoleum

Yongchang mausoleum is located in the south of Wuluo River and the north of Xicun in Gongyi City, Henan Province. It is adjacent to Yongan Mausoleum of his father Zhao Hongyin (xuanzu of Song Dynasty) in the East and Yongxi Mausoleum of his brother Zhao Guangyi (Taizong of Song Dynasty) in the West. Among the song Mausoleums in Gongyi City, Yongchang mausoleum is a well preserved one.

survey

Zhao Kuangyin (March 21, 927 - November 14, 976) was the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty. He used to be the spot inspector in front of the palace of the Later Zhou Dynasty, leading the song state to the German army and taking charge of the military power. In 960 A.D., he launched the "Chenqiao mutiny", that is, the throne, known as "song", and established the Song Dynasty, with Bianliang as its capital. Song Taizu died in 976 AD and was buried in the song mausoleum area of Henan Prefecture in Xijing city. The mausoleum was named Yongchang.

Yongchang mausoleum is located in the south of Wuluo River and the north of Xicun, adjacent to Yongan Mausoleum of his father Zhao Hongyin xuanzu in the East and Yongxi Mausoleum of his brother Zhao Guangyi Taizong in the West.

Among the song Mausoleums in Gongyi City, Yongchang mausoleum is a well preserved one. The bottom of Yongchang mausoleum is 48-55 meters long and 14.8 meters high. The cemetery is 231.6 meters from east to west, 235 meters from north to south, with one gate in the center on each side. The gate site is about 18 meters wide, with one pair of stone lions outside each of the four gates. The distance between the South Gate of the cemetery and the Rutai is 142.5 meters, and the distance between the Rutai and the quetai is 155 meters. The distance between ER Ru Tai and ER que Tai is 50 meters and 54 meters respectively. There is Shinto between the South Gate of the mausoleum and Rutai. The Shinto is 45 meters from east to west. There are all kinds of stone elephants symmetrically arranged. From south to north, there are Huabiao, Shixiang and tamxiang man, Ruiqin and Jiaoduan, two pairs of Shima and kongmaguan, two pairs of Shihu and Shiyang, three pairs of vassal envoys, and four pairs of Wen and Wuchen. There are stone lions outside the fourth gate of the cemetery, warriors in the north of the stone lions in the south gate, and palace people in front of the mausoleum in the south gate.

Huabiao is 5.8 meters high and 1 meter wide, with a square base at the bottom and a lotus shaped column base at the top. The body of the column is an eight diamond shape, which is gradually closed and killed from the bottom to the top. The top of the column is covered with lotus on the back, and the top of the column is formed by the combination of the Pearl and the petal lotus. There are two kinds of sculptures on the rhombic surface of the column body, i.e. reducing the ground and single line Yin carving. The contents of the picture include cloud dragon pattern, long necked vase and rolled grass flowers. Among the Huabiao of song mausoleum in Gongyi City, Yongchang mausoleum has the best carving, exquisite composition and smooth lines.

The stone elephant is 2.55 meters long, 1.1 meters wide and 2.15 meters high, while the elephant trainer is 2.23 meters high, 0.79 meters wide and 0.56 meters back. The stone elephant has a huge body and magnificent shape. It is covered with gorgeous brocade, with a lotus seat on its back, a trunk dragging the floor and a bridle on its face. Take a standing posture, hollow out under the abdomen. The tame elephant wears a turban on its head, a robe and a jade belt on its waist, and holds the tame elephant with both hands arched in front of its chest.

Ruiqin is 2.2m high, 1.73m long and 0.63M wide. As a whole, it looks like a GUI shape, with relief of overlapping peaks, and no peak pattern is carved on both sides and the top. A strange bird with horse's head, dragon's body, eagle's claw, Phoenix's wing and bird's tail is embossed in the bird stone carving of xilerei. Donglierui bird is the only one with sheep head (the rest are horse head) among the 14 existing Rui birds in Songling of Gongyi City.

The corner is 2m high, 2m long and 0.8m wide. Jiaoduan is a kind of animal in people's imagination, which symbolizes auspiciousness and Jiarui. Its image is one horn, the front lip is very long, or roll or stretch, four feet like a lion, two ribs carved with wings.

The stone horse is 2.1 meters high, 1.8 meters long and 0.74 meters wide. The horse control officer is 2.7 meters high, 0.7 meters wide and 0.5 meters thick. The stone horse is decorated with saddle, saddle, stirrup, rein, hoop and bell. The horse control officer wore a scarf, a robe and a staff or rein in his hand.

Shihu is 1.7m high, 1.3m long and 0.55M wide. The body is huge, the carving is meticulous, and the modeling is realistic.

Shiyang is 1.6m high, 1.2m long and 0.5m wide. Solid shape, plain face.

The vassal envoy is about 3 meters high, 0.85 meters wide and 0.68 meters thick. In the Song Dynasty, the civil servants were headed by the prime minister, and the military officials were headed by the secret envoys. In the order of the upper Dynasty, the civil officials were above the military officials. Therefore, the stone inscriptions of the mausoleum had the official statues in the north and the military official statues in the south. In the stone images, the costumes of Wen and Wu are the same, but the only difference is that Wen and Wu hold wat board and long sword. Civil and military officials wear three or five beam crowns, long gowns and Square Jade belts around their waists.

There are a pair of stone lions outside the four gates of the cemetery. The stone lion is left, the female is right, the female is curled, and the female is covered. Outside the south gate, the two lions are walking lions and standing posture. They look at each other. They are 1.9 meters high, 3.08 meters long and 0.82 meters wide. The stone lions at the East, West and north gates all crouch and hold their heads high. They are 1.58-2.05 meters high, 1.7 meters long and 0.7-0.9 meters wide.

One pair of zhenmen warriors, located outside the South Gate of the cemetery and north of the stone lion, is about 4 meters high, 1.1 meters wide and 0.7 meters thick. Samurai like tall, brave, wearing helmets, body armor, weapons in hand.

Two pairs of palace people are located in the south gate and in front of the mausoleum. The palace people are about 3 meters high, 0.57 meters wide and 0.4 meters thick. They wear Fu head, narrow sleeve robes and delicate faces. They seem to be palace maids.

brief introduction

The Northern Song Dynasty is a feudal dynasty full of ups and downs, strange and changeable events in Chinese history. It was also a dynasty whose royal mausoleum was far away from the capital. The location of the imperial mausoleum in Gongyi, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, was not only due to geomantic omen, but also due to the political foresight of moving the capital to Luoyang. Later, due to the political struggle of the court, the move of the capital failed. Yongchang mausoleum is the mausoleum of song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin (927-976). Zhao Kuangyin served in the forbidden army of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and became a senior general of the army because of his bravery. At that time, he was the chief inspector. In the spring of 960, the famous "Chenqiao mutiny" was launched in CHENQiao Town, Fengqiu County, Henan Province. Instead of the Later Zhou Dynasty, he declared himself Emperor and named the state "song". He was in office for 17 years, and he was 50 years old. In order to prevent the recurrence of history, he made his generals return home by "drinking wine to release military power", which became a classic move in the Northern Song Dynasty.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, the emperors did not build mausoleums before they died. When the emperor died, he had to stop working for seven months. Only then can they be buried in the newly built mausoleum.

Construction history

After the death of Zhao Kuangyin, the coffin was placed in the hall of longevity. The emperor's younger brother, empress, Prince and Minister of culture and military mourned every day. The next year, in April, the coffin was transported to the imperial mausoleum, now Zhitian Township, Gongyi City, Henan Province. More than 3000 officials, guards, honor guards and imperial concubines escorted the hearse arrived at the mausoleum on the 25th. Local legend, to noon burial time, suddenly listen to "boring chirp"! A white rabbit flew over and hit the gong. With another thump, a big carp fell from the air onto the drum. At this time, another stone man appeared on the eastern mountain, facing the coffin, as if in silence. These signs seemed to indicate that Zhao Kuangyin's death was known to God, so some people said that it was "Heaven's sign, God and man's hanging". Therefore, every year's sacrifice in the song mausoleum was accompanied by carp and rabbit. The mountain in the East was also renamed "stone man mountain", and the saying that "jade rabbits play gongs, fish play drums, stone men on the mountain lay a foundation for the monarch" spread in the mausoleum area.

Zhaoya of Yongchang mausoleum originally occupied an area of about 4000 mu. Zhaoya did not build walls, but planted pines and cypresses around it. From afar, Berlin is like weaving and green leaves are like covering, so it is also known as "Park City". The existing platform (tomb head) of Yongchang mausoleum is in the shape of a covered bucket, with a width of 60 meters from east to west, a length of 62 meters from north to south, and a residual height of 21 meters. None of the original buildings in the cemetery has been preserved. Only the foundation mounds of quetai and Rutai are still in existence. As for pines and cypresses, Poncirus trifoliata, flowers and plants, has long been gone. Not long ago, when I visited Yongchang mausoleum, I saw that on the flat and broad yellow cultivated soil, before the high mausoleum, there were stone carved lions, tigers, horses, sheep, horn ends, warriors and watchposts standing on both sides. These ancient sculptures of rich style, reflected in the afterglow of the setting sun, are particularly deep and solemn, which makes people feel nostalgic.

Positional structure

Zhaoya of Yongchang mausoleum originally occupied an area of about 4000 mu. Zhaoya did not build walls, but planted pines and cypresses around it. From afar, Berlin is like weaving and green leaves are like covering, so it is also known as "Park City". The existing platform (tomb head) of Yongchang mausoleum is in the shape of a covered bucket, with a width of 60 meters from east to west, a length of 62 meters from north to south, and a residual height of 21 meters. None of the original buildings in the cemetery has been preserved. Before the high mausoleum, there are stone sculptures of lions, tigers, horses, sheep, horns, warriors and watchposts standing on both sides.

According to the records of the history of the Song Dynasty, there is a "Imperial Hall", or underground palace, more than 20 meters below the Lingtai, where the emperor's coffin is stored. The objects of the funeral included jade GUIs, swords, crowns, emerald clothes and various objects. Because the song mausoleum has not yet been scientifically excavated, the details are unknown.

Yongchang mausoleum, as the mausoleum of the founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, is a model of the imperial mausoleum of the Northern Song Dynasty, although it is poorer than the previous dynasty. Yongchang mausoleum is composed of upper palace, lower palace, empress Xiaozhang's Mausoleum of Song Dynasty, empress zhanghuaipan's Mausoleum and two accompanying tombs. The mausoleum area is 2000 meters long in the South and 6000 meters wide in the East. Yongchang lingpu palace is high in the South and high in the north

Chinese PinYin : Yong Chang Ling