He Ling

Tomb of Meng Zhixiang

synonym

He Mausoleum (he Mausoleum of Meng Zhixiang, the great ancestor of the later Shu Dynasty) generally refers to the tomb of Meng Zhixiang

The tomb of Meng Zhixiang is located at the south foot of Mopan Mountain, about 7 km away from the north suburb of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, and about 0.5 km away from the west of the cemetery. For a long time, it has been misinterpreted as an ancient brick kiln. In the winter of 1970, local farmers found that it was a large tomb in the process of soil improvement. In the spring of 1971, the Sichuan Provincial Museum, together with relevant units, excavated the tomb. At first, it was thought to be a large-scale Tomb of the Ming Dynasty. Later, with the excavation of the epitaph of Princess Fuqing and the remnant jade slips, it was known that it was the joint Tomb of Meng Zhixiang and his wife in the later Shu Dynasty. After the establishment of the Municipal Office of cultural administration in 1973, it carried out maintenance and management. In July 1980, it was announced as a provincial cultural relics protection unit. In 2006, the State Council approved Meng Zhixiang's tomb to be listed in the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

essential information

The tomb of Meng Zhixiang is located at the south foot of Mopan Mountain, about 7km away from the northern suburb of Chengdu. It is the mausoleum of Meng Zhixiang, the late Shu emperor in the Five Dynasties. It is known as "he tomb" in history. Meng Zhixiang's tomb is a rare mausoleum with northern grassland architectural style in the south. The ancient tomb was hidden in a green forest. Due to the erosion of wind and rain, the murals in the tomb fell off seriously, and the burial objects were stolen in the early years. Perhaps the owner of the tomb did not expect that the tomb robbers would plunder the rich funerary services he enjoyed after his death. Although there is nothing left in the tomb, from the polished blue stone in the tomb chamber and the relief carvings of Rex, dragon and Phoenix, we can see the splendor of the tomb owner.

explore

Excavated in 1971. The tomb is special in shape. It is divided into two parts: the tomb path and the treasure city, all of which are made of bluestone. The path of the tomb is 12.5 meters long and made of blue bricks. The gate of the tomb is a stone structure of archway style, with reliefs of green dragon and white tiger; the two inner walls are painted with painted figures of male and female palace people. The chamber of the tomb is a conical dome, with the main chamber in the middle and one ear chamber on both sides. It has the same structure and is connected with the main chamber. The main chamber is 8.16m high and 6.5m in diameter. The auricular chamber is 6 meters high and 3.4 meters in diameter. In the main room, there is a blue stone coffin platform of xumizuo, which is 5.1 meters long, 2.7 meters wide and 2.1 meters high. There are five round sculptures of naked curly hair in front and back. At the time of excavation, the tomb had been stolen, and only pieces of artifacts, jade mourning volumes, posthumous volumes and jade ornaments were unearthed.

Tomb shape

At first glance, Meng Zhixiang's tomb looks like a big tent with a small tent on each side. It is very rare in South China that this kind of vault structure tomb is built with stone. As far as Sichuan is concerned, most of the tombs of Tang and Five Dynasties discovered and excavated so far are multi room or single room tombs with rectangular arches, and the former Yongling Mausoleum of Shu is the most representative. It is a special case that the tomb of Meng Zhixiang has a dome structure. When you see the architectural style of Meng Zhixiang's tomb, you can't help but think of the famous folk song of the southern and Northern Dynasties, the song of kuale: "kuale River, under the Yinshan Mountain. The sky is like a dome, covering four fields. The sky is vast, the wild is vast, the wind is blowing, the grass is low, cattle and sheep can be seen ".

Why is there such a mausoleum with northern architectural style and prairie cultural color as Meng Zhixiang's tomb in Chengdu, deep in the south? According to reports, this comes down to Meng Zhixiang's own experience. Although Meng Zhixiang was born into an official family of the Han nationality, he was a member of the Shatuo tribe (Shatuo originated from other Turkic tribes, that is, the descendants of the Turkic nationality). He was not immune from the influence of his cultural traditions and customs. Therefore, there is no doubt that the architectural style of Meng Zhixiang's tomb is related to the vault in the north, which is the reflection of the vault room culture in the tomb.

plan

Although the tomb of Meng Zhixiang, the tomb of he tomb, is in a state of disrepair, it has been repaired every year. Because of its long existence and serious wind erosion, and the tomb was stolen at the time of excavation, only fragments of utensils, jade mourning volumes, posthumous volumes, jade ornaments and the epitaph of Meng's wife Princess Fuqing have been unearthed. However, these objects are only preserved in the Provincial Museum, and there is nothing in the tomb, so they have not been opened to tourists for many years Let's go.

Xu, deputy director of Chenghua District Culture and Broadcasting Bureau, said that Chenghua District will re plan the tomb of Meng Zhixiang, strengthen the repair, and strive to return the unearthed tomb relics preserved in the provincial museum to Meng Zhixiang's tomb, so that Meng Zhixiang's tomb can meet tourists as soon as possible.

Meng Zhixiang and himself

Meng Zhixiang (874-934), whose name is Baoyin, was born in Xingtai County. Meng Chang was his son. He was the emperor of later Shu in Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Meng Zhixiang became emperor in Chengdu, and was known as Shu. He mobilized the people to plant Hibiscus everywhere in Chengdu to beautify the city. When the flowers bloom in September, the whole city is beautiful. Chengdu is now referred to as Rongcheng, when Meng Zhixiang began to plant Chengdu. After Meng Zhixiang died, his son Meng Chang succeeded to the throne. One new year's Eve, Meng Chang wrote auspicious words and sentences on the peach board: the new year celebrates the rest of the year, and the festival is called Changchun. This is the first spring festival couplet in Chinese history.

Address: at the foot of Mopan Mountain, Shuling Road, Chenghua District, Chengdu

Longitude: 104.122087

Latitude: 30.738665

Ticket information: market price: from 10.0 yuan

Chinese PinYin : He Ling