GA cave

GA cave

Gaxiandong is a natural cave, located in gaxiandong Forest Park, 10km northwest of Alihe Town, Oroqen Autonomous Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, at the east end of the peak of the north section of the Great Xing'an Mountains, and on the granite cliff of the hillside of gashan mountain on the North Bank of Ganhe River, a tributary of Nenjiang River. It has many peaks and mountains, towering trees, and pine and birch trees. Above the cliff, the cave is about 5 meters higher than the flat ground. It is more than 90 meters long from south to north, 27 meters wide from east to west, and more than 20 meters high. It is the birthplace of the ancient Xianbei people. There are rich cultural layers in the cave, which has important scientific value for the study of the early history of Tuoba Xianbei. It is a key cultural relic protection unit in China.

Brief introduction of gaxian cave

"Gaxian" means "tribe, hometown" in the tin foil language, and "hunting immortal" in the Oroqen language. Xianbei is one of the minorities in Northeast China in ancient times. Gaxiandong is located 10 kilometers northwest of Alihe Town, Oroqen Autonomous Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and on the North Bank of Ganhe River, a tributary of Nenjiang River. It is the birthplace of Tuoba Xianbei ethnic group in ancient North China. Xianbei ethnic group is one of the ethnic minorities in Ancient Northeast China. Today, gaxiandong in Oroqen Autonomous Banner is the famous "Xianbei stone chamber", which is the ancestral temple of Tuoba Xianbei.

Gaxian cave is a natural cave. It is located on a cliff about 25 meters above the ground, 30 ° south by West. The main cave is 92 meters long and 28 meters wide, covering an area of about 2000 square meters, with a maximum of more than 20 meters. In the northwest, there is an upward inclined hole with a slope of about 20 degrees. The inclined hole is 22 meters long, 9 meters wide and 7 meters high. A natural stone slab about 3 meters square is placed in the middle of the main tunnel, and large stone blocks are used to support it. The tunnel wall is flat, and thick moss is accumulated underground. On the west wall of the cave, there is an inscription on the time when tuobatao, the true king of Taiping in the Northern Wei Dynasty, sent Li Kuang, the Minister of Zhongshu, to worship his ancestors. In the yellow sticky sand layer 1.3 meters below the surface of the earth, there are beaten stone tools unearthed, indicating that there may be earlier cultural relics here. Xianbei nationality lived in the north of China and founded the Northern Wei Dynasty, which became the first minority nationality in the history of the Chinese nation to enter the Central Plains. When archaeologists brushed away more than 1500 years of history and dust from the stone wall of gaxian cave, 10 kilometers northwest of Alihe Town, Olunchun Autonomous Banner, the 201 character official script "Zhu Wen" appeared unbelievably. This discovery is just confirmed by "Wei Shu", which says that chiseling stones is the ancestral temple. However, it is believed that the meaning of this remark is that there are three small holes chiseled 15 meters behind the bottom of the natural cave. Because of the arrangement, height and size of the three small holes, there are obvious design marks, while the entrance of the big hole is ugly, there is no gravel phenomenon, and the project is huge, not artificial.

Cave Temple site

According to the book of Wei, Zhenjun, the ancestor of the Marquis of the state of Wuluo, came to the dynasty in four years. "It is said that in the northwest of the country, there is the old ruins of the former Emperor of the state. The stone chamber is 90 steps from north to south, 40 steps from east to west, and 70 feet high.". In the Northern Wei Dynasty, Taiwu emperor tuobatao sent Li Chang, the Minister of Zhongshu, to offer sacrifices to the emperor, and "published the congratulatory articles on the wall of the room". There are 201 characters in the existing inscriptions, which are basically consistent with the Zhuwen recorded in historical records. It is confirmed that it is the birthplace of Tuoba Xianbei recognized by the Northern Wei Dynasty. There are rich cultural layers in the cave, which is of great scientific value for the study of the early history of Tuoba Xianbei. It is a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Through investigation, researchers of Xianbei culture found that there is also a large-scale but unfinished Cave Temple site in gaxian cave, the ancestral home of Xianbei people. The last third of gaxian cave was dug by hand. According to the analysis of the artificial relics, it was a large-scale grotto Temple designed at that time, but the project was not completed. The space is 40 meters long, 8 to 13 meters wide and 8 to 12 meters high. The main cave of gaxian cave has smooth side wall and natural migration. After turning left 75 meters away from the cave entrance, the side walls begin to be mottled, with concave and convex edges, and continue to the end. There are obvious traces of manual excavation, and there are unfinished manual excavation designs, such as the top niches, corridors, statues and so on.

Researchers of Xianbei culture have preliminarily determined that gaxiandong grotto temple was excavated in 443 ad when Li Chang, a minister of Taiwu emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, led people to gaxiandong cave to worship their ancestors. According to the analysis of the researchers, the reason for the unfinished project of gaxiandong Grottoes temple is due to the great changes of religious belief. In 446 ad, in the third year of Xianbei people's going to gaxiandong to worship their ancestors, Taiwu emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who believed in Buddhism, converted to Taoism and began the movement of exterminating Buddhism. Six years after the abolition of Buddhism, Emperor Taiwu died, Emperor Wencheng ascended the throne and issued an edict to revive Buddhism. Later, the world-famous Yungang Grottoes and Longmen Grottoes were excavated in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Experts believe that the excavation project of gaxiandong Grottoes temple may be stranded due to the extermination of Buddhism by Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

History and culture

Gaxian cave is a large natural cave, 25 meters above the ground. The mouth of the cave faces southwest and is slightly triangular. The cave is more than 90 meters long from north to South and 28 meters wide from east to west. The highest part of the dome is more than 20 meters. It is divided into three chambers (front chamber, middle chamber and back chamber only) with an area of about 2000 square meters. The cave is dark and deep with smooth stone walls. On July 30, 1980, archaeologists found in the cave a congratulatory inscription carved by tuobatao, the Taiwu emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, when he sent Li Chang, the Minister of the Chinese book, to worship his ancestors in 443 ad (the fourth year of Taiping Zhenjun). Zhu Wen is engraved on the stone wall on the west side near the entrance of the cave. There are 19 lines in total, 12 whole lines, with 12 to 16 characters in each line. The rest are half lines, which are the title and other lines. Weishu, a Chinese character, has a strong sense of Li, simple and vigorous, 201 characters in full text, and its font is clumsy, which is between Li and Kai. This important discovery proves that gaxian cave is the ancestral temple stone chamber of Tuoba Xianbei mentioned in Wei Shu.

The full text is as follows:

The inscriptions carved on the stone wall of gaxian cave are the inscriptions carved by Li Chang, Minister of tuobatao school, and others when they came here to worship their ancestors in 443 ad. it has a history of more than 1560 years. It is an original file and a very precious historical relic. The stone inscription Zhu Wentong is 70 cm high and 120 cm wide, with 19 lines and 201 characters. The Chinese character Wei Shu has a strong official meaning, which is basically consistent with the records in Li Zhi of Wei Shu, but there are some differences in individual handwriting. The full text of the article is as follows: "on July 25, the fourth year of weitaiping Zhengjun, the emperor's minister Tao sent his attendants to the imperial court. Li Chang and Fu Xuan, the ministers of the imperial court, bravely told the God of heaven that at the beginning of the founding of the people's Republic of China, they would bless our emperor and live in that land for hundreds of millions of years. Yu's move to the South should be a blessing. In the light of the Central Plains, only the father is the father. The four sides were expanded and the flow was celebrated. Extend to Chong people, play Xuanfeng. Add Chongtang, conquer Jian fierce blade, power and four wasteland, you forget reverie. When the chieftain came to the king, he began to hear about the old ruins. I hope to look forward to Yu Guang. The rise of Wang Ye originated from the emperor. Mianmian melon claw, when only many. Return to Xie Shi, push to match the heaven, children and grandchildren, fortune forever. Recommended in: Emperor's heaven, Emperor's earth. The emperor's ancestors can be matched with cold, and the emperor's ancestors can be matched with dun. I'd like to thank you for your kindness

The original translation is as follows:

This article is to praise his ancestors in the tone of the emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and pray for their blessing. The main idea of the inscription is as follows: on July 25, the fourth year of emperor Zhenjun of Taiping (443 AD), Li Chang and Fu que, ministers of tuobatao's school, brought horses, cattle and sheep to sacrifice. Since the beginning, the God of heaven has blessed the ancestors of Tuoba emperor, who lived in gaxiandong. After a long time, they went out of the forest of Daxinganling, moved southward to Hulunbeier grassland, and then to Monan and the Yellow River Valley, swept away the heroes and settled in the Central Plains. The blessings created by the ancestors passed on to the future generations and continued to tuobatao himself. In this dynasty, Taoism was advocated, metaphysics was advocated, and more temples were built to fight the ugly enemies in all directions. I heard that the envoys from the Marquis of uluo said that the place where our ancestors lived was here, which aroused my nostalgia and admiration for our ancestors. Because our prosperity today comes from the kindness of our ancestors, which is passed down year by year, so I come back to thank them for giving me Our blessing, and bless the children and grandchildren to enjoy forever, offer sacrifices. Please Tianshen, Dishen, Xianhuang enjoy it!

History of Xianbei nationality

"Gaxian" means "tribe, hometown" in the tin foil language, and "hunting immortal" in the Oroqen language. Xianbei is one of the minorities in Northeast China in ancient times. Gaxian cave is the birthplace of Tuoba Xianbei in ancient northern China. The vast and magnificent Daxinganling is the cradle of the ancient northern nationalities, from which many northern nomadic nationalities have become brilliant generation by generation. Tuoba Xianbei is the first nomadic people in northern China to enter the Central Plains and establish a feudal dynasty in Chinese history. In the first century BC, Tuoba Xianbei people came out of the forest where they lived for generations and first unified Hulunbuir prairie. Then, on this basis, it moved southward continuously and developed gradually. In 386 ad, it unified northern China in Shengle (now in Helingeer County, Hohhot City). In 494 ad, it moved its capital to Luoyang, forming a powerful Northern Wei Dynasty confronting the Southern Song and Qi dynasties. The Northern Wei regime experienced 148 years of 12 emperors. With a broad mind and an inclusive bearing, the Tuoba Xianbei nationality absorbed the cultures of various nationalities, laid the foundation for the flourishing age of Sui and Tang Dynasties, and made important contributions to the cultural integration and formation of the Chinese nation.

The legend of gaxian cave

It is said that a long time ago, it was a primeval forest. In summer, the pines and birches were thick and shaded, and the wild flowers were in full bloom. In winter, the snow covered mountains and forests were silver

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