Zhao Wangling

Zhao Wangling

Zhaowangling mausoleum, also known as Sanling mausoleum and wenyaolingtai, is located in the hilly area at the northwest junction of Handan county and Yongnian County in Hebei Province. It is 20km away from Handan city and belongs to Sanling township. There are five relatively concentrated mausoleums with a distance of no more than 2-3km. Among them, there are three Mausoleums in Handan County, numbered 1, 2 and 3 from east to west; the other two mausoleums are numbered 4 in Yongnian County They are the mausoleum of the king of Zhao, one of the seven heroes of the Warring States period in China. They are national key cultural relics protection units and the oldest mausoleum in Hebei Province and even in China

. Known as the "pyramid of the East.".

The mausoleum is built close to the mountain with magnificent momentum. Although it has been eroded by more than 2300 years of wind and rain and damaged by human activities, only ruins and broken bricks and tiles can be found on the ground buildings, the whole mausoleum platform, tomb sealing soil, Mausoleum platform and Shinto are well preserved.

historical background

From the first year of Zhao Jinghou (386 BC) to the eighth year of Zhao wangqian (228 BC), Zhao was destroyed by Qin. It lasted 158 years and passed down to eight dynasties. It is not known who the owners of the seven tombs in the five platforms are. Among the five platforms, there are two sealed tombs on No. 2 and No. 4 platforms, which may be the tombs of husband and wife. The seven high sealed tombs in the five platforms are believed to be the tombs of seven kings of Zhao, including Marquis Zhao Jinghou, marquis Zhao Chenghou, marquis Zhao Suhou, King Zhao Wuling, King Zhao Huiwen, King Zhao Xiaocheng and King Zhao mourning Xiang.

In 386 BC, Zhao Jinghou moved the capital from Zhongmou to Handan, which laid a good foundation for the development of Handan. After Chenghou and Suhou, Handan developed steadily. In 325 BC, after Zhao Yong, king of Wuling, ascended the throne, he was determined to carry out reform and carried out Hufu riding and shooting, which enabled Zhao to dominate and Handan to prosper unprecedentedly. In 298 BC, King Zhao Huiwen succeeded to the throne, which was also a very capable monarch. He attached great importance to talents and appointed people on the basis of merit. There appeared Lin Xiangru, Lianpo, Zhao she and other famous officials and important generals. These figures were the protagonists of the famous historical records such as "general Xianghe", "Mianchi meeting" and "the battle between the two". They were widely talked about by the world, which further consolidated and improved Zhao's hegemony in the Warring States period. In this case, Handan developed rapidly and soon became a "metropolis" all over the country. By 265 BC, when Zhao Xiao became king, Zhao began to go downhill. Because of Zhao Xiaocheng's misuse of Zhao Kuo, who only knew how to fight on paper, Zhao was defeated in the first World War of Changping. During the period of mourning King Xiang and King Youmiao, there was a great general Li Mu's army fighting in the South and North, and Zhao was able to breathe. Unfortunately, King Youmiao believed Guo Kai's slander, killed Li Mu and made Zhao Cong a general. The incompetent Zhao Cong failed to resist the attack of the strong Qin Dynasty. In 228 BC, Handan was captured by the Qin Dynasty, Zhao Youmiao king was captured, Zhao state was destroyed, and Handan became a county of the Qin state.

Handan, the capital of Zhao Jinghou, was moved to Handan in 386 B.C. and Zhao Youmiao was captured in 228 B.C. after 158 years of hard work by eight emperors of Zhao state, Handan has developed into a world-famous political, economic and cultural center. It was not only the political center of the state of Zhao, but also the largest industrial and commercial city and an important military strategic place in the north at that time.

Site distribution

The mausoleum of the king of Zhao was built on the mountain with a magnificent momentum. The whole mausoleum platform, tomb sealing soil, tomb platform and Shinto are well preserved. Tomb No. 1 is 290 meters long from north to South and 200 meters wide from east to west, with a Shinto at the top, 260 meters long and 60 meters wide. Tomb No. 2 is 240 meters long from north to South and 190 meters wide from east to west. There are two mounds on the top of the tomb. In the northwest of the tomb platform, there are good scattered water and cloud bricks on the floor. The Shinto is made of soil and stone. Tomb No. 3 is 180 meters long from north to South and 85 meters wide from east to west. There is a mound at the top of the tomb. There are still rammed earth walls around the tomb.

Handan county annals record that the three kings of Zhao's tomb are Huiwen, Xiaocheng and mourning Xiangye. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xi had five laws for visiting the mausoleum of King Zhao: as soon as the sun set, the mountains and rivers opened. Heroes mourn for the past and are crowned with Artemisia. The trees are old, the wind and frost are miserable, the autumn is deep, and the apes and cranes are sad. There is no end to my heart, but a glass of wine lingers heavily.

There are also two mounds in Yongnian, which is connected with this place, so there are five mounds forming a huge mausoleum area. There are numerous general tombs around the tomb. According to archaeological excavation, these general tombs are not only from the Warring States period, but also from the Han Dynasty. King Wuling was buried in chajianling. However, it is widely said in the folk that "the king of Wuling was buried in the four gates of the funeral hall. I don't know where the king of Wuling was buried." At that time, King Wuling had noticed the secrecy of the tomb, and his tomb was also a mystery. The eighth generation of Youmiao king of Zhao family surrendered to the state of Qin and was exiled. It is possible that he did not enter the tomb of Zhao family. Therefore, it can be inferred that: since Zhao Jinghou moved his capital to Handan, the first seven emperors of the state of Zhao were buried in Zhao's tomb area in 158, after eight generations of emperors, namely Chenghou, Suhou, Wuling king, Huiwen king, Xiaocheng king, mourning Xiangwang king and Youmiao king.

Burial system and custom

According to the burial system and custom of Zhao tombs, the five Zhao tombs in Sanling township of Handan county and Wenyao of Yongnian County all face the East in the west, and the "divine road" is built in the East, which is straight from east to west and straight from bottom to top. Among them, Wenyao mausoleum No.1 is the highest. According to the ancient patriarchal system, the ancestral temples or tombs are arranged in the middle of the ancestral. The first, third and fifth generations are located on the right side of the ancestral, which is called mu. The second, fourth and sixth generations are located on the left side of the ancestral, which is called Zhao. Since the beginning of Zhao Jinghou, Handan was the capital. Since then, most of the princes of Zhao were buried in the east foot of Purple Mountain in the northwest of Handan. If Zhao Jinghou is taken as the ancestor's tomb, then Zhao is in the north on the left and Mu is in the South on the right.

If the tomb in the middle is tomb No. 1 of Wenyao in Yongnian, the tomb in Sanling village should be on the right. Although there is no sealing soil in the north, there should be some tombs underground. After textual research, Sanling tombs in Sanling village are identified as the tombs of the three kings of the state of Zhao, and Wenyao Lingtai is also regarded as the tombs of the king of Zhao. In the north, there should be a tomb of King Zhao near Congming mountain. King Huiwen of Zhao is the fourth grandson of King Jinghou, so he should be buried in the north, which is called "Zhao".

Theft

On March 18, 1997, Yang Wei, a Beijing resident who specializes in excavating ancient tomb relics, and Wang Chunbao, sun Jinlong, and Liu Xiaomin, who are from Shanxi Province, formed a tomb robbing Gang to excavate No. 2 Tomb of Zhaowang mausoleum, a key cultural relic protection unit of the state. More than 200 pieces of cultural relics were stolen, including bronze horse, bronze shop head, gold medal ornaments, chariot and horse ware components, jade clothing pieces, and jade guises. Soon after the excavation, the smugglers immediately sold these precious cultural relics more than 2000 years ago to Britain, Canada and other countries.

After the incident, Handan police quickly cracked the case and chased the treasure for thousands of miles. In May 1998, they recovered a number of national first-class cultural relics such as bronze horses smuggled into Britain.

In October 1997, the No.2 mausoleum in Handan county was stolen. The public security and cultural relic departments jointly arrested several grave robbers on the spot. After full investigation by the public security organs, they recovered three bronze horses, a copper shop head with animal face, a gold medal ornament with openwork pattern and 209 pieces of jade and other precious cultural relics. Qiao Dengyun and Xue Yuchuan, the directors of Handan Institute of cultural relics protection, went into the tomb to explore. The two experts preliminarily determined that the tomb was a cave tomb chiseled in the rocks. The plane of the tomb was nearly square, with a side length of about 10.5 meters and a height of 17 meters. It was domed and the indoor silt was more than 9 meters deep. There should still be important burial relics in the tomb.

In December 1997, the northern sealed earth Tomb of tomb No. 4 in Yongnian County was also stolen. The public security and cultural relics departments took a joint action to stay on guard for six days and nights and arrested several grave robbers on the spot. Qiao Dengyun, director of Handan Institute of cultural relics protection, once went down to the cave about 32 meters deep from the top of the tomb, and initially determined that the tomb was a wooden coffin tomb with a vertical hole. Because the robbers were only close to the coffin chamber or were about to enter the coffin chamber, they were arrested. Therefore, the specific shape of the tomb and the burial conditions of the accompanying objects were ominous.

On December 22, 2009, on the east side of the South mound of No. 4 mausoleum in Yongnian County, the entrance was cleverly camouflaged and covered with weeds. In January 6, 2010, the tomb robber appeared again near the tomb 4. The Criminal Investigation Brigade of Yongnian County Public Security Bureau reported that the cultural relics protection personnel and the staff of the cultural relics department were helping the police to detect the case. They arrested 6 suspect criminals and seized a lot of tools, such as hammers, shovel and steel drill, which ensured Zhao Wangling's safety.

Protection

The protection shed of Chema pit in No.2 Mausoleum of Zhaowang mausoleum has been completed, with lighting, ground hardening, water supply, greening and beautification. It has initially met the conditions for tourists. No.2 mausoleum has become a tourist attraction with Chema pit as its focus, integrating ecology, culture and leisure. The leaders of the municipal Party committee and government paid close attention to the protection and development of Zhao Wangling's mausoleum.

Relevant departments are also actively planning the great development of the mausoleum. It is believed that through the hardening, greening and beautification of the mausoleum area, and the centralized display of the unearthed cultural relics of the mausoleum, the mausoleum can be built into a cultural relic scenic spot with high cultural grade, and build a "Dragon (stone dragon) Mausoleum (zhaowangling) garden (Zhaoyuan) dream (huangliangmeng) boutique tourism route with zhaowangling as the leader.

Poetry commemoration

Zhao's mausoleum is located in Yongnian County. The autumn grass of Zhao's mausoleum is Mingzhou (Linming)

Chinese PinYin : Zhao Wang Ling