Archaeological study on the tombs of the Ming Dynasty's vassal kings: understanding these special capitals

2022-09-01

As a world cultural heritage country, China's imperial tombs of all dynasties play an important role in Chinese archaeology. Our ancestors put forward the idea that "the mausoleum is a capital" as early as two thousand years ago in the spring and Autumn Annals of the Lu family, while the famous modern historian Wang Guowei believed that "the capital is a symbol of politics and culture". It can be seen that the mausoleum and the capital are the appearance of the country. Therefore, the investigation and excavation of ancient imperial tombs has long been one of the focuses of field archaeological work in the period from Shang Zhou to Yuan Ming and Qing Dynasties in China. The emergence of the tombs of the Ming Dynasty's vassal kings was due to the enfeoffment system that was implemented in the early Ming Dynasty and ran through the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, restored the ancient system of enfeoffment and built a vassal. The prince who was enfeoffed came out of the vassal mansion when he became an adult. Most of his descendants were born and buried in the fiefs. The tombs of the Ming Dynasty's vassal kings and members of the royal family were scattered throughout the country. Therefore, the tomb of the Ming Dynasty is a special family tomb, which is very different from the burial system of the previous dynasties. Although all the members of the vassal government, from Princes and princes to generals and lieutenants at all levels, have the identity of clans, there are strict distinctions in terms of generation and rank. This makes the tombs of the vassal kings have certain commonalities in terms of burial form and burial objects, and there are also many differences, which brings certain difficulties to academic research. Professor Liu Yi of Nankai University recently launched the archaeological research on the tombs of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). Based on the archaeological investigation and excavation data, combined with historical documents and other materials, he conducted a comprehensive study on the tombs of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), aiming to summarize the development history and basic evolution laws of the tombs of princes (including the tombs of some counties) in the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), explore the corresponding burial systems and characteristics of the times, It has high academic value to analyze and interpret the social history related to the tomb of the Ming Dynasty. For many years, there has been a lack of in-depth and systematic research on the tombs of the Ming Dynasty. As the author said, in addition to a small number of archaeological investigations and relatively simple expositions in the excavation briefing, "there are few research papers, still less in-depth institutional discussions, and no monograph on comprehensive research on the tombs of the Ming Dynasty in the country has been seen so far". The archaeological study on the tombs of the Ming Dynasty's vassal kings has conducted a comprehensive study on the tombs of the Ming Dynasty's vassal kings from a long historical period, based on the most comprehensive archaeological data obtained from the author's personal investigation of more than 80 tombs of the Ming Dynasty in more than ten years, combined with historical documents and materials. It has outlined the cultural appearance of the tombs of the Ming Dynasty's vassal kings and reconstructed the forgotten history with the archaeological language narrative. The archaeological study of the tombs of the Ming Dynasty kings is divided into five chapters and seven parts of introduction and conclusion. The whole book focuses on the tombs of princes stationed in various parts of Xi, and also covers the tombs of princes and princes in the northern and southern capitals, as well as the tombs of princes and other members of the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty below the rank of princes, such as princesses and princesses. Because the status of the tomb owner is generally high, and the burial goods are rich, it has rich cultural connotation. Through the whole book, this monograph mainly has the following four highlights: first, it is the first known monograph on the comprehensive study of the archaeology of the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty, which fills the gap between the study of the ancient Chinese burial system and the study of the history of the Ming Dynasty, especially the study of the imperial tombs in the late period of the traditional society

Edit:He Chuanning    Responsible editor:Su Suiyue

Source:Guang Ming Daily

Special statement: if the pictures and texts reproduced or quoted on this site infringe your legitimate rights and interests, please contact this site, and this site will correct and delete them in time. For copyright issues and website cooperation, please contact through outlook new era email:lwxsd@liaowanghn.com

Return to list

Recommended Reading Change it

Links

Submission mailbox:lwxsd@liaowanghn.com Tel:020-817896455

粤ICP备19140089号 Copyright © 2019 by www.lwxsd.com.all rights reserved

>