In the archaeological field of China, there is an unforgettable pain, which is called "the archaeological excavation of Ming Dingling". 1955, Guo Moruo put forward a plan to excavate the tombs of Ming emperors on the grounds of better understanding the history of Ming Dynasty.
1956, Guo Moruo and Wu Han, then the mayor of Beijing, strongly recommended the excavation of the tomb of Emperor Yongle, the Ming Emperor in the Ming Tombs. Although this plan was opposed by many people once it was put forward, many scholars believe that the current cultural relics protection technology is not mature enough to properly protect the imperial tombs. However, due to the understatement of opponents at that time, Guo Moruo's plan to dig the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum was not stopped.
However, because it was too difficult to excavate the Changling mausoleum of Yongle Emperor, Guo Moruo pointed his finger at the Dingling mausoleum of Wanli Emperor and decided to try Dingling mausoleum before excavating it.
1958, when archaeologists opened the Ming Dingling, which had been sealed for more than 300 years, they began a two-year archaeological excavation. Due to the special background and limited cultural relics protection technology at that time, a large number of cultural relics in Dingling were destroyed by oxidation.
Countless treasures vanished in an instant, silk became hard and rotten, and the huge red lacquer coffin refined from three golden nanmu was directly destroyed and discarded. Even the bodies of Emperor Wanli and two Empresses were smashed into ashes, which caused irreparable losses to historical relics and made people hate and regret.
After the Ming Dingling Mausoleum was excavated, Premier Zhou learned a painful lesson from the Ming Dingling Mausoleum and decisively rejected Gu Moruo's plan to continue excavating the Ming Changling Mausoleum.
At the same time, archaeologists such as Zheng Zhenduo wrote a letter to stop Guo Moruo's plan to dig Ganling after learning that Ganling was discovered unintentionally. Finally, the state decided not to open the imperial tomb for ten years and no longer actively dig it.