Wu Zetian is the last controversial empress in Chinese history. There are many rumors about her. This time I will take stock of the unsolved mysteries about her mausoleum.
Wu Zetian’s mausoleum is also called Qianling. Wu Zetian built his mausoleum about 85 kilometers northwest of the capital Chang’an (today’s Xi’an), which is currently Liangshan Mountain in Qian County, Xianyang City, Shaanxi Province . In fact, the Qianling Mausoleum is the joint tomb of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi (reigned from 649 to 683) and Wu Zetian (reigned from 690 to 705). It was first built in the first year of Tang Guangzhai (684), and later in the second year of Shenlong ( 706) stamped.
In the first year of Hongdao, Wu Zetian appointed Wei Daiji, the official minister, to be responsible for the Qianling project. Li Zhi was buried in August of the following year. After that, the Qianling project continued.
In May of the second year of Shenlong, the newly succeeded emperor Tang Zhongzong Li Xian ordered Wu Zetian to be buried in Qianling; also in the previous year, Tang Zhongzong pardoned the royal family who were persecuted to death due to political issues during Wu Zetian's period , re-buried with lavish funerals, such as Princess Yongtai Li Xianhui, Prince Yide Li Chongrun, Prince Zhanghuai Li Xian, etc. In addition, in 706, the Qianling Mausoleum also built additional tombs for King Xu Li Sujie, King Ze Li Shangjin, and Princess Yiyang Li Xiayu.
In addition to the main tomb, Qianling Mausoleum also has 17 small accompanying tombs, where other royal members and heroes are buried. Qianling Mausoleum is the best-preserved main tomb among the eighteen tombs of the Tang Dynasty. As of 2013, only five accompanying tombs have been excavated, and a large number of cultural relics have been unearthed from them.
The mausoleum originally had two inner and outer walls, four city gates, as well as many magnificent buildings such as the Xiandian Tower. Exploration shows that the total area of ??the inner city is 2.4 million square meters. The city wall is surrounded by Suzaku Gate in the south, Xuanwu Gate in the north, Qinglong Gate in the east, and White Tiger Gate in the west.
The tombstone of "Qianling Mausoleum of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty" is 2 meters high. It was erected for Emperor Gaozong in Biyuan, Xunfu, Shaanxi Province. The original monument has been destroyed. This monument was rebuilt during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Another tombstone on the right front side of this monument is inscribed by Guo Moruo with 12 large characters: "Tomb of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi and Emperor Zetian".
During the Huangchao Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huangchao planned to rob the tomb, so he mobilized 400,000 troops to dig a large trench more than 40 meters deep, but failed to find the entrance to the tomb, so he had to give up in frustration. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Wen Tao, the governor of Chongzhou in the Later Liang Dynasty, organized troops to excavate all the imperial tombs of the Tang Dynasty. Only the Qianling Mausoleum was spared due to its solid construction.
In 1960, several local farmers fired cannons and exploded rocks, accidentally blowing up the entrance to the tomb. In February 1960, the "Qianling Excavation Committee" was established in Shaanxi. After preliminary excavation, it was confirmed that the bombed area was an underground palace tomb passage, and preparations were made to continue excavation. However, Premier Zhou Enlai of the State Council gave the instruction to the "Qianling Excavation Plan" that "we cannot finish a good thing, and this matter can be left to future generations to complete." After that, the State Council issued another notice requesting "no digging of imperial tombs across the country for now", and the excavation of the Qianling Mausoleum was stopped.
Since the tomb passage of Qianling Mausoleum is complete and no new stolen holes have been discovered, many experts currently believe that Qianling Mausoleum is the only tomb among the eighteen tombs of the Tang Dynasty that has not been robbed.
Exploring Exploration
On January 13, 2012, a piece of news “The State Administration of Cultural Heritage and others are once again studying whether to conduct large-scale exploration of Wu Zetian’s tomb” was reprinted by many websites. On the morning of the 13th, the National Cultural Heritage The person in charge of the Bureau's Information Department confirmed that the news was false.
Regarding this news, the person in charge of the Information Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said on the phone: "There is no such thing at all. The news is false." The person in charge also hopes to clarify this to the media through People's Daily Online. thing.
On the afternoon of January 12, the Chinese Business News also verified this matter with Chen Yande, deputy director of the Qianling Management Office. Chen Yande said that the news was false. "Not in the short term, at least within 50 years, the excavation of Qianling Mausoleum will never be put on the table."
Chen Yande said that on January 11, Director Zhao Rong of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau was still investigating Qianling Mausoleum. "At that time, Director Zhao Rong made it clear that the current work that the Qianling Management Office must do is to protect and utilize the cultural relics and protect the environment, and do a good job in the comprehensive management and comprehensive management of the Qianling Scenic Area. "Renovation."
The Mystery of Qianling - Headless Stone Statues
What is particularly eye-catching about Qianling is the two groups of stone statues scattered on the east and west sides of the Shinto outside the Suzaku Gate. Arranged neatly and respectfully in front of the mausoleum. There are 32 statues on the west side, 29 statues on the east side, and 61 statues on the east side.
These stone statues are between 1 and 2 meters tall and about the same size as real people. People are accustomed to calling these stone statues "Fan statues" and "Bin Wang statues", also known as "Sixty-one" Statue of Fanchen." These life-size stone figures are dressed in different styles, some are in robes with waistbands, and some have lapels with purple sleeves. But they all stood side by side, with their hands arched in front of them, with extremely humble postures, as if they were lining up to welcome the emperor's arrival. But the strangest thing is that these stone statues have no heads, which raises many questions. Why did Qianling use these headless stone statues to guard the tomb? If you look closely at them, you will find traces of the heads of the stone statues being smashed off from the necks of these people. So, is the missing head of these stone statues man-made, or is it a natural disaster?
There are different opinions as to why the stone statue has no head. One theory is that the heads of these stone statues were chopped off by the people of the Ming Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, a foreign envoy visited Qianling and found that his ancestors were standing here to guard the tombs of the emperors of the Tang Dynasty. He felt that it was not only detrimental to the national dignity, but also humiliating to the personality, and his self-esteem was greatly damaged. , and wanted to destroy these stone statues. But he was afraid of causing dissatisfaction among the local people, so he thought of a clever plan. He would go to the crops near Qianling every night and trample the grain, and then fan the flames the next day, telling the people that these were all made of stone statues. They became spirits at night and began to destroy the crops. If you want to protect crops and food, you must eliminate these stone statues and cut off their heads so that they cannot come out to harm the crops. The local people thought that what the foreign envoy said was very reasonable, so they chopped off the heads of these stone statues in anger.
In the poems written by some poets in the late Ming Dynasty about the Qianling Mausoleum, the line "the red horse peeled off and fell to the side" appeared, which should mean that the horses and stone statues of the Qianling Mausoleum fell to the ground one after another. . The scene of the stone statue falling to the ground described in the poem seems to be similar in time to the folk legend.
Although the above are all folk legends and cannot be used as a basis, archaeologists further analyzed this phenomenon and found that natural disasters may have brought disaster to these stone statues. A large amount of data proves that during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, that is, on January 23, 1556, a strong earthquake occurred in Huaxian, Shaanxi, with magnitudes as high as 8-11. Because the earthquake occurred in the middle of the night, more than 800,000 people died in the earthquake. Qianling Mausoleum is only more than 100 kilometers away from Huaxian County, and it also belongs to the epicenter zone. As a result, Qianling Mausoleum suffered a devastating blow. This was the Huaxian Earthquake that shocked China and foreign countries. According to experts, the earthquake was one of the main reasons that caused the heads of these 61 stone statues to break. Coincidentally, many of the stone statues and horses in front of the mausoleum were damaged on their heads. Furthermore, the material of these stone statues is not very strong. Since the stones used at that time had some stone flaws, when the stone statues were damaged, the heads were most likely to have problems. Researchers concluded that some of these 61 stone statues were probably destroyed in the earthquake, and some were destroyed in the wars in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Even though these stone statues have been destroyed, the scenes of the prosperous Tang Dynasty can still be found in their images.
The Mystery of the Qianling Mausoleum - the Wordless Stele
On the east side of Sima Road outside Zhuque Gate, stands the world-famous Wordless Stele of Wu Zetian, which is made from a complete piece of stone. The boulder is 7.53 meters high, 2.1 meters wide and 1.49 meters thick. The total weight is about 100 tons, giving people a dignified, thick and integrated beauty. There is no name on the forehead of the stele. There is a chi dragon in the middle of the front of the stele, four on the left and right sides, and nine chi dragons on the center, so it is also called the "Nine Dragon Stele". The eight chi dragons are cleverly intertwined with each other, with clear scales and strong muscles and bones, showing movement in silence and full of vitality.
There are rising dragon pictures on both sides of the stele, each with a giant dragon flying in the air, carved with lines, and the dragon is soaring and lifelike. There is also a picture of a lion and a horse (or a picture of a lion and a horse fighting each other) engraved on the positive side of the base of the monument. The horse bends its hooves and bows its head, looking docile and cute; while the male lion raises its head and glares, very majestic. There are also many flower and plant decorations on the stele, with fine and smooth lines.
The wordless stele is adjacent to Dongque in the north, Weng Zhong in the south, and opposite to the Shusheng Monument in the west. It is strange and magnificent, majestic and exquisitely carved. It is worthy of being the crown of all stele monuments in the past.
This wordless stele carefully designed and erected by Wu Zetian is not only eye-catching because of its prominent position among the stone sculptures in the Qianling Cemetery, but also for its exquisite carving art, unique graceful charm, and various legendary colors. He is very popular for his legendary stories and is famous all over the world.
When tourists come to Qianling Mausoleum, they almost always stop in front of the wordless monument, gaze at it, take photos, or make comments. In the eyes of countless tourists, the wordless stele is not only a symbol of Qianling Mausoleum, but also a symbol of Empress Wu Zetian.
There are three folk theories as to why there are no words on the wordless monument. The first theory is that Wu Zetian erected the wordless monument to boast about herself and to express her great achievements and virtues that cannot be expressed in words. The second theory is that Wu Zetian erected the wordless monument because she knew that her sin was serious and felt that it would be better not to write an inscription. The third theory is that Wu Zetian was a self-aware person, and it was a smart move to erect a wordless monument. It is the best way to let future generations comment on her merits and demerits.
After the Song and Jin Dynasties, many tourists mentioned words on the wordless monument. From then on, the wordless monument became a worded monument. Subsequently, it went through the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and the stele was engraved with the characters of each dynasty. This not only forms a natural "inscription" of Wu Zetian's evaluation in terms of content, but also has five styles of calligraphy: Zhen, Cao, Li, Zhuan and Xing. This may also be Wu Zetian's original intention of not writing an inscription. However, after a long time, the predecessors and descendants who mentioned the inscriptions on the stele were unable to communicate, coordinate and take care of each other. The inscriptions of the past dynasties were fragmented and without any structure. . Among them, only the "Travel Notes of Lang Jun, the younger brother of the Emperor of Jin Dynasty, Dutongjinglue" in 1135 is relatively complete. It is inscribed in Jurchen script and has a Chinese translation next to it. Jurchen writing is now extinct. Therefore, the writing on the stele has become a rare and precious material for studying Jurchen writing and the history and culture of China's ethnic minorities.
Wu Zetian is like a mystery, and things happened to her that may not be possible in that era and in ours. As we explore further, more mysteries about her will be revealed.