Konglin is the cemetery of Confucius and his family. There are many tombs in Konglin. The distribution of these tombs in each period has certain regularity.
Judging from the tombstones, the tombs of the Han Dynasty are located around the tomb of Confucius. From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, it is difficult to determine their location due to the lack of tombstones. The tombs of the Song Dynasty are located to the west of the tomb of Confucius. In the northwest, it expanded to the east, west and north in the Qing Dynasty.
Specifically, the tombs of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties are scattered within about 500 meters from the tomb of Confucius, and the four Yansheng cemeteries of the Yuan Dynasty are concentrated in the northwest corner. In the Ming Dynasty, there were 10 Yansheng cemeteries of 9 generations, all concentrated in the northwest corner, arranged diagonally from east to west from generation to generation.
During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Confucius was expanded on a large scale to reach its later scale. Except for the 65th generation Yan Shenggong who is still buried in Linbeiyuan within the scope of Confucius of the Ming Dynasty, the other 11 generations of Yan The holy cemeteries are all located in the northeast corner, and all descendants are buried in the newly opened woodland. The distribution of other tombs of non-lineal descendants is mostly within their own boundaries. The tombs of the early 20th century are spread throughout the forest.
The distribution and burial of tombs in Konglin also have its own unique features. First of all, the continuous expansion of the forest has provided places for those who have entered the forest for burial in the past generations, making it a family cemetery that is unique in the world.
Secondly, Lin Nei covers the burial customs followed by burials in the past dynasties, providing a basis for people to understand and examine the burial systems of the past dynasties.
In addition, a large number of buildings and stone carvings related to funeral customs are preserved above and below ground in the forest, providing physical information for people to intuitively understand the burial history of past dynasties.
In addition to the tombstones of the past dynasties that have been preserved in the Confucius Forest, in addition to the Han dynasty steles that were moved to the Confucius Temple, there are also more than 4,000 tombstones from the Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, as well as engraved stones with inscriptions on the mausoleum, on the ground. There are many handwritings by famous artists, so Konglin is also known as the Forest of Steles and can be called a treasure house of calligraphy art.
In addition to the inscriptions, there are also a large number of precious stone cultural relics in Konglin, which date back to the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. They mainly include stone figures, stone horses, stone sheep, stone tigers, stone leopards, stone pillars and other tombs. Shiyi, also known as stone statue.
Shishisheng refers to the stone statues built in front of mausoleums in ancient times, which are said to be shaped like life. In fact, it imitates the ceremonial guards used by the deceased during his lifetime, serving as the ceremonial guards of the deceased, and adding some auspicious animals for decoration.
There are such stone statues on the corridor behind the door of Konglin's tomb. Among them are two pairs of stone beasts, one is a leopard and the other is a horned end. The Wenbao is smiling and sitting with its head tilted, its horns are docile, and it is lying on its back. Legend has it that these mythical beasts have great powers. These stone sculptures were erected in the fifth year of Xuanhe of Song Dynasty and were all made by skilled craftsmen.
There are two other pairs of stone sculptures beside the corridor, one pair is a watch pillar and the other pair is Weng Zhong. The Wangzhu is an eight-sided stone pillar, which is obviously different from the Huabiao, another stone carving in Konglin. The Huabiao has clouds in the middle, but the Wangzhu goes straight into the clouds. Both have the same function. They both symbolize the door to heaven and are the only way for the dead to ascend to heaven. road.
Weng Zhong, one in literature and one in martial arts, stands opposite each other. The scholar is holding a wat tablet in his hand, and the warrior is holding a sword in his hand. In fact, Weng Zhong was originally a military general under Qin Shihuang. According to records, his surname was Ruan and his given name was Weng Zhong, which was different from ordinary people.
When he went to conquer the Xiongnu, he fought bravely and was invincible. After his death, his statue was erected outside the Sima Gate of Xianyang Palace. From then on, the stone man statue in front of the tomb was generally called Weng Zhong. Later generations often erected a pair of civil and military Weng Zhong in front of the tomb to guard the tomb.
There are eight groups of stone rituals from the Ming Dynasty and ten groups from the Qing Dynasty in Konglin. The carved stone figures may be gentle and leisurely, or may look majestic, and the stone horses may be thin and strong, or fat and docile. The images are vivid and of great value to the study of ancient Chinese stone carving techniques.
These stone rituals are scattered in every corner of the Confucian Forest, complementing the stone tablets and ancient trees, forming a contrast between movement and stillness, ancient times and reality in the Confucian Forest. There are more than 40,000 ancient and famous trees of various types growing in Konglin, which is the area with the highest concentration and largest number of ancient and famous trees in Qufu. Thousand-year-old trees are living specimens and living cultural relics gifted to us by history.
The planting of trees in the Confucius Forest began with the planting of trees in the tombs of Confucius' disciples. According to records: "The disciples each used strange trees from all directions to plant... The Lu people have been unable to name them for generations." There are many tree species in the Confucius Forest. There are still unknowns.
The oldest famous tree in Konglin is said to be a "hand-planted tree" by Zigong, a disciple of Confucius. The original tree has been destroyed, and only the root node is located behind the Xiang Hall.
After Zigong, most of the descendants of Confucius’ disciples planted trees in the Confucius Forest. After generations of long-term planting, it gradually became a forest by the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, trees were continuously expanded and planted in Konglin, resulting in greater development of the trees in the forest. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, statistics from Lintou and forest officials were as follows:
The numbers were checked one by one according to the square boundaries, and all trees, large and small, in the red wall and the five boundaries, as well as in the Shinto, were found to be 17,285 in total. tree, and make a record and report it.
This is the largest number of trees recorded in the history of Konglin.
As a family cemetery, Konglin has lasted for more than 2,000 years, far exceeding the tombs of emperors in the past dynasties.
The arrangement of various burial styles in the tombs in the forest, the arrangement and distribution of tombs, the positions of tomb owners among different lineages, the increase or decrease of buildings on tombs and stone rituals, etc., vividly reflect this from different levels The custom of "treating death as life" in ancient my country's tomb system.