Prince Rui Dorgon's "History of Tomb Robbery in the Republic of China? Inside Volume" Author: Ni Fangliu Publisher: China Overseas Chinese Publishing House "Rising Spirit" Trend During the Republic of China, the descendants of the princes of the Qing Dynasty dug their ancestral graves. There is a very interesting story The excuse-"wake up". Resurrection was originally one of the secondary burial customs among Chinese folk in the past. It was to dig out the coffin or bones from the old grave and bury them in another place. The reason is that either the descendants immigrated and wanted to move away with their ancestors for peace of mind; or the original burial place was not good, so a Feng Shui master was asked to find a new place with good Feng Shui for burial, for the sake of good luck; there are also original cemeteries. It was occupied and had to be moved... The descendants of the princes of the Qing Dynasty "resurrected" their ancestral tombs one after another. The reasons were mostly unrelated to this. The main motive was to make money. Before the Qing Dynasty fell, the descendants of these princes were very majestic. After the Revolution of 1911, these people lost power. They no longer had maids to wait on them, and they were surrounded by male servants. They suddenly fell into decline. Some people, forced by the pressure of life and want to survive, simply ride a tricycle. For example, the family of the Empress Dowager Cixi who was favored in the past - the family of Keqin County Prince and the last generation of Prince Yansen had no choice but to work as a rickshaw puller. They were jokingly called the "King of Carts". Their family was located in Mentougou. The ancestral graves in Feng Village are also named "Chewang Tombs" for this reason. Without money and no ability to make a living, the descendants of wealthy princes who were used to living a life of food and clothing began to waste their ancestral property. It is good for the descendants of princes like Yansen to be able to support themselves. But after most people have sold out all their ancestral belongings, they begin to "sell their ancestral graves": first they sell the grave trees, then the land, and finally they "resurrection" and directly dig out the funerary objects in exchange for money. Mr. Feng Qili, a Beijing scholar, is an expert on the study of princes' tombs. He has made a relatively systematic survey on the distribution of princes' tombs around Beijing and has written the book "Princes' Tombs in the Qing Dynasty". In the book, Mr. Feng Qili mentioned that many princes' tombs were stolen. In 1913 (the second year of the Republic of China) of King Ke's Tomb in the north of Tiancun, west of Beijing, his descendants knocked down the trees on the cemetery and then sold most of the cemetery. Seeing this situation, the tomb robbers quickly visited the cemetery. Later, the descendants of King Ke sold out all the bricks, tiles and stones here. In 1924 (the thirteenth year of the Republic of China), there was a "resurrection" and the ancestral graves were completely dug up. The "Blue Flag King" cemetery located in front of the Immortal Cave in the Ming Tombs area is the cemetery of Prince Zheng's auxiliary Duke Qitong Acizi Jingnaheng and his descendants. There are two places: "East Palace" and "West Palace". In 1930 (the 19th year of the Republic of China), there was a drought in Changping and locusts broke out. A sixth brother of the royal family sold the trees on the cemetery, demolished the walls and sold bricks and tiles, and finally "resurrected". The tomb of Prince Yi in Banbidian, Changping County, is the tomb of Prince Yi Yongxuan, the eighth son of Qianlong and the oldest among the princes. This prince lived to be 87 years old. In 1925 (the fourteenth year of the Republic of China), descendants sold the trees, bricks and stones on his gravesite, and later "resurrected" him. It is said that when the underground palace was opened, two coffins were seen. The bodies were well preserved and there were many funerary objects. The "Twelve Mausoleums" outside Dongzhimen, Beijing, are the tombs of Yun, the twelfth son of Emperor Kangxi. In 1929 (the 18th year of the Republic of China), Duke Pu Zhi and other descendants demolished all the above-ground buildings of the "Twelve Tombs" and sold the bricks, tiles and timber to "Wotou Liu" in Dongzhimen. After the "spiritual awakening", after digging up the underground palace, we found three coffins placed on the stone bed. After they were taken out, they were buried in Xiaowangjing Village, and the funerary objects were naturally left behind. ...During the Republic of China, many descendants of princes had done this kind of thing, selling trees and land to dig ancestral graves, and there was a wave of "spirits rising" trend. In particular, the phenomenon of selling trees is the most serious. Trees on cemeteries were never sold in the past. They were planted to protect Feng Shui. These trees are commonly known as "Feng Shui forests". Cutting them down will destroy Feng Shui. But think about it, the Qing regime has fallen, and the "dragons" are dead, so what feng shui is there in the cemetery? There is a tomb of Prince Zheng in Baishiqiao, the western suburbs of Beijing. It is the first tomb of Prince Zheng in Beijing during the Qing Dynasty. The first person buried here was Prince Zheng Xian Jierharang, the sixth son of Shuerhaqi, the third brother of Nurhaci, the third brother of Emperor Taizu of the Qing Dynasty. Jierhalang’s grave was commonly known as “Old House”, and later the prince’s grave was called “Erwu”, and later The tomb of King Minjun is called "New House". The ancient trees on King Zheng's tomb are so tall that even three or four people can't hug them.
When their descendants were in trouble, they began to sell trees: In 1926 (the fifteenth year of the Republic of China), Prince Zheng Zhaoxu sold the trees here to a lumber factory. His uncle Letai was unwilling to ask for money. Four trees were left symbolically beside it, including two large ginkgo trees listed in the "Old and Valuable Trees" catalog, so they were preserved. After selling the tree, he dismantled the building materials and sold them: In 1927 (the 16th year of the Republic of China), Zhaoxu sold the Dragon Stele and bricks and stones to Zhang Xueliang. When the Northeastern Army came to demolish the prince's tomb, they also set up sentries. In 1931 (the 20th year of the Republic of China), it was discovered that someone had robbed the tomb in King Zheng's grave. These tomb robbers dug up several tombs of Xiongfujin and Shufujin who were buried near Jierharang's "old house". Someone felt something was wrong and reported it to the police. The police caught the tomb robber who was digging up the "old house". After interrogation, they learned that the tomb robber turned out to be the poor and embarrassed Prince Zheng's family. The "old house" was not saved later. Before Japan surrendered in 1945 (the 34th year of the Republic of China), a group of plainclothes tomb robbers robbed the "Old House". After Japan surrendered, a senior official of the Chinese army sent people to rob the tomb and stole many funerary objects. When I saw the tomb owner repairing the tomb, I found that the tomb robbers used explosives to blow up the "old house", then drilled holes from the top and got into the underground palace. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, King Zheng's descendants simply left nothing behind and had a "resurrection". The urn that was excavated was made of blue and white porcelain, which was later purchased by the Beijing cultural relics department at a price.