Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, almost every feudal emperor has attached great importance to leaving himself behind, so overhauling the mausoleum has become their unanimous choice. Looking at the royal tombs of the past dynasties, the imperial tomb with the largest scale and the most complete structure is the imperial tomb of the Qing Dynasty.
However, in the stormy land of China, many royal mausoleums can't escape the fate of being stolen and destroyed. Even Kangxi and Qianlong, who founded the prosperous time of Kanggan, had their underground palaces stolen after the demise of the Qing Dynasty. It is puzzling that since the Yuling in Qianlong and the Jingling in Kangxi have been opened, why is it that only the Yuling in Qianlong is open to the outside world, but the Jingling has not been open to the outside world? What is the reason?
Portrait of Kangxi
Kangxi was the pioneer of the prosperous period of Kanggan, and he was also the longest-serving emperor in China history, ruling for 61 years. It was during the reign of Kangxi that the Qing Dynasty completely stabilized its rule. Kangxi laid a solid foundation for the long-term stability of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, although Kangxi was not as exaggerated as some people boasted, for the Qing Dynasty, Kangxi was undoubtedly a generation of wise kings.
Kangxi died at the age of 69. Before his death, his mausoleum was built in front of the mountain, and the mausoleum site was 1 km away from Xiaoling. Jingling is surrounded by mountains on three sides, facing the water on one side and surrounded by pine trees. It is a good land of geomantic omen. Because Kangxi reigned for the longest time, it naturally took the longest time to build a mausoleum, and accordingly, the funerary objects were naturally the richest. Therefore, among many royal tombs in the Qing Dynasty, the frequency of disasters in Kangxi's mausoleum ranked first.
Qing tombs
According to historical records, in the 12th year of Daoguang, the Eastern Palace and the Western Palace of Jingling successively caught fire, which caused serious losses to this mausoleum. However, it was never found out at that time whether someone deliberately set fire or the mausoleum accidentally caught fire. In desperation, the emperor ordered the guardian minister and the officers and men of the Eight Banners at that time to be severely punished.
in the 31st year of Guangxu, the Long 'en Hall in Jingling was destroyed in a fire, and it also damaged the east and west halls in the mausoleum. It was not completed until 199. Like the last fire, the cause of this fire is still unknown and remains a historical mystery.
In addition to frequent fires, buildings in Jingling always collapse inexplicably. For example, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the west pillar of the two-pillar gate in the mausoleum fell inexplicably and broke into pieces; In the 193s and 194s, the stone pillars and jade railings on some buildings always fell down suddenly, and only in recent years did they regain their original appearance.
Jingling
In addition, there have been two major cases of theft in Jingling. The robbery in Dongling, which happened in July 1928, caused the whole mausoleum building to be incomplete, and even the ceiling, door plaque, door window were looted, leaving no coffin to raise the body. In August 1945, due to the turbulent domestic situation, bandits in Dongling took the opportunity to make trouble again. This time, the Kangxi underground palace was almost looted, which was a disaster.
Compared with the tombs of other Qing emperors, the entrance of Jingling Underground Palace is more obvious. Zhang, a thief, brought a bunch of people and dug all night and finally entered the underground palace. This group of people was even more mad. They not only stole countless treasures, but also walked away after the theft, and the entrance of the underground palace was so blatantly opened.
Since tomb robbers ransacked Jingling and completely opened the underground palace in 1945, due to the long-term war in China, Jingling was left unattended at that time, and the local government also existed in name only. In a few years, not only the funerary objects in the mausoleum were completely looted, but also the underground palace door was always open and the terrain was low, so the mausoleum was almost completely swallowed up by accumulated water.
It was not until the founding of New China that the government was able to send people to explore the details of Jingling. However, by this time, Jingling had been completely submerged by accumulated water. On the other hand, after the underground palace was looted many times, there were no cultural relics to speak of. Therefore, Jingling was closed by the local government at that time and has not been reopened until now.