Funeral methods of people with different identities

1. Burial Burial Burial is the oldest and most common form of funeral in China. The earliest known tomb is the caveman in Paleolithic Beijing. Due to the influence of religion, the ancients generally recognized the existence of the underworld. In order to make the deceased have a stable home in the underworld, it is often necessary to put on clean new clothes for the deceased. In order to let the deceased have a room to live in the underworld, coffins and burial chambers came into being, and the graves on the ground were built bigger and bigger. The tomb of the mansion is luxurious and exquisite both inside and outside. In order to make the deceased spend a lot of money in the underworld, the mansion had to put funerary objects in coffins and graves. The emperor's residence even took people as funerary objects, and the emperor's tomb was called the underground palace. In addition to placing coffins, there are funerary objects, ever-burning lamps and murals on the wall. The underground palace is divided into several rooms, with coffins in the main room and funerary objects in the attached room. In the Han dynasty, tombstones began to appear in graves, and the purpose of setting up tombstones was to facilitate the identification of graves. The tombstone is engraved with words. The epitaph records the name, birthplace, family background and life story of the deceased, proclaims the merits of the deceased, or writes articles, time of death and burial place. Finally, there is an inscription. Stone tablets can be preserved for thousands of years, which can not only make the dead immortal, but also play a role in persuading the world. Generally, a corpse is buried in a burial tomb, and several people or clan members are buried together. In the primitive commune period, clans all had fixed cemeteries, and clans in slave society and feudal society usually also had fixed cemeteries, called ancestral graves. "Burials use coffins of different textures to hold the remains, and there are sacrifices attached to them. The Shang Dynasty in China was the peak of heavy burial, which not only made sacrifices extravagant, but also forced a large number of slaves to be buried. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, the size of tombs, the number of coffin layers, the types of funerary objects and many provinces were all stipulated according to the ritual system. In the middle and late Warring States period, the mausoleum system centered on the monarch began to take shape, and the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang began to be built immediately after he ascended the throne, with a huge scale. By the Han Dynasty, Sheng Xing's theory of choosing Feng Shui cemetery was basically abolished, and pottery and lacquerware were the main ones. To the Three Kingdoms, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, it gradually evolved into a thin burial. Since the Spring and Autumn Period, the custom of sealing civil tombs has appeared on tombs, which has been widely implemented since the Han Dynasty. In China, the Han, Hui and other ethnic groups practice burial. The main burial forms are: vertical tomb, stone tomb, urn coffin burial, sarcophagus burial, brick tomb, cave tomb, wooden coffin burial and so on. The form of joint burial of husband and wife began in the pre-Qin period and has been popular in modern times since the Han Dynasty. 2. Cremation has a history of about 4,000-5,000 years in China, and ashes have been found in pottery unearthed in Lintao, Gansu, indicating that cremation began in primitive society. Written cremation was first seen in the documents of the pre-Qin period, and it was recorded in Mozi, Liezi and Xunzi. For example, Xunzi's "Outline" said: prisoners with strong borders are not worried about being tied up, but about not being burned to death. At that time, cremation was the custom of nomadic people in northwest China. 1945, a large pottery jar containing human ashes was unearthed in Siwa Mountain, Lintao County, Gansu Province. From pre-Qin dynasty to Han dynasty, it was first popular in minority areas. The Yi Canal in the pre-Qin period, the frontier strong dynasty in the northern dynasty and the Turks were all cremated. Buddhism was introduced in the Eastern Han Dynasty. After the death of Buddhist monks, the custom of cremation affected Buddhist believers and further extended to the people, and even members of the royal family were cremated. From the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, it became more popular, especially in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Sichuan. The place where the body is burned is called the "human body hall". Cremation became popular after Buddhism was introduced to China from the Eastern Han Dynasty. Monks and believers practiced cremation, which gradually affected the whole country. During the Tang, Five Dynasties, Song and Yuan Dynasties, folk cremation was more common, especially in the provinces south of the Yangtze River. This is often the case when there are too many dead people after the epidemic, or when the family is poor and has no money and no land to bury. There is a description of Wu Dalang being cremated in Water Margin. However, Confucian culture rejected cremation, and the government banned cremation in Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The ethnic minorities who practise cremation and burial in China are Qiang, Yi, Bai, Naxi, Hani, Nu, Bulang, Tu, Lahu and Yao. After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, only the Qiang, Yi, Lahu, Naxi and other ethnic minorities in a few areas still practiced cremation. In addition, Tibetan living buddhas, upper lamas or tribal leaders are cremated; Dai burial, water burial and cremation are carried out simultaneously; The most common burial custom of Hezhe people. " Mozi. Festival Burial: "The country with canals in the west of Qin Dynasty, whose relatives died, collected firewood and burned it, and smoked it, called it a distant place, and then it was a dutiful son. Biography of Turkic Northern History: "Take the horses taken by the deceased on a certain day and burn them." History of song dynasty. Li: "There is a so-called cremation furnace in today's folk customs. If you are alive, you will be afraid that you won't get there. If you are dead, you will be burned and abandoned ... Hedong is a small place. Although your relatives are lost, they will all be burned and abandoned. Song Dynasty's Qingbo Magazine Volume 12: "The custom of Shuicheng gradually moved to the right, and people died. Although the rich did not protect their land, they also burned. Different nationalities treat ashes in different ways. Nomads have the habit of digging holes and burying corpses and spreading rivers. Buddhist monks and believers are mostly put in clay pots, and then put into tomb towers or buried in cemeteries. Han people absorb their Tao or ashes and scatter mountains and rivers; Or leave it as a memorial and present it to the mourning hall; Or put them in clay pots, stone boxes, wooden coffins and bury them in cemeteries. As a symbol of the deceased, the disposal of ashes is a solemn matter. Burial and cremation are the main funeral methods of Han people. Besides burial and cremation, there are many funeral methods in ethnic minority areas. Three, bird burial or celestial burial, that is, after death, the body is abandoned in the countryside or mountains, and birds peck at it, thinking that it can make the soul of the deceased ascend to heaven. In ancient China, southern China, Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Qinghai all had this custom. Those who abandon their bodies in rural areas are also called "abandoned corpse burial" and "wild burial". Those who throw bodies into the air are also called "celestial burial". "The history of the south. Yi chuan "Jinan": "national customs, mourning shaved off. There are four burials for the deceased: water burial into the river, cremation and burning to ashes, burial and burial, and bird burial. " "Taiping guangji. Barbarian Deng Sen: "Its custom is to bury birds after death. I will die, singing and dancing with friends and relatives abroad, birds flying like geese and red. My family avoided them, but the birds pecked at the meat and left. It is to burn bones and sink water. " Hu Puzi's Records of China Ethnic Customs. Funeral Ceremony of Tibetans in Tibet: "Celestial burial is slightly different from burial. If you throw a corpse into the air and feed it to a kite bird, the bones will break, just like burial. The bones are exhausted, and then the family celebrates each other, thinking that the deceased has ascended to heaven. "