In fact, Babaoshan was not a cemetery. It has many places of interest in the Ming Dynasty, such as yanshou temple, Fu Ling Temple and Chaoyang Temple. There is also a Niangniang Temple on Xifeng, the most famous of which is Baozhong Huguo Temple.
Baozhong Huguo Temple, also known as Montenegro Huguo Temple, was built in the Ming Dynasty to commemorate the famous soldier Gang Bing at that time. There is a tomb of Gangbing in Huguo Temple in Montenegro, but after years of erosion, only tombstones and stone turtles remain in front of the tomb.
During the Japanese invasion of China, the Japanese invaders built a tower called Zhong Ling Tower on the mountain to commemorate the dead Japanese soldiers. 1946, in memory of 38 generals, including Kuomintang officer Zhang Zizhong, who died in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Zhong Ling Pagoda was converted into a martyrs' shrine. After the founding of New China, Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, Babaoshan Second Cemetery and Beijing Western Suburb Funeral Parlour were successively built in the mountains.
Nowadays, Babaoshan is widely known for its two cemeteries, but few people know why it is called Babaoshan. Is it because there is really Babaoshan on the mountain?
According to legend, there are eight treasures hidden in the cave at the foot of Babaoshan. Who are they? The so-called eight treasures refer to eight clay minerals such as Maya stone, chalk, celadon, laterite, crucible, yellow mud, slate and sandstone.
Maytag, also known as calcite, is mainly composed of calcium carbonate, which is also the earliest mineral recognized and utilized by human beings. Chalk, commonly known as clay or white, is white and soft. It is a kind of limestone, which is widely distributed. Blue ash, a kind of graphite with impurities, is blue-black, which is often used to paint external walls or lining stoves, and can also be used as pigments; Red soil is a good natural foundation and dam building material; Crucible soil, also known as refractory soil, is the main raw material of the furnace and can also be made into refractory bricks; Yellow mud is the coating of wood; Slate is often used as a raw material for making roofing tiles and inkstones; Sandstone is the raw material of grinding, glass, construction and other industries. Babaoshan is named after Babao.
There is actually a very interesting legend about Babaoshan's "eight treasures": It is said that a long time ago, there were eight treasures hidden in the cave at the foot of Babaoshan, such as golden bull, golden horse, golden rooster, golden roller, golden mill, golden bean, golden dustpan and golden basket, which no one knew.
At that time, there was a village at the foot of the mountain There is a family in the village. There are two people in this family, an old couple named Li, who have no children and daughters. Lao Li and his wife are helpless and can only make a living by planting loofah.
One year, after the old couple planted loofah seeds in the back of their house, they watered, fertilized and loosened the soil according to previous years' experience, but after a while, they saw that the seedlings grew bigger and bigger, but it didn't bear fruit. This was a few years ago, but dozens of loofahs have been produced! The old couple are in a hurry. Finally, one day, a flower bloomed in the depths of the melon seedlings, and then a loofah was formed, but the old couple were worried again. Why? Because the last loofah is not like loofah, but looks like an upside-down gourd.
One day, the old couple were chatting in front of their house when they saw an old man coming from the southern end of the village. Passing by the old couple's house, the old man saw the loofah stop suddenly. I saw him look at the mountain for a while and then at the loofah. After counting with his fingers for a long time, he rushed to the old couple. The old man approached the old couple, bowed and said, "Please sell me this loofah. I'd rather pay a high price. "
The old couple shook their heads and said, "I'm really sorry, old man." This year, my family got such a loofah, and I intend to keep it as a seed and I can't sell it. "
The old man insisted on buying it, claiming that it was for the treatment of his grandson. The old couple are enthusiastic people. As soon as they heard that they were treating their grandson, they immediately agreed not to take their money. The old couple were about to take off the loofah for the old man. The old man quickly stopped and said, "Please slow down! Now this loofah is not ripe enough to be used as medicine. I'll get it when it's cooked. " He bowed to the old couple again and turned away. From then on, the old couple took care of the loofah more carefully.
In fact, the old couple were cheated by this old man! It turns out that this old man is a feng shui master. He didn't come to treat his grandson with loofah, but to look for treasure. What treasure? It turns out that he buried treasures at the foot of the mountain in recent days, but taking out these treasures requires the key to the mountain, so he searched and searched. His eyes lit up when he saw the loofah behind the old couple's house. This loofah is the key to this mountain! So he lied to the old couple.
After the old man left, under the careful care of the old couple, the loofah grew stronger and stronger, and gradually matured, but there was still no sign of the old man. Beginning of autumn will be here soon, and it's starting to frost. The old couple were afraid that the loofah would freeze, so they picked it first and put it in a wooden box until the old man came.
One night, the old man finally came. He excitedly ran to the loofah, but there was no shadow of the loofah, leaving only a pile of melon seedlings. When the old couple saw the old man coming, they quickly took out the loofah from the wooden box and gave it to the old man. The old man looked at it, stamped his foot and said, "Oh, this is terrible. You picked it too early, so it's useless. " With that, he sadly took the loofah.
The old couple looked at the old man and felt something was wrong, so they followed him quietly to see what he was doing. After walking for a long time, I saw the old man stop in front of a hillside and draw a circle on the ground with a loofah. I saw a door immediately appeared on the hillside, revealing a hole, but the hole only opened a small crack. The old couple leaned in and took a look, their eyes almost popped out! Originally, it was full of treasures, golden bulls, golden horses, golden roosters, a gold mill, a gold basket and a gold dustpan. There is a golden roller turning by the door, and all the beans fall off the roller.
I only heard the old man say to himself, "Alas, the old couple picked it early, otherwise I could go in and get a baby with a bigger gap." As he spoke, the old man reached into the gap and took a gold dustpan first, but the gap was too small for the old man to take it out. Just then, the golden rooster inside "giggled" and the old man said, "No!" I quickly threw away the golden dustpan and grabbed a handful of golden beans. Just as he was about to take it out, Lao Li hit him on the arm. When the old man's hand trembled, all the golden beans fell into the hole and the door closed.
The old man is so popular that he is about to curse. He turned around and saw Lao Li and the old couple. Knowing that I was indefensible, I cheated others before and left without saying a word.
From then on, everyone in the village knew that this mountain was buried with eight treasures, so they called it Babaoshan.