04 11 月 The Underground Palace of the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang
Regarding the structure of the underground palace of the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, we should start with the architecture of ancient Chinese tombs. The architecture of ancient tombs in China had a development process. From ancient times to the Eastern Han Dynasty, the tomb was a vertical cave, i.e., a large square pit was dug down from the ground, the coffin was in the center of the square pit, surrounded by burial objects, and then buried with soil. Before the Spring and Autumn period, there was no mound on the tomb, which was flush with the ground, so it was called a tomb. It is said that Confucius loved to travel and was worried that he would not be able to find his parents’ tomb when he returned, so he piled a three-foot-high mound of earth on the tomb as a marker so that it would be easy to find when he returned home. Since then, people have followed the sage’s example and piled up the earth on the tombs. So the rich and powerful people piled up higher and higher soil on the tomb, so it was called a mausoleum, and for ordinary people, it was called a tomb, and for some, it was called a mountain. The mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was called Lishan in the Qin Dynasty. Only after the Eastern Han Dynasty was the tomb chamber rammed up with bricks. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, the burial chambers of emperors and nobles were very large, with brick and stone. In this way, once you find the tomb path and go in along it, you can find the coffin and the burial objects inside the tomb chamber.
The tomb chamber of Qin Shi Huang tomb was also of the vertical cave type, and the burial inside the tomb can be inferred from the architecture of the Tomb of Duke Qin Gong in Yongcheng, Fengxiang, and the Terracotta Warriors Pits. The tomb of Duke Qin Gong in Yongcheng is 24 meters deep, the bottom of the tomb is 40 meters long and 20 meters wide, there are three steps from the bottom to the ground, and the tomb path is 270 meters long. The tomb of Qin Shi Huang was also more than 20 meters deep. This is known from Li Si’s 36th report to Qin Shi Huang. He wrote to the First Emperor that the tomb at Mount Li was so deep that it could not even be lit by fire. This is probably due to the lack of oxygen in the tomb chamber because it was too deep. Therefore, the bottom of the Qin tomb chamber should be larger than the Qin Gong tomb in Yongcheng.
There are many mysterious records about the underground palace of Qin Shi Huang tomb in history books. Among all the historical materials, we believe that only the materials in Sima Qian’s Historical Records are more reliable.
The Records in Historical Records say that the underground palace of the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was dug so deep that it reached the underground water layer, poured with copper solution and painted with red lacquer, and then coffins were placed on top. In the underground palace, there were the positions of civil and military ministers and countless rare treasures. The doors of the underground palace were specially set with concealed weapons such as crossbow machines to prevent people from stealing. The top of the tomb was painted with images of astronomical stars, while the ground simulated the topography of mountains and Kyushu, and was filled with huge amounts of mercury to make rivers and seas, which flowed endlessly with mechanical power. The candles were made of whale oil, and the candles were long-lasting. This brief record of the underground palace of the Qin Shi Huang tombs has aroused people’s imagination.
Although the underground palace of the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is still buried underground and we cannot see its real condition today. Sima Qian was only 70 years later Qin Shi Huang’s time, when he wrote Historical Records, he personally traveled around the country’s famous mountains and rivers, read the imperial collection, and interviewed many old people, so he should have been more familiar with the situation during the time of Qin Shi Huang. In addition, today’s archaeological discoveries have repeatedly confirmed the reliability of Sima Qian’s records about the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. For example, regarding the mercury in the underground palace, it is said to have been used to prevent the decay of the body. Today’s researchers have used geochemical prospecting methods to measure the amount of mercury in the mound of the mausoleum of the first emperor of Qin, and the results show that its content greatly exceeds that of the surrounding area, indicating that mercury has been emitted from the underground palace for more than 2,000 years and is still in effect today. As for the situation of “astronomy on top” in the tombs, it has been found in a large number of tombs in the Western Han Dynasty, which should be influenced by the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. Regarding the issue of “mermaid paste as candle”, the oil of the dollfish is still used as a candle on the Pacific coast of North America today. It is said that there is a local fish named “Auraho”, which contains a lot of fat in its body. In addition to serving as a meal for people, it can also be used as a lamp to light up the light. Local people catch this fish, first dry it, with a thread through the body as a wick, and then hang it up as a lamp. Seafarers often use it for lighting and can be described as a veritable fish lamp. From the record of Historical Records, it seems that the Chinese invented the long-lasting lamp long before the Qin Dynasty.
Under the high mound, the body of Qin Shi Huang was buried. In order to realize the dream of immortality, the first emperor filled the underground palace with mercury in large quantities, and around the coffin, there were ministers and palace maids accompanying him.
Sima Qian said in Historical Records that the mysterious underground palace in the mausoleum, like the palace in Xianyang, was lined up with civil and military officials, and there were a large number of “strange and precious weapons hidden all over the place”.There are crossbow machines and concealed weapons placed in the tomb passage to prevent people from stealing the tomb. The top of the vault in the tomb was painted with astronomical star images, the ground had simulated mountains and topography of Kyushu, and a large amount of mercury was injected into the model of rivers, lakes and seas, and the flow of water was made by mechanical power.
According to Historical Records, the tomb has the so-called “machine crossbow and arrow”, in fact, is a special machine to shoot grave robbers, and a “Mermaid” refined cream made into candles. This candle will not go out even if it is lit for a long time. The so-called “perpetual motion ” design is to require perpetual movement and the design of perpetual motion machines is of course a delusion. If we look at the report of the remote sensing archaeological and physical survey of the Qin Shi Huang tombs, we can see that there is a high-temperature anomaly above the underground palace, which leads us to some associations, and we wonder what kind of factors caused this phenomenon. However, recent archaeological excavations have proven that Sima Qian’s account is basically credible.
According to Historical Records, the tomb has the so-called “machine crossbow and arrow”, in fact, is a special machine to shoot grave robbers, and a “Mermaid” refined cream made into candles. This candle will not go out even if it is lit for a long time. The so-called “perpetual motion ” design is to require perpetual movement and the design of perpetual motion machines is of course a delusion. If we look at the report of the remote sensing archaeological and physical survey of the Qin Shi Huang tombs, we can see that there is a high-temperature anomaly above the underground palace, which leads us to some associations, and we wonder what kind of factors caused this phenomenon. However, recent archaeological excavations have proven that Sima Qian’s account is basically credible.
In the underground palace of the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, buried the coffin of the first emperor of Qin, and many rare treasures, there are 30 boxes of gold silkworms, there are gold and silver made of eider geese. With so many treasures in the underground palace of the Qin Shi Huang tomb, it was inevitable that someone would steal the tomb. In order to prevent tomb robbers’ patronage, mechanism hidden arrows are specially made at the entrance of the tomb. If the tomb robbers approach, they will shoot arrows at once, and the tomb robbers will surely die.
The top of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang uses the pearl as the sun, moon and stars to symbolize the vast space ruled by the Qin Empire. Why was the image of the sun, moon and stars painted? Because ancient scientists began to study the movement of the sun, moon and stars very early. For example, in the Warring States period, some people took stars as the background to observe the celestial phenomena, and combined the celestial phenomena with human affairs, believing that the stars in the sky had a great relationship with the misfortunes and blessings of people on the earth. Therefore, there were schematic diagrams of celestial phenomena in the tombs of emperors of all dynasties, which were called star maps at that time. The underground palace of the Qin mausoleum has not been excavated, and it is unknown what the star map in the underground palace is. In fact, the earliest star map found in archaeology is the star map on the tomb of Zeng Houyi in Suixian County, Hubei, which belongs to the early Warring States period. Later tombs, such as the Western Han Tomb in Luoyang and the Western Han Tomb in Xi’an Jiaotong University, were found to have star maps.
The underground palace of the Qin Shi Huang tomb, with mercury as the river and sea, symbolizes the land under the rule of the Qin empire. The rivers are the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and the sea is the East Sea, which was visited by Qin Shi Huang during his eastern inspection tour. This would be a model map of the Qin Dynasty’s territory. Why is it necessary to simulate the territory into the underground palace? The ancient people attached great importance to the map of their own country. The famous thinker Han Fei said that the map of one’s own country should not be freely offered to others, for if they offered it, their country would be weakened. It was in the name of offering the map of the state of Yan that Jing Ke, who stabbed Qin Shi Huang, was able to approach Emperor Qin. Therefore, the king of the state often sacrificed near the mountains and rivers in China to seek the blessing of the gods. After Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms, he often toured around and sacrificed to mountains and rivers. In this way, it is natural to put the territory model of the state of Qin in the tomb. In the Han tomb at Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan Province, there were also topographic maps, city maps, and garrison maps placed. In comparison, the map model of the Qin Shi Huang tomb is very delicately made. It uses mercury to make rivers and uses mechanical rotation to make them flow like a river running, which is extremely dynamic. Although the underground palace has not yet been excavated, the fact that there is a large amount of mercury in the tomb has been confirmed by modern science.
In 1981 and 1982, scientists in Beijing applied the technique of surveying mercury content in geochemistry to the archaeological research of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, and the measurements results revealed that the mercury content in the soil under the mound of the Qin Mausoleum was much higher than in other places nearby. The average mercury content in the rest of the Qin Shi Huang tomb is 35 PPB, while the mercury content in the center of the Qin tomb earthen mound is 70 – 140 PPB, with the highest place reaching 280 PPB, which is four times higher than the average mercury content in the soil of other places of the Qin Shi Huang tomb. This shows that the records in the underground palace of the Qin mausoleum regarding mercury in the rivers and oceans are credible.
Outside the tomb, on the west side of the earthen mound is the bronze chariot and horse pit, although the first emperor was in the underground palace, he still fantasized about the outside world. However, the five sets of chariots and horses placed here have been more than 2000 years, and they have failed to move a little bit. When the pit was unearthed, the chariots and horses have long been broken, leaving a pile of exquisite bronze fragments, there are more than 3000 pieces.
There are stable pits and burital tombs as well as Terra Cotta Warriors in the east of the outer city.
Looking at the above-ground architecture, underground architecture and burial of the Qin Shi Huang tomb, the architecture of the tomb of the First Emperor of Qin, was conceived in accordance with the structure of the underground kingdom. The entire tomb area was a symbol of the state, and the earthen mound and the inner and outer cities were the capital city. Within the mausoleum area, there is a miniature of Xianyang Palace, a symbol of the imperial court, a garden where rare birds were kept; an official office supplied the emperor with food and drink, and an army symbolized the power of the state. As can be seen, the Qin Shi Huang Tombs were large in scale, rigid in layout, complex in structure, and complete in function.
The tomb of Qin Shi Huang is not yet ready to be opened. The thick yellow earth still deeply buries all the secrets of the tomb.