At the foot of Yunfeng Mountain, 10 kilometers northwest
of Fangshan District seat to the southwest of Beijing, is the
site of an ensemble of imperial mausoleums of the Kin Dynasty. With
its capital in Beijing, the Kin regime ruled over a greater part of
China through the reigns of nine emperors, covering 120
years.
Topography of Jinling, tombs of the Kin
Dynasty
Originally as many imperial mausoleums were concentrated
here as there were in the Ming Tombs and the East and West imperial
tomb complexes of the Qing Dynasty. Its magnitude and historical
and artistic values were not inferior to the Ming Tombs, but for
many, many years its existence remained unknown to people. It was
not known because the mausoleums were destroyed during the Ming
Dynasty. Other than two mausoleums rebuilt early in the Qing
Dynasty, whose remains can still be found, nothing remains of the
others. All that is known is from a tablet inscription dated the
9th lunar month of the second year of the reign of Emperor Kang Xi
(c.1664).
Carved stone tablet head at Jinling
The tablet was erected after renovation of the mausoleum halls
of Kin emperors Tai Zu and Shi Zong by order of Emperor Kang Xi.
Its inscription not only detailed why the Kin Dynasty mausoleums
were destroyed and restored, but also refuted the Ming emperor's
ignorant superstitious geomantic beliefs and denounced him for not
reforming and administration which led to the loss of their
country. Here is an excerpt:
Abiding by the rules of the former emperors ... I praise the
illustrious kings of old and honor past emperors ... When our army
had captured Liaoyang, the Ming Dynasty was deluded by geomancers
(to believe) that our regime originated from the Bohai Sea and was
vitally connected with the two mausoleums of the Kin Dynasty at
Fangshan. In the first year (1621) of the reign of Tian Qi, the
Ming Dynasty stopped its sacrifices at the Kin Dynasty mausoleums;
in the second year, destroyed the mausoleums and cut the
earth-pulse. In the third year, the Ming Dynasty built the Temple
of the God of War at the place to suppress the spirits of the dead
Kin emperors.
Since ancient times, the prosperity or decline of a nation has
depended on whether it has benevolent rule. Heaven's omens are
solely based on whether it is a good government or not. Good
government thrives and bad government perishes, which has nothing
to do with geomantic omens of mausoleums. At the last phase of the
Ming Dynasty, political turmoil endangered the nation which was at
the end of its destiny. Its emperors and ministers, fatuous and
erroneous, did not seek to make changes, reform their rule and be
diligent in attending to the welfare of the masses so as to bring
back the favor of Heaven, but, credulously believing in untruths,
shifted the calamity onto the mausoleums of another dynasty and
destroyed them recklessly.
Afterwards ... popular sympathy was forfeited and their national
destiny was doomed, (a destiny) not caused by geomantic omens; how
could suppression of the spirits of the dead Kin Dynasty rulers and
the destruction of their mausoleums save the Ming from turbulence
and extinction? The holy kings in olden days buried skeletons and
putrid carcasses of men, their kindness reaching to dry bones. The
Ming emperors and ministers went so far as to destroy the imperial
mausoleums of their preceding dynasty; their savagery and fallacy
are indeed a derision for all time ....
From the passage above we know that this accumulation of Kin
mausoleums was intentionally destroyed by the Ming ruling class
during the last phase of their dynasty when it was on the verge of
extinction, vainly hoping to save their dynasty by means of
geomancy.
It can also be surmised that the early Qing Dynasty rebuilt only
two main mausoleums because the others had been utterly destroyed
and beyond recreation. But we can still learn from literature about
the history and construction of the various mausoleums.
The Kin Dynasty was originally the Nüzhen tribe inhabiting the
Changbai Mountains and the Heilongjiang River valley. In early I2th
century, Aguda, leader of its tribal alliance (in fact, leader of
the slave owners), defeated the Liao Dynasty and seized control
over the Northeast and North China; he assumed the imperial title
and was known to historians as Emperor Tai Zu.
After death, he was buried at first in Tailing Mausoleum west of
Haigule City in the northeast and the mausoleum of his younger
brother Emperor Tai Zong was originally also at Shangjing. In 1153,
after Prince Hai Ling had moved his capital to Yanjing (or Zhongdu
in the southwest corner of modern Beijing City), he removed their
two mausoleums, and the ten mausoleums built beside them to
Zhongdu. According to "Biography of Prince Hai Ling," History
of the Kin Dynasty.
In the third lunar month of the third year (1155) of the reign
of Zhen Yuan, he ordered that Yunfeng Temple in Dafangshan be
changed into a mausoleum and an imperial palace for short stays be
built at the foot of the mountain.
In the fifth lunar month of the same year he sent people to
Shangjing to transport the coffins of emperors Tai Zu, Tai Zong and
others. In the tenth lunar month, the imperial palace at Dafangshan
was completed and the coffins from the two mausoleums arrived in
Zhongdu. In the eleventh lunar month, they were buried in the
mausoleum area in Fangshan. The choice of the Fangshan mausoleum
area and the transportation and burial of the coffins are clearly
explained in Illustrated Records of the Kin Dynasty:
Through deviation the forefathers of the Kin Dynasty were buried
south of Huguolin. It was not until Liang (Prince Hai Ling, named
Wanyan Liang) had moved to Yanjing that mausoleums were built
there. He ordered Sitiantai (Office of Astronomy to choose the
mausoleum area at Longxian Temple situated in Dahong Valley west of
Dahong Mountain more than 50 li west of Liangxiang
County seat. The place was densely wooded amid tall ridges and
peaks. Liang soon razed the temple and, having removed the coffin
of his grandfather, buried it on top of the temple foundation. At
the place in the main hall where a Buddhist statue had originally
been set he had niches dug to enshrine the emperors Tai Zu, Tai
Zong and De Zong (father of Prince Hai Ling); the positions of the
other mausoleums were arranged in order on the left and right.
After the coffins of emperors Tai Zu and Tai Zong were
transported from beyond the Shanhaiguan Pass and buried in Fangshan
Mausoleum Garden, succeeding emperors, empresses, imperial
concubines and others had their mausoleums built here. The first
mausoleums to be moved to Fangshan were the Ruiling (or Tailing)
Mausoleum of Emperor Tai Zu, the Gongling (or Yuling) Mausoleum of
Emperor Tai Zong, the Xingling Mausoleum of Emperor Shi Zong, the
Daoling Mausoleum of Emperor Zhang Zong and the Siling Mausoleum of
Emperor Xi Zong. Dozens of mausoleums and imperial tombs, including
the Guangling, Xiling, Jianling, Huiling, Anling, Dingling,
Yongling, Tailing, Xianling and Qiaoling mausoleums of the ten
emperors and the imperial tombs of empresses and imperial
concubines were also moved from Shangjing.
Because emperors of the Kin Dynasty often slaughtered their
predecessors to seize the throne, their imperial titles were often
terminated or depreciated after death and their mausoleums likewise
led tentative lives. For example, Prince Hal Ling, who built the
Fangshan mausoleum area, had become emperor by murdering Emperor Xi
Zong. Perpetrating a ruthless rule domestically and pursuing a
belligerent foreign policy, he repeatedly waged wars against the
Southern Song Dynasty, during one of which he was killed by his
generals at Guazhou Town (south of modern Yangzhou). He was first
buried in Fangshan Mausoleum garden, but later declared a commoner,
removed from the mausoleum area and buried in a desolate, remote
location 20 kilometers southwest of the mausoleums.
In contrast, the mausoleum of the man he had killed, Emperor Xi
Zong, was upgraded step by step. After his murder, Emperor Xi Zong
was first buried in the tomb of Empress Pei Man and later removed
to the mausoleum area of the various princes at Liaoxiangdian in
Dafangshan. After Prince Hai Ling was killed, Emperor Xi Zong,
given the posthumous title of Si Ling, was buried at Emei Mountain
in the mausoleum area of emperors.
Since Emperor Xuan Zong (Wanyan Xun) had moved his capital to
Daliang (modern Kaifeng, Henan Province), he was buried in Kaifeng
in Deling Mausoleum. The last emperor, Ai Zong, hanged himself when
his country was vanquished and even his bones were turned over to
the Song Dynasty, so that the building of his mausoleum was
entirely out of the question.
Depredation by man and nature long ago desolated the Kin Dynasty
imperial mausoleums at Fangshan. Not only were the surface
structures destroyed, but also the underground palaces were opened
and looted. While there were some remains of the two mausoleums of
emperors Tai Zu and Shi Zong to guide rebuilding during the early
Qing Dynasty, no traces have been found of the other mausoleums of
emperors, empresses and princes.
The two mausoleums of Emperor Tai Zu (Aguda changed his name to
Wanyan Hao) and Emperor Shi Zong (Wanyan Yong) were only 30 to 40
meters apart. Today, except for their mounds, other surface
structures have collapsed and disappeared. The mound of Emperor Tai
Zu's Ruiling Mausoleum is larger, more than five meters high and
over 30 meters in circumference. Its lower part is brick while the
upper portion is packed with a native concrete of lime, earth and
sand. Judging from its structure, the mound probably was, itself,
rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty, because no mound was constructed with
brick and native concrete before the Ming Dynasty.
South of the mound, a raised foundation of the hall where
sacrifices were offered was found, built of smooth, rectangular
stone slabs. The hall foundation is 16 meters in breadth, 12.2
meters in depth and more than 50 centimeters high. On the
foundation are 16 stone plinths (for pillars about 30 centimeters
in diameter) arranged in four rows. Surrounding the mound and the
hall is the ruin of an enclosing wall about 26 meters from east to
west and 60 meters from north to south. The wall is built of bricks
and stone, and probably also was renovated in the early Qing
Dynasty. But in the ruined wall are still discovered etched bricks
of the Liao and Kin dynasties, surviving material utilized during
the Qing reconstruction project. South of the mausoleum wall are
remains of tablet pavilion, with a collapsed roof. The tablet
inscription has weathered into illegibility, but it may be the one
made on the order of Qing emperor Shun Zhi for the mausoleums of
Kin emperors Tai Zu and Shi Zong.
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Stone steps leading to the Hall of Enjoyment at
Jinling in Fangshan, Beijing
Part of carved stone railing
The organization of Xingling Mausoleum of Emperor Shi Zong is
similar to Ruiling Mausoleum of Emperor Tai Zu. The mound is also a
brick and native concrete structure, but slightly smaller in scale.
Nothing visible remains of the hall where sacrifices were offered.
In front of the mausoleum is another dilapidated tablet pavilion,
site of the imperial tablet erected in the ninth lunar month of the
second year of the reign of Kang Xi (1663). The tablet contains an
account of the destruction of the Kin mausoleums at the end of the
Ming Dynasty and the rebuilding of the two mausoleums in early Qing
Dynasty in an inscription still clearly discernible.
