In 1988, a red coffin was discovered in Chengzi Village, Juyuan Township, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, my country. This was a joint burial coffin. Experts pried open the coffin and saw the two people in the coffin wearing "gold brocade" robes! There are many kinds of cloth

In 1988, a red coffin was discovered in Chengzi Village, Juyuan Township, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, my country.

This was a joint burial coffin. Experts pried open the coffin and saw the two people in the coffin wearing " gold brocade " robes!

There are many kinds of clothes on the corpses, and the styles are also very different.

In addition to the clothing materials, the two people were buried with rare treasures, all of which showed the noble status of the tomb owner!

The most surprising thing is that the face of the woman's remains in the coffin was covered with a piece of gold silk. Under the gold silk, the entire face was as big as a silver basin.

Combined with the rich burial in front of them, many villagers joked that the tomb of a "fat-faced princess" was in front of them.

The strange shape of the remains, the extremely gorgeous clothing, the priceless decorations, and the gold and silk-covered dress. These unusual things have given the red coffin layers of mystery. Experts have launched an investigation into it.

What the experts did not expect was that after conducting an autopsy on the woman's remains, they unexpectedly learned the cruel truth about the cause of the "fat face" .

So, who are the two people in the coffin, what are these rare funerary objects, and what is the hidden secret of "Fat Face"?

(red coffin)

Let us start with the research on the identity of the tomb owner.

1. The covered woman, the red coffin mystery

The clothes unearthed from the red coffin are very exquisite, but this makes researchers question the identity of the tomb owner, especially the woman with a gold and silk covering.

These two people are beautifully dressed and well preserved. However, what caught everyone's attention was that the face of the woman's corpse was covered with a layer of yellow cloth. From the surface, her face was plump and smooth, and felt elastic to the touch, like a rubber ball.

This situation is very rare.

First of all, in ancient burial customs, it was rare for the deceased to be covered with his face.

For example, during the Emperor Wen of the Wei Dynasty, Cao Pi was instigated by Queen Guo , and ordered Queen Zhen Mi to die, and ordered her to cover her face with hair and stuff chaff in her mouth after her death. This has a very strong meaning of humiliation, and also means that the deceased cannot be redressed after death.

After the death of Emperor Wei Wen, Zhen Mi's son ascended the throne and killed Queen Guo in the same way, which shows the resentment in the hearts of future generations.

This also shows that this kind of burial method that covers the face does not respect the deceased.

(The red coffin was pried open a crack)

The two people in the red coffin were dressed in unusual clothes, and their identities were obviously extraordinary.

Looking at it this way, the contradiction is obvious. If this woman covered with gold and silk was of noble status and could sleep in the same coffin with her husband, why was she buried with a gold and silk veil?

If she was guilty during her lifetime, why could she be buried in the coffin with her husband?

To uncover the answers to these questions, the first step is to find clues to the historical time of the red coffin.

There were two inferences that were difficult to decide for a while. One was that some people thought that these two people were Jurchens, and some people thought that they were from the Song Dynasty. believes that they are Jurchens based on the fact that the Northeast region was the main activity area of ​​a small number of nomadic people in ancient times. There was a minority that came to dominate the Central Plains from here twice to compete for the hegemony of the feudal dynasty. This minority is the Jurchens .

There is another thing that supports this view. There is an ancient city ruins left over from the Jin Dynasty period near Chengzi Village, so it is called "Chengzi Village".

It can be inferred from this ancient ruins and facilities that Chengzi Village was most likely a military location in the Jin Dynasty.

After integrating the clues in this way, this red coffin is likely to be the tomb of a senior official stationed here during the Jin Dynasty.

This can also coincide with the information that the two people in the red coffin were gorgeously dressed. It is believed that they are from the Song Dynasty, which means that the common clothes of Jinren officials are plate collars and black leather boots. These two people are obviously wearing Han clothes!

(Traditional costumes of Jin Dynasty officials)

After research and verification, there are three keys to uncovering the mystery of the identity of the tomb owner.

First, the age of the corpse was measured, and it was found that the death age of the male corpse was 60 years old..

Secondly, there is a silver nameplate on the coffin. This silver nameplate is placed on the lid of the coffin.

The silver nameplate is about 48 centimeters high and has an overall shape that is wide at the top and narrow in the middle.

is about 35 cm wide at the top, 31 cm wide at the bottom, and about 17 cm in the middle. The

nameplate is flat in shape, with two connected lotus leaves at the top, and a lotus blooming in the middle. The bottom is also a lotus-style base, and is decorated with lotus .

In the middle of the rectangular body of the plaque is the inscription "The Taiwei Kaifu Yitong Sanshishi Qi Guo King", with a total of 12 words.

(Jurchen Cavalry)

Among the 12 characters on this silver nameplate, it can be determined that the owner of the tomb is of high status and has been awarded the title of King of Qi.

King Qi was not set up in the Song Dynasty, only Jin Kingdom had four kings of Qi. The time they were granted is also different.

The third key clue to determine which King of Qi is the owner of the tomb is that among the several pieces of clothing unearthed, one has the word "introspection" embroidered on the inside of the clothing.

Introspection in ancient times refers to the east of the emperor and queen's seat in the palace. This special meaning means that these two words cannot be used casually. In other words, this dress was made in the palace.

And the most critical point is that "introspection" was not set up in the early Jin Dynasty until King Hailing moved the capital to Beijing.

Through the integration of time clues and identity clues, the researchers concluded that the owner of this tomb was a dignitary of the Jin Kingdom who was buried in the second year of Dading and was once named King Zong, King of Yu, King of Xu, King of Yue, and King of Qi. Wan Yanyan .

(silver nameplate)

In addition to these, a "house coupon" was also found inside the red coffin buried together. On one side it says "The Taiwei opened his mansion with the three provinces and the King of Qi" and on the other side it says "One house".

This kind of "house voucher" is the "real estate certificate" imagined by the ancients for living in the underworld. The "real estate certificate" information of

is also confirmed by the silver nameplate.

2. The King of Qi of the Jin Kingdom and the Princess of the Song Dynasty

Wanyan Yan was the cousin of Jin Taizu . It can be said that he had great power during his lifetime.

When he died, the emperor also sent people to offer condolences and worship.

So, lying next to him, dressed as gorgeously as a queen, is it his princess who has been buried with him for hundreds of years?

After testing the woman’s bone age, the archaeological team found that the woman was only 40 years old.

The two of them are 20 years apart. Moreover, the nomadic peoples in northern China in ancient my country had a tradition of early marriage. The possibility that this woman was Wanyan Yan's first wife was very low.

After research and testing, the archaeological team further discovered that this young woman was not a Jurchen but a Han Chinese.

After the gold silk covering the woman's face was unveiled, the romantic idea of ​​the "Golden King and Han Fei" was also shattered.

First of all, the woman was only 40 years old when Wanyanyan died. Even though the average life span of ancient people was not long, there was no coincidence that the couple died on the same day. There are only two reasons why the two died on the same day: "sacrifice for love" or "sacrifice for burial".

(Stone Statue of Wanyan Yan)

After uncovering the woman’s veil, the archaeological team found that the woman’s face was darkened and her size was different from ordinary people.

This is because the woman suffered a huge blow to her head, causing facial swelling. Moreover, the soft and elastic feeling under the gold silk fabric is not because the woman's body is not rotten, but because there is a lot of silk underneath the gold silk fabric.

This kind of gold and silk covering is probably to modify the unsightly face of a woman after her death. In the abdomen of the corpse, the bones were black and there were some white residues. After testing, it was found that these substances were the remains of poison.

From this information, it can be inferred that the woman's death was not a natural death or an accidental death, but a "murder" for the purpose of burial.

She was probably hit on the head and then given poison and died!

This kind of burial is not uncommon. During the period of Taizu Taizu of Liao , more than a hundred officials were buried for him. "Burning alive and pampering maidservants" is also the custom of the Jin people.

It’s just that the identity of this woman who was buried in the coffin with the King of Qi must not be a "favorite maid". She wore Dongzhu that was worth more than gold and white jade, and wore brocade with gold and silk patterns. Even though she was from the Song Dynasty, her identity It must not be low either.

(Jingkang Difficulty Drawing)

At this time, someone suggested that she might be Zhao Jingu based on her age. Zhao Jingu was the thirty-second daughter of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty. She was born in 1121, which is the same as the woman who was buried.

Moreover, this time background is also reminiscent of the famous "Jingkang Difficulty" in Song Dynasty history.

3. Jingkang Shame, You Weixue

In the sixth year after Zhao Jingu was born, the Jin people launched a massive attack on the Song Dynasty.

The Song people were defeated and were forced to accept the Jin people's demands for "tens of millions of gold, tens of millions of silver, and tens of millions of silk". It is said that the Jin people required such a large amount of tribute to be paid within ten days.

Even though the Song Dynasty was rich, the Jin people extorted him repeatedly, not to mention the time was so short. In fact, this is the attack of Jin people without soldiers. Under the threat of this heavy pressure, the Song Dynasty was already in a panic.

The capital of the Song Dynasty sent dozens of angels overnight to collect gold and silver wealth from the people.

The whole country, from the royal family to the common people, from eunuchs palace maids to monks Taoist priests , from Taoist nuns to brothel prostitutes, everyone has to take out money from their pockets to fight the national crisis together.

But if "tens of millions of gold, tens of millions of silver" could really be offered, the Jinren would not put forward such a standard.

When the time limit came, the Song Dynasty could not come up with all the gold and silver treasures. Therefore, the Jin people also proposed "paying debts with people".

The Jin people went to Kaifeng, the capital of Song Dynasty, to take out the imperial jade certificate , and recorded all the people recorded on it, just to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos to escape.

On the seventh day of February of this year, Song Huizong Zhao Ji and Song Qinzong Zhao Huan left the palace with their concubines and royal blood, and were escorted to Liujiasi Yingzhai and Qingcheng Yingzhai.

Zhao Jingu followed Queen Xianren and others to live in Shoushengyuan in the Liujiasi camp.

(Statue of Queen Xianren)

By March, the Jin people had kidnapped more than 3,000 members of the royal family, more than 4,000 nobles, and more than 5,000 officials. In addition, there are countless servants and craftsmen, including more than 10,000 palace maids and civilian women.

At this point, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed. This event that shocked ancient and modern times is called the "Jingkang Change".

The royal family was escorted north by the Jin people. The journey was long and it took a year and a half to arrive.

When they arrived in the Kingdom of Jin, these royal women and noble women were rewarded as trophies to the princes and dignitaries of the Jin people.

And Zhao Jingu was sent to the Huanyi Bureau as a slave because of her young age. Until the age of 14, she became the concubine of Emperor Jin Xizong.

Zhao Jingu was beautiful and intelligent, and Jin Xizong was very interested in the Central Plains culture, so Zhao Jingu was favored by him.

After gaining a certain status, Zhao Jingu helped some royal women get rid of their slave status.

By the time Zhao Jingu turned 21, she had become the second concubine, second only to the principal concubine.

Zhao Jingu was also the woman who received the highest canonization in the Jin Kingdom after the Jingkang Incident.

(Jingkang Incident)

However, the clues were broken again here.Zhao Jingu was the favorite concubine of Jin Xizong. Why did she marry King Wanyan Yan of Qi?

According to the customs of the Jin people, Jin Xizong was killed by Wanyan Liang. After that, Wanyan Liang could inherit Jin Xizong's concubines as emperor, which was the inherent "step marriage system" of the Jurchen people.

Some experts speculate that Wanyan Liang rewarded Zhao Jingu to Wanyanyan. After all, Wanyanyan had a high status in the Jin Kingdom. As the former emperor's favorite concubine, Zhao Jingu might have been rewarded as a "treasure".

Of course, because there are no direct historical records and cultural relics to prove that the woman in King Qi’s tomb is Zhao Jingu, all this is just inference.

But no matter what, judging from the woman's clothing and burial status, she should have been buried as Wanyan Yan's favorite concubine.

And this woman is very likely to have experienced the Jingkang tragedy and is also a victim of the custom of burial.

As for whether she is Zhao Jingu, or another royal or aristocratic woman from the Song Dynasty, we need to wait for more cultural relics and historical information from the Song and Jin Dynasties to confirm this.

So, what valuable cultural relics are there in the ancient tombs?

Flower bead crown, silk and satin

The developed economic centers of ancient my country's feudal dynasties were often in the south. In addition to the mild climate, water and land transportation, and developed roads, the textile industry here was also a top priority in all dynasties.

Among many textiles, there is a kind of "golden brocade" that has been described since the Warring States Period.

Legend has it that this kind of cloth is made of extremely precious silk threads and is made of real gold, and it cannot be used by non-princes and nobles.

It was not until the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties that this kind of clothing material began to be admired across the country.

Dozens of pieces of clothing were unearthed from the tomb of the owner of the red coffin.

There are many types of these costumes, and the materials of each costume are very different. However, their common feature is that the people who made these costumes must be highly skilled and not ordinary craftsmen.

Among all the items of clothing, the clothes of the two people in the coffin covered most of the silk fabrics.

In this category, there are more than 30 pieces of cotton-padded clothes, jackets, and single clothes.

(Song Dynasty costume painting)

There are also many styles, including robes, round shirts , skirts, dresses and other large clothes, as well as shoes, hats, socks, belts and other small items.

In addition to the precious and extremely precious gold brocade, there is also gold silk. The colors of woven gold silk, gold damask and other fabrics are also rich and colorful, including camel, crimson, brown, smoke, sauce, green, blue, etc. It can be said that it is truly a combination of silk, silk and satin.

In addition to the expensive fabrics themselves, the needlework embroidery is also done with extraordinary skills.

In terms of embroidery techniques alone, it includes braid embroidery, seeded embroidery, patch embroidery, coiled embroidery, flat stitch, connecting stitch, set stitch, nail thread, thread laying, gold circle and other rare techniques.

In addition to embroidery decoration, printing and painting techniques are also used, which is amazing!

Thanks to the magical skills, the patterns are lifelike, including dragons, Kui dragons, cranes, birds, mandarin ducks, plum blossoms, flowers, curly grass, peach, butterflies, cirrus clouds, etc., all of which are possessed of divine shapes. , magnificent.

(gold brocade robe)

Several of these 33 pieces of clothing are very different. The first is the outermost robe worn by the two.

The two robes are a brown ground woven gold brocade cotton robe and a purple ground woven gold brocade cotton robe with cloud and crane patterns.

The so-called "gold brocade" is a top manufacturing technology in ancient my country during the Song Dynasty.

Briefly speaking, gold brocade is made by highly skilled and experienced embroiderers who cut gold silk into pieces as fine as silk threads, and then embroider them together with other precious silk fabrics to form patterns.

Its value and craftsmanship are by no means comparable to ordinary gold thread embroidery. In the history of our country, there are records of gold brocade in the pre-Qin period, and fragments of gold brocade have also appeared in previously unearthed tombs, but this is the first time such complete gold brocade clothing has been discovered.

The archaeological community therefore named this tomb "Northern Mawangdui".

In addition to the golden brocade outer robe, the woman also wears a "backless dress" underneath.

This "backless dress" is also made of gold brocade. The lower end is very loose, and there is a large opening on the back of the top, which has the flavor of a Western-style backless dress.

This "suit" is not a special case. The archaeological team also discovered pantyhose with straps on the top that are very similar to modern suspenders. There are also pants with cloth links at the bottom similar to modern pedal pants .

(Pants with strange shapes - "slip-on pants")

There are two people in the coffin. The man is wearing a three-layered futou. The innermost layer of the three layers of , , and is the forehead wiper. The function of the forehead wiper is to tie up the hair and make it neat and beautiful. The middle layer of

is a footless futou, which is a bit like a soft-top hat worn by ethnic minorities.

The outermost layer is the futou with hanging legs. This layer of futou is very majestic, with long hanging legs and a pair of swans and white jade decorations on the back side behind the futou. According to this pair of decorative swan jade ornaments, they are "Nayan" and are ornaments that can only be worn by high-ranking officials in ancient times.

After taking off the futou, there is a hairpin in the bun. This hairpin is made of tortoiseshell, which is made from the back of a giant sea turtle in the South China Sea. Its value is comparable to rhino horn and ivory, and it is very precious.

The man's ears are decorated with a pair of gold earrings inlaid with East beads. This kind of pearl is large and plump, but it takes hundreds of years for the pearl to calcify and wither.

There is also a " jade sword " placed on the left side of his waist, which shows that it is a love object. Jade swords with jade handles and gold ornaments are the symbolic swords of emperors and princes.

(Three-layer Futou)

In addition to the accessories worn by

, the man also held a pair of gold nuggets in his hands. One weighs more than 80 grams, and the other nearly 70 grams. The back of the gold nugget is engraved with the word "eighty".

Holding something in hand is an ancient burial custom called "shaking hands". This custom originated very early, with relevant records in the Pre-Qin Dynasty. At that time, black cloth was usually used to tie objects to the arms of the deceased.

Those holding gold nuggets like are called "golden grips". Others holding jade products are called "jade holding" and so on. The things held by are usually based on the status and wealth of the deceased during his lifetime.

The meaning of "Golden Hold" is to hope that the deceased will be rich and prosperous forever, reflecting the ancients' belief in "the immortal soul".

Men’s jewelry should be exquisite and expensive, and women’s jewelry should be equally generous. This woman is wearing a crown of flower beads with a lotus pattern on her head. The exquisiteness of this crown made the researchers jaw-dropping.

The corolla is 14 centimeters high and 17.5 centimeters in inner diameter. The whole thing is made using the Pandi technique.

The outer layer of the corolla is made of dense layers of lotus petals. These petals are clearly layered, with three layers: upper, middle and lower. The petals are intertwined with cineraria patterns.

(Flower bead crown worn by female corpse)

Each layer of petals has 5 pieces, which are very clear. Pearls are embedded in the corners of the petals. These pearls are all rare and top-quality Eastern pearls, a total of five More than a hundred.

The back of the corolla is also decorated with a white jade pattern of flowers and birds, also called Nayan, and the pattern is a magpie pattern. The magpie pattern was usually used by women in ancient times. It symbolizes benevolence and fertility.

There are two gold ring pendants below Nayan. Gold rings were also a common accessory on women's crowns in ancient times.

The excavation of the tomb of King Wanyan Yan of Qi has completed the blank of historical data on the burial customs of the Jin people in the Song and Jin Dynasties, proved the changes in the burial customs of the Jin people, and also reflected that after the Jin Kingdom conquered the Northern Song Dynasty, the clothing style was influenced by the Song people.

The discovery of exquisite embroideries such as gold brocade proves the superb weaving craftsmanship of ancient Chinese people and reflects the advanced level of the handicraft and weaving industry during the Song Dynasty.

(Song Dynasty costume color painting)

The woman buried with him has a face covered with gold and silk and gorgeous clothes. The reason is that she was buried as Wanyan Yan's favorite concubine.

Although it is not certain that this woman is Zhao Jingu, the daughter of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, she must be a victim of the custom of burial and may also be an experiencer of the Jingkang Incident.

If she was Zhao Jingu, as the Song princess with the highest canonization in the Jin Kingdom, she could not escape and be buried, which shows the fate of the Song people who were captured at that time.

It is precisely because of this that the famous anti-gold general Yue Fei 's "Manjianghong " - "Jingkang shame, You Weixue..."

Reference:
[1] Jia Yingzhe. From Jurchen aristocrat Wanyan Yan The influence of Han culture on the Jurchen people based on cultural relics unearthed from tombs[J]. Heilongjiang Historical Records, 2011(8):53-54.

[2] Sun Hongmei. A correction to the historical materials on the title of "Jin Shi·Wanyan Yan Biography"[ J]. Chinese Historical Research, 2013(2):190-190.

[3] Wang Fa. Comparative study of two Jin noble tombs in Acheng area[J]. Cultural Relics Identification and Appreciation, 2019(1):94-95 .

[4] Fu Tong. A brief discussion on the owner of the golden tomb of Juyuan in Acheng[J]. Heihe Academic Journal, 1990(3):118-120.

[5] Zhang Minghua. The "Jingkang Disaster" was taken captive by the Northern Song Dynasty court and research on clan women[J]. Historical Monthly, 2004(5):48-52.

Editor: Jiang Xia

Editor: Lin Hua