In China's modern history, Yuan Shikai is a figure that cannot be bypassed.
He was born into a wealthy family, but remained unknown for a long time; he relied on military training to reach a high position at the end of the Qing Dynasty , but single-handedly contributed to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty; he was placed high hopes by the "Father of the Nation" Sun Yat-sen, and served as the commander-in-chief of China The great president of the Republic of China, however, was driven by ambition to restore the imperial system and eventually resigned sadly.
Yuan Shikai's life was undoubtedly ups and downs. Even after his death, his burial place caused an uproar in China at that time.
Anyang City is an ordinary city in Henan Province, my country. This city is not too big, but it has a long historical heritage. It was once called Yecheng in ancient times.
Take the local No. 2 bus at Anyang Railway Station and pass the Anyang Bridge, and you will arrive at a famous landscape here.
This is a garden landscape with a typical Qing Dynasty style. It covers an area of dozens of acres and looks luxurious and spectacular. This is the burial place of the "big thief" Yuan Shikai - Yuan Lin.
This landscape has existed for hundreds of years, experienced countless ups and downs, and even survived the huge storm in the 1960s. Chairman Mao once personally cared for this place: "Protect it well and warn it." "Descendants" is now a national cultural relics protection unit.
What I want to introduce today is the past and present life of this luxurious mausoleum, especially the origin of its name.
From obscurity to world power
In 1859, Yuan Shikai was born into a wealthy family in Henan. The Yuan family had many members in his early years. His great-uncle once led troops to fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and once served as an official as the governor of water transportation in the Qing Dynasty. Other members of the clan Some are officials in the imperial court, while others are celebrities and gentry in Henan, with great influence.
However, Yuan Shikai experienced a lot of setbacks in his early years. He studied at a young age and took part in the imperial examinations twice, but failed both times.
Yuan Shikai was not satisfied with being a mediocre rich man in the local area, so he left Henan to travel around the world regardless of the opposition of his family.
In his youth, Yuan Shikai had a strong interest in leading troops to fight. Not only did he buy many books on the art of war and study them carefully, when he traveled around, he always studied the local terrain and discussed with his friends how to use troops.
And this laid the foundation for his subsequent success.
Yuan Shikai's father was a close friend of Wu Changqing, a military attache in Shandong. When Yuan Shikai was twenty-two years old, he went to join Wu Changqing. Here, his talents finally came into use.
In 1882, civil strife broke out in North Korea, which was still a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty. Yuan Shikai followed Wu Changqing across the sea and came to North Korea to put down the rebellion.
When fighting the rebels, Yuan Shikai took the lead and rushed to the front of the team all the way - the rebels collapsed under the impact, and the civil strife was quickly calmed down.
Because of his meritorious service in countering the rebellion, Yuan Shikai was appointed by the Qing Dynasty to serve in North Korean military affairs. From here on, Yuan Shikai became famous and his promotion road was also on the fast track.
During the Westernization Movement, Yuan Shikai was appreciated by the then Guangxu Emperor and Kang Youwei and others. His official position was promoted all the way. He used the emperor's trust to secretly expand his power and trained his subordinates through "small station training". A group of troops with strong combat effectiveness.
After the Empress Dowager Cixi came to power, Yuan Shikai was even more at home. He used his own military strength as a bargaining chip to maneuver between different forces. His influence in the court became more and more powerful, and he became the most powerful warlord in the country at that time.
After the founding of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen, who became the interim president, took the initiative to give up the position of president to Yuan Shikai in order to preserve the fruits of the revolution. Yuan Shikai once again betrayed the Qing government that trusted him most for the sake of power, forcing the Qing emperor to abdicate. He personally contributed to the demise of the Qing Dynasty.
At this time, Yuan Shikai reached the pinnacle of power. He once served for the Qing Dynasty, and suddenly became the ruler of the Republic of China.
But he soon paid the price with his life for his endless ambition.
The short-lived emperor's dream
Although Yuan Shikai ascended to the position of president with his terrifying strength, he did not feel satisfied. In his heart, being the emperor was the biggest "dream."
Yuan Shikai's thoughts became more and more undisguised as time went by, and even his servants were well aware of his ambition.
Once, when Yuan Shikai was taking a nap, one of his little waiters accidentally broke his teacup. This teacup was carved from a precious jade material and was Yuan Shikai's favorite thing.
The little waiter panicked and cried to an old housekeeper for help before Yuan Shikai woke up.
The old housekeeper was kind-hearted and came up with a wonderful plan for the little waiter...
After Yuan Shikai woke up, he found that his beloved jade cup was broken, so he became furious and planned to execute the little waiter, but the little waiter failed. Tong's words turned Yuan Shikai's anger into joy.
The little waiter said respectfully:
"When I just came in and wanted to pour tea for Mr. Yuan, I suddenly found that the person sleeping on the bed was not an adult, but a glittering five-clawed golden dragon. , I was so scared that I broke the tea cup. "
The waiter's words really touched Yuan Shikai's heart. From then on, Yuan Shikai believed that he was the reincarnation of the real dragon and began his quest to become emperor." great cause".
In the third year of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai convened his Congress and some civil organizations and asked them to "spontaneously petition" to restore the monarchy. With the "support" of these people, Yuan Shikai announced that he would change the republic to a constitutional monarchy , establish the Chinese Empire, and accept The title of emperor. As soon as the news of
came out, the whole of China was in an uproar - soon, Yuan Shikai's perverse behavior attracted a crusade from the National Revolutionary Army.
Yuan Shikai endured tremendous internal and external pressure within a few months, and had no choice but to announce the abolition of the imperial system after just eighty-three days.
But his various actions have attracted a lot of rebuke from all over the country, and his body is also plagued by diseases under such circumstances.
eventually died due to uremia attack, leaving behind a large number of applauding people and an equally large number of "supporters".
Extremely extravagant funeral
Although Yuan Shikai's actions in proclaiming himself emperor caused public outrage, and he himself died in depression because of it, the influence he left behind cannot be underestimated.
Yuan Shikai has been operating in Beijing for many years. He not only maintains a powerful army, but also has a group of powerful supporters. Li Yuanhong is the most influential one among them.
After Yuan Shikai's death, his best friend and his son-in-law Li Yuanhong took over the position of president.
After Li Yuanhong took office, he decided to hold a grand funeral for Yuan Shikai and allocated a huge sum of 500,000 yuan from the government's finances for this expense.
On June 7, Li Yuanhong and another famous warlord leader Duan Qirui jointly issued a telegram about Yuan Shikai's funeral, and established a large "funeral office" and appointed Xu Shichang to preside over the ceremony. A grand funeral.
The telegram stipulates that the entire city of Beijing will stop banquets and entertainment activities during the funeral, and even schools will be closed for one day to express "mourning" for the great president.
On June 8, the coffin containing Yuan Shikai's body was transported to the hall of Huairen Hall for display. The coffin was made by famous craftsmen in Beijing at that time, and was engraved with a cloud and dragon pattern that symbolized nobility. It was also covered with yellow silk cloth that could only be used by the emperor.
The entire hall where the coffin was placed was filled with elegiac couplets and wreaths sent by famous people in Beijing, and all kinds of precious artifacts were neatly placed around the coffin, which looked extremely luxurious.
What is even more disgraceful is that these people also collected countless artifacts used by the emperor from the Qing Palace at that time, and displayed them in the center of Huairen Hall as funerary objects. All of this showed the "nobleness" of Yuan Shikai's status during his lifetime. .
During the funeral, Li Yuanhong invited a large number of monks from all over the country and built a luxurious ashram for Yuan Shikai, so that these monks could take turns to perform rituals for Yuan Shikai.
Officials from Beijing and surrounding areas came to pay their respects in an endless stream during this period. Yuan Shikai's eldest son Yuan Keding stood aside with Li Yuanhong and others to pay tribute.
After a 21-day pause, Yuan Shikai's burial ceremony began.
More than eighty people carried Yuan Shikai's coffin slowly from Beijing to Beijing Railway Station.
On this short road, the streets were crowded with people who came to watch. The whole street was surrounded and became a major scenic spot at that time.
Along the way, Li Yuanhong and others spent a lot of money to invite various bands. They played gongs and drums along the way. Not only did they play traditional Chinese sad music, but even Western music was mixed in, which seemed a bit nondescript.
After arriving at the train station, Yuan Shikai's coffin was transported to one of the special trains, which would carry Yuan Shikai's body to his hometown Anyang for burial.
The name of the cemetery caused controversy, and Xu Shichang solved it perfectly with one word.
Yuan Shikai has always insisted that the famous aristocrat Yuan Shao during the Three Kingdoms period is his ancestor, and Anyang is the place where Yuan Shao first made his fortune.
After Yuan Shikai rose to prominence, he coveted a piece of land in Huanshang Village, Anyang. It is said that this place was once the place where Prime Minister Yi Yin of the Shang Dynasty lived, and the feng shui was extraordinary.
So Yuan Shikai spent a huge amount of money to buy this Feng Shui treasure land very early, and designated it as his future burial place. Even before his death, Yuan Shikai personally gave the instructions to "bury me on Huan Shang". His son Yuan Keding buried himself here.
Under the arrangements of Li Yuanhong and others, a large number of craftsmen rushed to Anyang early in the morning to build a cemetery for Yuan Shikai.
After more than two years of construction, this luxurious cemetery covering an area of more than 100 acres was finally completed, costing a total of one million silver dollars .
This cemetery imitates the palace style of the Qing Dynasty. The main hall, stele pavilion, side hall and other facilities are all available, and the best glazed tiles in the country are used.
Looking from a distance, the buildings in the cemetery are gleaming, no less impressive than the emperor's palace.
Not only that, the architect of this cemetery also incorporated a large number of Western architectural styles into it, and even imitated the style of the US president's mausoleum. Many buildings are scattered in the vast garden, becoming a luxurious and unique place in Anyang landscape.
When you walk into the cemetery, the first thing you see is a huge screen wall. This screen wall is made of blue bricks and covered with exquisite green glazed tiles. It is still the largest screen wall in my country to this day.
continued to move forward, and came face to face with the most special building in this cemetery - the archway, with a five-clawed golden dragon carved on it.
Continuing to the north, both sides of the aisle are lined with tigers, lions and other beasts carved from stone. The craftsmanship is very exquisite.
At the end of this Shinto is the main building of the cemetery - the main hall. On the stone seat in the middle is Yuan Shikai's coffin, and the stone table next to it is filled with various luxurious funerary objects.
The entire cemetery is extremely luxurious and costly, and even caused a funding shortage for the Beiyang government during the construction process.
After its completion, the naming of this mausoleum aroused huge domestic controversy.
At first, Yuan Shikai's son Yuan Keding wanted to imitate the ancient emperors and designate his father's mausoleum as "Yuan Ling". Although Yuan Shikai only served as emperor for a short period of eighty-three days, he finally passed the title of king. The emperor's addiction, and when Yuan Shikai was buried, he also wore the burial clothes of the emperor.
However, this idea met with domestic opposition. In the end, Xu Shichang, an important member of the Beiyang government, had an idea and changed "Yuan Ling" by one word, which perfectly solved the problem.
Xu Shichang is very knowledgeable. According to the records in the ancient book " Shuowen Jiezi ", he imitated the usage of "Kong Lin" and changed "Yuan Ling" to "Yuan Lin". In this way, the word "Lin" and The word "Ling" has a homophonic sound, and it followed the example of the ancient sages, while avoiding the opposition of the domestic people, and everyone was happy in the end.
After Yuan Shikai's death, the land of China was still filled with war and smoke, but fortunately, "Yuan Lin" was almost intact in this war-torn era.
In 1949, the war-torn mainland China finally ushered in a new life, the People's Republic of China was established.
Chairman Mao personally gave instructions to Yuan Lin after the founding of the People's Republic of China: Keep it as a warning to future generations.
In this way, after nearly a hundred years of passage of this large-scale mausoleum, the internal architecture and sculptures are still intact.
Nowadays, Yuan Lin has become a famous scenic spot in Henan and is listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit .
The modern revolution initiated by the "Father of the Nation" Sun Yat-sen was undoubtedly of great significance to China's path to a modern country.
But unfortunately, the victory of the revolution was eventually stolen by the great warlord Yuan Shikai. Even though Yuan Shikai was eventually killed on the way to becoming emperor, he still left behind this large-scale mausoleum.
Nowadays, the once influential figures have turned into loess, leaving Yuan Lin standing silently, as if telling future generations about the ups and downs of history.
References:
"Visiting Yuan Shikai's Cemetery"_Yin Xiaozhang
"The Mystery of Yuan Shikai's Cemetery"_Wang Yan
"The Funeral and Mausoleum of Yuan Shikai, the Great Thief"_Hu Xiao
