"Crock Tomb" is one of the funeral customs in ancient folklore. This custom is also called "Stylish Funeral", and its cruelty is creepy. This funeral custom is to abandon people over 60 years old in a crock-shaped tomb to starve to death, which is similar to being buried alive. Different dynasties have different versions, including similar legends in Japan.
The TV series "The Second Uncle of the Emperor" vividly interprets the details of this custom. The play tells: the children send the 60-year-old mother to the grave like a crock pot, and give the mother a meal every day. Build a brick at the grave, day after day, until the grave is completely blocked. After the tomb is blocked, the old man will starve to death in the grave. This funeral custom is cruel similar to being buried alive. Many people have questioned that since ancient times, China has always been a country of etiquette and filial piety. How could such a violation of ethics and general rules occur?
So has the phenomenon of "crock graves" really appeared in history?
First of all, we need to know that all official history, unofficial history, and folk notes have no records about the "Crock Tomb", and the "Crock Tomb" only appeared in the word of mouth among the ancient people.
In the ancient feudal monarchy era, the emperors of the past dynasties were deeply enlightened by Confucianism. Confucianism emphasizes the rule of "filial piety". There are many allusions to promote filial piety, such as: "Guo Juguier" and " "Lying on the ice for carp" and so on are all touching stories of filial piety. The phenomenon of "crock tomb" is naturally contrary to this kind of thinking, which makes people questionable.
We can also explore one or two from Du Fu's poems. Du Fu's "Two Songs of Qujiang" has a sentence: "Liquor debts are commonplace, life is seventy years old and rare" . It shows that although the average life expectancy of the ancients was low, it is not surprising that they lived to 70.
"Book of Rites. Qu Lishang" records: "Seventy means old, but pass; eighty, ninety means old age". shows that in ancient times there were many people aged 80 and 90, so it is naturally untenable to say that they were sent to the "crock grave" at the age of 60.
In fact, when we questioned the "clay pot tomb", we all ignored two words: "barren land, barbarous land". In ancient times, there were many barren land and barbarous land. In these places, the civilization is relatively uncivilized, and the productivity is extremely low, and eating is a problem. What about spiritual civilization, etiquette and morality? Guan Zhong said in "Guanzi·Herder": "Canglin is solid and knows etiquette, and food and clothing are enough to know honor and disgrace" , which means that the people only have enough food. Only when you have enough food and clothing do you know that etiquette, honor and disgrace.
In such a barren land, old people without labor are often regarded as "superfluous things, useless people", "The Analects of Confucius·Xianwen" record: "Zi said:'Old people are not a thief if they are not dead. ", Although this sentence is to blame the old and unscrupulous, for being old and disrespectful, this sentence is often misused to describe old and useless people in the folks.
Furthermore, the ancients are more superstitious. They believe that people who live for too long are "stealing" the blessings of the descendants. Like in the TV series "The Second Emperor", the son calls the 60-year-old mother " People of the Yin World", so the legend of "Crock Tomb" is not all groundless.
But in Mr. Hu's view, in the absence of any documentary record, there is no definite archaeological evidence, Lao Hu still prefers to believe that the "Crock Tomb" is just a fiction by posterity, it is only a legend, after all Respecting the old and loving the young have always been my traditional virtues in Greater China. What do you think?
