After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, why were there still people guarding the imperial tomb? There are still descendants of the Tomb Keepers nearby
Unlike today's society, cremation was buried in the soil after the death of ancient Chinese people. In the homes of the rich and noble, large-scale tombs are buried, especially the royal family, the imperial tombs of the kings of all dynasties are very spectacular, and the funerary products hidden in them are of amazing value, so many people carry out tomb robbery activities to make ill-gotten gains. However, no one wants their bodies to be desecrated after death, so they will arrange a large number of organs in the tomb, and later generations will arrange people to protect the tomb in order to prevent the peace after the death of the ancestors, and there will be the appearance of the tomb keepers.
Because other dynasties are too long to be carefully examined, we can say that the Qing Dynasty, which is closest to us, why did the tomb keepers still stick to their posts after the destruction of the country?
The tombs of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty in addition to the three imperial tombs before entering the customs were built in the northeast, the rest were all built around Beijing, composed of Dongling and Xiling, which were built after 186 years, the imperial tombs, the empress mausoleum, the garden of the princess and princess, are all in it, it is conceivable that the Qing government attaches great importance to the imperial tombs, and the Qing government has accumulated the experience of successive dynasties, they are very clear that the imperial tombs will be the places that many thieves want to patronize, and naturally they have formulated a very perfect management system to avoid the treasures in the imperial tombs from falling into the hands of thieves.
From the beginning of the construction of the imperial tomb, they selected the right person among the eight banners to do the work of guarding the tomb, and even at the peak of the tomb keeper team, the number of guards of an imperial tomb was as high as 3,000. The job of the tomb keepers is not only to guard the imperial tomb, but also to prepare tributes and repairs or sacrifices of the imperial tomb. The division of labor among the tomb keepers is very clear, and once they have assigned a job, not only will they have to do it for a lifetime, but their children will also inherit their father's business. And they are isolated from the world, not allowed to have contact with living people, and only guard the acres and three-quarters of the imperial tomb every day.
However, the status of the tomb keepers was still very high, and at that time they were known as the Sanling Prime Minister's Affairs Gate. Their status was even the same as that of the six ministries of the imperial court. In addition, the imperial tomb is heavily guarded, and a border defense line is set up on the periphery of the mausoleum, and once someone approaches, the tomb keepers can shoot and kill.
Although these tomb keepers have high salaries and idle jobs, their lives are actually not good. Fire was not allowed within the imperial tomb, and they could only eat raw food as their own food. Fortunately, the families of the tomb keepers no longer need to pay taxes, and they will receive corresponding subsidies after having children.
However, after the fall of the Qing government, the salaries of the tomb keepers should have been paid long ago, so why did they still stick to the imperial tomb? This begins in 1912, when the Qing Dynasty announced its retreat, and one of the special conditions of the Provisional Government for the Qing Imperial Family was included, the Imperial Tomb of the Qing Dynasty remained, and the selection of guards was selected by the new government. However, the newly established Beiyang government has been in constant civil strife, and they have long been unable to take care of themselves, and the task of guarding the imperial tomb still falls on the descendants of the royal family.
At first, it was fine, but because the situation of the descendants of the imperial family gradually deteriorated, they could no longer take care of the heavy responsibility of guarding the imperial tomb, so they could only use money to hire a few people to continue to guard the imperial tomb, and the people who were hired to guard the imperial tomb were ordinary people who had not undergone special training, but in the chaotic social situation at that time, these people who guarded the imperial tomb were only symbolic. There is no practical use. So that when Sun Dianying later stole the Qing Imperial Tomb, he did not encounter any resistance at all.
The situation of the Three Tombs outside Guanwai is relatively better, because they are far from the political center, the impact of the fall of the Qing Dynasty is still relatively small, they still continue the tradition handed down from ancestors, the son inherits the father's business, the guardian of the imperial tomb from generation to generation, and can also hold regular sacrifices.
To this day, many of the residents who live near the imperial tombs of the Qing Dynasty are still descendants of the tomb keepers, who are dying of old age, using the tomb as a park to continue to guard the ancestral tombs in another way. Inheritance has long been a belief.
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty