China News Agency, Jiangxi Yingtan, July 23rd: Visiting the "Guyueya Tomb": the mystery of the thousand-year-old Danxia Chibi hanging coffin

  China News Agency reporter Li Yunhan

  It is the solar term of the Great Summer. On the red cliffs of Danxia in Longhu Mountain, Jiangxi Province, there are many coffins placed in the caves. A batch of tourists stay and watch.

  On the 23rd, a reporter from China News Agency walked into Longhu Mountain, Jiangxi Province, the "Chinese Taoist Immortal Mountain".

  Longhu Mountain, located in Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province, is the eighth world natural heritage site in China.

In the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the first generation of Celestial Master Zhang Daoling made alchemy in Longhu Mountain and founded Taoism.

Legend has it that "Dancheng and dragon and tiger appear", the mountain is named after it, and Longhu Mountain is also considered to be one of the birthplaces of Chinese Taoism.

  "Longhu Mountain is inseparable from the cliff tombs of the ancient Yue people in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The ancient Yue people chose to bury the dead in the layer-controlled troughs between 10 meters and 50 to 60 meters above the river surface, so that the deceased can be preserved for a long time. The origin of the hanging coffin burial provides important reference materials." Zhang Shujuan, an instructor at the Longhu Mountain Scenic Area in Jiangxi Province, said that according to incomplete statistics, there are more than 200 cliff tombs in the Longhu Mountain Scenic Area, mainly located in the Xianshuiyan Scenic Area and Mazu. Rock Scenic Area.

  The cliff tomb is one of the oldest and most special burial forms among the various burial methods in China.

"The Book of Yuejue" records: "The more there are hundreds of species." During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the masters who lived in the Longhu Mountain area and the tombs of Longhu Mountain belonged to one of the Baiyue.

  When the reporter took a bamboo raft to pass Xianshuiyan on the Luxi River, he saw that the rock wall showing the "Danxia landform" was almost perpendicular to the water surface. , you can see that there are many coffins in the cave, and the coffins are pale yellow.

  "Everyone, please see, there are more than a dozen coffins in the big cave opposite, the longest is 3.94 meters, and the smallest is less than 1 meter. Archaeologists believe that this is a family group burial." Passing a large cave on a bamboo raft At the time, Zhang Shujuan said that these tomb groups were formed 2,600 years ago and are currently listed as key cultural relics protection.

  Zhang Shujuan said that despite the hard work of archaeologists, there are still many unsolved mysteries in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Cliff Tombs.

For example, why are all the cliff tombs in the east-facing caves on the west bank of the river?

The Longhu Mountain Cliff Tomb faces the abyss and is located on a cliff. How were these coffins placed?

  In response to the mystery of how to place the hanging coffin, in the 1980s, a research group of hanging coffins organized by scientists from China and the United States successfully used primitive tools such as antique wooden winches, wooden earth pulleys, and hemp ropes to find a place in the fairy water of Longhu Mountain. The rock reproduces the process of hoisting and hanging coffins by the ancient Yue people two thousand years ago.

This process has been turned into a "coffin-raising" performance tourism project.

  The reporter saw on the banks of the Luxi River that the cast members wearing bright yellow costumes jumped from the top of the peak, and sometimes fell upside down along the rope hanging vertically to the river surface, and sometimes hung the rope horizontally, performing many difficult movements. , which caused the audience to scream again and again.

  When the cast and crew slid down to the cave in the middle of the cliff, they shook the rope violently and drilled into the cave, and then the coffin on the ground was slowly lifted into the air by the rope. When the coffin swayed from side to side at the entrance of the cave, the cast and crew found the right moment to send the coffin into the cave in an instant.

  "Watching the 'Living the Coffin' performance is one of the goals of my trip. I want to take my children to explore the wisdom of the ancients. This performance is a worthwhile trip." Hu Lijing, a tourist from Changsha, said that during the summer vacation, she brought herself children to feel the magic of nature.

  According to Gui Jiali, a staff member of the Longhu Mountain Scenic Area, the "Lifting the Coffin" performance is performed 4 times a day. Since its inception, more than 30,000 performances have been performed, bringing a large number of tourists to the scenic area.

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