As can be seen from the aerial photos, this is a huge and complete site, which tells us about the imperial power of the Northern Wei Dynasty and its emphasis on sacrifice. Located on the top of the centipede dam in Daqingshan, Wuchuan County, north of Hohhot, this sacrificial site is about 200 kilometers away from Pingcheng (Datong City), the capital of the early Northern Wei Dynasty, and further away from Luoyang. This may be the early territory of Xianbei nationality.
From this, it is also reminiscent of the scene where the famous Northern Wei Emperor Tuoba Hong (Justin) presided over the sacrifice here.
Offering sacrifices to heaven is a long-standing ritual for ancient kings in China. In Sima Qian's Historical Records, it has been recorded that the Yellow Emperor of China built an altar to worship "Heaven" in Mount Tai, which shows that the worship of Heaven is an ancient etiquette culture and a form of "communication" between man and heaven.
Why did the ancients sacrifice to heaven? Because ancient science was underdeveloped, people would feel awe when they saw lightning and thunder, and all kinds of natural and man-made disasters were considered to be related to God. Sacrificing to heaven is out of awe of heaven, in order to pray for avoiding disasters such as war, praying for good weather and good harvests.
The ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven is very complicated, and different nationalities have different ceremonies. The ceremony is usually presided over by the "son of heaven". By offering sacrifices to heaven, people express their gratitude to God for nourishing everything. The main process includes welcoming the gods, saluting, entering the tomb, initial offering and final offering.
As one of the most important ceremonies, both emperors and nobles should wear crowns-the most formal clothes. There is a record about the crown in Li Zhou.
Before, I was not interested in the chaotic dynasty dominated by ethnic minorities in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Last year, a friend asked me to write a TV play of the Northern Wei Dynasty (which was not written for some reason), so I read a lot of books and materials of the Northern Wei Dynasty and got a certain understanding of this dynasty.
The Northern Wei Dynasty was an important Xianbei country in the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The early founding emperors were Tuoba GUI and Tuoba GUI. Justin, Emperor Xiaowen, was an outstanding monarch in the second half of Northern Wei Dynasty.
Although his parents died when he was young, his first grandmother, Feng Taihou, gave him a good education and upbringing. Because Feng Taihou is a Han nationality, he has been exposed to various cultural customs and etiquette of the Han nationality since he was a child. This laid the foundation for him to vigorously promote sinicization as an adult.
He became king at the age of 23. Judging from his series of decisions on governing the country, he is indeed an emperor with courage, courage and determination in handling political affairs.
As the heir of Feng Taihou's career, Emperor Xiaowen continued to carry out a series of reform policies of Feng Taihou, such as carrying out the system of equal land, rectifying official administration, moving the capital to Luoyang, and promoting comprehensive sinicization.
But later generations have different views on his reform.
There is no problem in carrying out the land equalization system and rectifying the government-run camp, and the effect is completely positive: the government distributes the land it owns to farmers for farming, and farmers pay taxes and undertake certain military service. He made great efforts to rectify the official management and established the "three systems" and "salary system" to reduce corruption and establish an efficient and clean ruling system.
Full sinicization, Emperor Xiaowen's determination is great. He even directly changed his name to "Justin"-even lost his ancestor's surname "Tuoba". It must be said that sinicization is of course conducive to improving the quality and quality of life of Xianbei people. Because the nomadic people in the north are backward in culture and life compared with the Han nationality. His actions have obviously made great contributions to the great integration of the Chinese nation. However, the comprehensive sinicization encountered strong resistance from Xianbei nobles.
As for moving the capital to Luoyang, many people have always felt that it was inappropriate, and the opposition and resistance attracted at that time were even greater. The conservative forces of Xianbei nobles claimed to be the defenders of Xianbei national culture, resolutely opposed to moving the capital, and wanted to hold a coup to overthrow Emperor Xiaowen. Even the prince joined the ranks. However, Emperor Xiaowen immediately suppressed the rebellion of the nobility with an iron fist and directly executed the unrepentant prince, which showed Emperor Xiaowen's determination to reform.
However, the southward migration did weaken the control of the imperial court on the northern frontier, and also led to the deterioration of the local political situation and the outbreak of rebellion. Emperor xiaowen went south and had to consider the situation between Scylla and Charybdis.
Unfortunately, Emperor Xiaowen Justin, who was ambitious to expand the territory of the Northern Wei Dynasty and strive to build a grand empire, fell ill during his journey to the south and died young at the age of 33. If he hadn't died so early, the later history of the Northern Wei Dynasty would probably be different.
However, his China reform had a far-reaching impact on later generations and won him a lofty historical position. Today, he is still affirmed and praised in history textbooks, and even considered as one of the great heroes of the Chinese nation.
However, since modern times, there have been many different voices. They think that this radical sinicization reform directly led to the fall of the Northern Wei Dynasty 30 years later, and the Xianbei people have since perished. They think that Justin is actually a "sinner" of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Xianbei people.
In any case, I think Emperor Xiaowen's idea of integrating grassland civilization and Han civilization in the Northern Wei Dynasty is remarkable. Although some of his measures eventually failed after his death because the model could not adapt. However, it provided historical support for national unity and the prosperity of political affairs after Sui and Tang Dynasties.