"On the night of Xinmao, there was an earthquake, especially in Pingyang and Taiyuan. The villages and fortresses moved, the ground cracked into canals, and the people were crushed to death."
"On the night of Xinmao in August, there was an earthquake, especially in Taiyuan and Pingyang. The officials and people were ruined. There are 100,000 houses. Fan Xuanyi and Xunbao in Zhaocheng County, Pingyang, were moved more than ten miles away. The earthquake in Xugou, Qi County, Fenzhou, Pingyao, Jiexiu, Xihe, Xiaoyi and other counties formed canals, and the springs of Fenzhou Beicheng collapsed. , one mile long, the east city fell for more than 70 steps. "
"The hills are pools, and the city walls are pits... More than 200,000 people died at that time, and the disaster was tragic."
The above records are from "Yuan History·Chengzong." Historical materials such as "Ben Ji", "Yuan History·Five Elements Chronicles" and Ming Wanli "Linfen County Chronicles". These frightening words all point to the same catastrophe, that is, a strong earthquake in Zhaocheng and Hongdong counties in Pingyang Prefecture (the prefecture is located in Yaodu District, Linfen City today) in the seventh year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty (1303 AD). . This disaster is known in modern times as the Hongdong Earthquake, also known as the Hong, Zhao Earthquake or Hedong Earthquake.
The earthquake had a wide range of influence and caused great damage. There are a large number of records in historical records, inscriptions and personal notes. Due to the rich reference materials, modern earthquake researchers paid attention to this earthquake earlier and regarded it as a suitable object for using modern scientific methods to study ancient earthquakes. Since the 1960s, scholars have extensively investigated the relics related to this earthquake and collected a large amount of historical materials. They believe that the epicenter of this earthquake was located between Hongdong and Zhaocheng (now merged into Hongdong County). (The epicenter of this earthquake is also said to be between Lingshi and Huozhou), with a magnitude of eight and an intensity of eleven degrees. By adding up the number of victims recorded in historical materials from various places, it can be estimated that the total number of victims in this earthquake was more than 200,000.
Modern seismology refers to belt-shaped areas formed by plate movement and collision as seismic zones. Areas in seismic zones tend to have high earthquake frequency and intensity. In inland areas, they often have shallow focal depths, which are extremely severe. Can easily cause huge damage. The Linfen Basin where Hongdong and Zhaocheng are located belongs to the Fenwei seismic zone. The Fenwei seismic zone starts from the Datong-Xuanhua Basin in Hebei Province in the north, passes through Yangyuan and Yu County into northern Shanxi, then goes south along the Taihang Mountains to southern Shanxi, and ends in the Wei River Valley on the other side of the Yellow River. It is like a winding line that separates northern China, connecting Xuandabian Town and the hinterland of Qinchuan. It’s just that this connection has nothing to do with blood or culture, but means the transmission of disaster.
At the other end of the earthquake zone, "Wei" has also been ravaged by earthquakes like "Fen". In December of the 34th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (January 1556 AD), a similarly tragic and violent earthquake occurred in Huazhou (today's Huazhou District, Weinan City) located in the Wei River Valley. The magnitude and intensity should be comparable to the Hongdong earthquake. . According to the "Huazhou Chronicles" compiled during the Wanli period, Huazhou at that time "mountains and rivers moved, and the roads changed. Those that rose up became monasteries, those that descended became ravines, those that surged suddenly became springs, and those that suddenly broke apart Chengjian, the houses of the people, the buildings of the gods, and the city collapsed in an instant. The people who died in the change are unforgettable, and those who survived are also sick and unable to thrive. The place is dilapidated, and thieves happen." In this earthquake, public and private buildings including the Huashan Xiyue Temple collapsed, causing serious casualties. Severe disasters also occurred in northern Shaanxi, eastern Longxi, southern Shanxi, and western Henan adjacent to Guanzhong. Like the Hongdong earthquake, the Huazhou earthquake also occurred at night, and hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives in their sleep. Not only will the deceased never have the chance to hear the New Year's bell, but so will the survivors - it is difficult to find an intact bell tower or a ringing copper bell in the towns in the earthquake area.
The earthquake destroyed not only bricks and tiles, but also seemingly solid stone materials. If you have visited the Xianyang Confucian Temple, you may be impressed by the several fragments of stele stones inlaid on the walls of the stele gallery. The calligraphy on the ruined stele is simple, vigorous, relaxed and relaxed, and the words are mixed with Wu Zhou's new characters that are very distinctive. These fragments come from "The Monument of Empress Gao of Supreme Filial Ming in the Great Zhou Dynasty" written by Wu Sansi and written by Li Dan, which is a tall and majestic Shinto monument erected in front of the tomb of her mother Yang after Wu Zetian became emperor. In the earthquake in Washington, this giant monument collapsed and shattered.Since the earthquake caused part of the Weihe River embankment to collapse, and there was not enough manpower and material resources to re-quarry the stone after the earthquake, the Xianyang County magistrate at the time "waste-utilized" the broken stone tablets and used them as stone to fill the river embankment. In the early Qing Dynasty, the Wei River burst its banks and washed out some of the remaining rocks, which eventually entered the Tibetan Confucian Temple. The broken edges of the ruined monument are like a symbol, as if reminding the viewer of the tragic wounds the earthquake left on the earth.
One of the remaining stones of "The Monument of Queen Xiaoming Gao of the Great Zhou Dynasty"
Earthquakes will indeed leave a deep imprint on the land. Archaeological excavations often reveal ancient earthquake remnants in the ground. Taking the Song and Jin Dynasty village ruins of Zhangwangqu in the western suburbs of Xi'an as an example, archaeologists cleared out four sand veins formed by liquefaction of sand in the ruins. Sand liquefaction is generally caused by earthquakes of magnitude 6 or above that occur within a hundred kilometers of the surrounding area. caused. Considering that the sand veins broke through some ash pits from the Song and Jin Dynasties and were overlaid by roads from the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, these signs of sand liquefaction were probably caused by several strong earthquakes in the Ming Dynasty represented by the Huazhou earthquake. Also in the Guanzhong area, archaeological excavations at the Lantian New Street site also discovered earthquake relics. In addition to liquefaction of sand, there are also phenomena such as cultural layer dislocation and mixed sand and soil. However, these relics reflect that the earthquake occurred much earlier. , in the late Yangshao culture about five thousand years ago.
A more famous example is the Lajia ruins located in Minhe County, Qinghai. There are two most well-known features of the site: first, the noodle-like food made of millet and broomcorn millet was unearthed about 4,000 years ago; second, there are groups of human bones that died in each other's arms, all of which were found in architectural ruins. , or huddled in the corner, or running away from the door, showing the state of adults protecting children with their bodies. In particular, the image of a female human skeleton found in the F3 house with a child in her arms is the most cited. What is touching is that according to the results of mitochondrial DNA analysis, the two people are probably not maternal blood relatives. In other words, they are not at least a mother-child relationship. Whether it is due to the patrilineal blood relatives such as aunts and nephews, cousins, etc., or the feelings of getting along with each other day and night in the same clan, or simply the human instinct to care for children, adults risk their lives to protect children when disasters occur, but in the end they have not changed their lives. ending. Considering that these house sites have varying degrees of deformation and collapse, combined with the abnormal postures and fractures of human bones, the Lajia site clearly reflects the disaster scene of an earthquake. The sand and soil in the site are liquefied, the ground is cracked, and the strata are dislocated. It can also be used as evidence. The earthquake not only killed the residents in their houses due to the buried pressure, but the severe floods that occurred after the earthquake forced the survivors to abandon their former homes.
Human bones recovered from the F3 house of Lajia ruins
In addition to secondary disasters such as flash floods and heavy rains, strong earthquakes are often followed by continuous aftershocks, making the situation in the disaster area worse. After the Hongdong earthquake in the seventh year of Dade, the earth did not return to peace for a long time. A series of aftershocks came one after another and lasted for several years. Aftershocks not only occurred in the Linfen Basin, but also occurred intermittently in Datong, Huairen and other places along the Fenwei seismic zone, confirming the existence of this seismic zone in a cruel way.
After the earthquake, not only did the people of Binh Duong suffer heavy casualties, but most of the survivors were left homeless due to the collapse of their houses. The continuous aftershocks coupled with floods, hail, and drought made it difficult for production activities to resume, and gradually evolved into a serious famine. The ruling efficiency of the Yuan Dynasty government was definitely not excellent among the feudal dynasties. Although Yuan Chengzong repeatedly ordered to allocate funds for relief, reduce taxes, and open up official mountains, forests, rivers and lakes for the people to collect and hunt, it was still difficult to reverse the situation. The social order in the earthquake area It's on the verge of collapse. Since the ancients believed that earthquakes were caused by the wrath of mountain gods, the government, which was almost helpless, had to blame the gods for the people's problems that it could not solve. It sent people to pay tribute to the mountain god of Huoshan Mountain in Binh Duong Prefecture, one of the "Five Towns". Pingyang was renamed Jinning, and Taiyuan was renamed Jining, hoping to appease the earth.
Of course, these vain efforts will not yield anything. After years of ravaging the people, nature ended its violent and wanton venting. However, even if the aftershocks subside, the shock in people's hearts will obviously not calm down easily.
For those who have never experienced the huge destructive power of a strong earthquake, the shock brought by written records may not be direct enough. In my own memory, the earthquake that left the most profound impression was undoubtedly the Wenchuan earthquake. What impressed me most deeply was not the panic and fear caused by the shaking of the ground and shaking buildings when the earthquake occurred, but the tragic situation in the earthquake area, the race against time rescue operations, and the longer-lasting post-disaster reconstruction reported in the media after the earthquake gradually subsided. The emotions that were always affected are still fresh in my memory. More than ten years later, the ruins of Yingxiu Town still impress visitors, and the lives and growth of the survivors can still attract people's attention. This is true for bystanders. For those whose lives were completely changed by the earthquake, the heartstrings shaken by the earthquake are even more difficult to calm down for a long time. What they need to rebuild is not only their home, but also their own hearts.
With this common sentiment in ancient and modern times, the Pingyang Mansion also staggered into rebuilding. There is a Guangsheng Temple in Zhaocheng County. It is said that it was built in the Eastern Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It is not only the most famous temple in the local area, but also enjoys a high reputation throughout Shanxi. There are too many stories to tell about it. For example, the important Tibetan Buddhist scriptures of Han Buddhism, "Zhaocheng Jinzang", were once collected in the Amitabha Hall of Guangsheng Temple. It is said that it was coveted by the Japanese invaders during the Anti-Japanese War, but fortunately it was protected by the military and civilians of Taiyue District. It was difficult and was eventually escorted to Beijing for collection in the National Library. The thirteen-story pavilion-style glazed brick pagoda in the temple also had a role in the 1986 CCTV TV series "Journey to the West".
The other history of Guangsheng Temple will not be listed for the time being. Let us focus on the aftermath of the Hongdong earthquake. Because the ground was close to the epicenter of the earthquake, the temple buildings were almost completely destroyed. Guangsheng Temple, located at the southern foot of Huoshan Mountain, is not only the spiritual sustenance of the local people, but also has the function of appeasing the god of mountains and rivers. Therefore, even though life after the earthquake became extremely difficult, the monks and laypeople were still able to work together and rebuild the main halls of the temple within a few years.
Guangsheng Temple also has an affiliated temple, which is built around Huoquan and is called the Water Temple. Huoquan is named after it originates from Huoshan Mountain. The amount of water gushes out of the spring is very large. People nearby built canals to divert water, which is of great help to the irrigation of surrounding lands. In order to thank God for this blessing, people built temples next to the spring to worship the water god Ming Yingwang. In order to restore production, people in the Huoquan Irrigation District began repairing irrigation canals in November of the year of the earthquake. At the same time, they began to raise funds. In the ninth year of Dade (AD 1305), two years after the earthquake, the water temple restoration project was launched. From the "Stele for the Reconstruction of King Mingying's Palace" erected in the sixth year of Yanyou (AD 1319), it can be seen that in the devastation caused by "the earthquake in Hedong, especially in this county, there were many survivors", the people "the rich gave money, and the poor contributed their efforts" "It took fifteen years to complete the reconstruction of the main hall of the Water Temple. Judging from the names of the donors in the monument, the reconstruction was led by the preceptor of Guangsheng Temple and organized by the irrigation canal management agency. Most of the donors came from nearby villages that benefited from Huoquan irrigation. Daruhuachi, County Yin, etc. of Zhaocheng County The local governor was also involved.
In the inscription, the author describes the scene of worshiping King Mingying in the past that he learned from "asking old friends": "On the eighth day of the middle of March every year, residents celebrate the Ling Festival, and it is appropriate to gather flowers with Ying and Yi Lun You. It's time to talk about it. A town is far away, and a village is close. The noble ones use wheel hoofs, and the inferior ones use walking sticks, and they come with their wives and old men. How can they win? The two canals supported music and performances, offered sacrifices, and entertained each other for a few days. Then he was tired of it, and then he was so in love with it that he forgot to return. "In the spring, the people nearby brought the old and the young to the Water Temple to offer sacrifices to King Mingying. Enjoy fine wine and delicious food, burn incense and paper to pray to the water god to continue to protect you. The irrigation canal management agency also donates money and materials, and invites theater troupes to perform in the temple, both to entertain gods and people. Celebrations that last for several days are sure to bring festive joy to people.
The earthquake not only destroyed King Mingying's palace, but also destroyed the stage where music and dance were performed in the temple. The beauty of the past has turned into a dream. After rebuilding the temple, people were not satisfied. They not only wanted to rebuild their faith, but also wanted to rebuild the joy of the past. After another five years of hard work, in the first year of Taiding (AD 1324), the Mingying King Hall of the Water Temple finally completed the colored sculptures and murals in the hall, and was completely declared complete.Different from the common themes of temple murals such as water and land Dharma gatherings, meetings of gods, Buddhist and Taoist stories, etc., the murals in the Mingying Palace are full of secular interests. In addition to depicting thematic scenes such as people praying to King Mingying for rain and King Mingying delivering rain as promised, there are also many life and entertainment scenes of King Mingying and his entourage, such as playing ball, chess, dressing up, and cooking. What is particularly precious is that there is a mural with an opera theme painted on the east side of the south wall. In the picture, a theatrical troupe of more than ten people is taking the stage, with banners called "Accounts" hanging on the stage, which read "Da Xing San Le Zhongdu Show is performed here", "Yao Du Sees Love", "Tai Ding Yuan" "April □day" in large and small characters. On the stage, the male-dressed actress who occupies the central position must be Zhongdu Xiu, a popular star in Yaodu (referring to Pingyang Prefecture). Several Mo and Jing actors are accompanying her, and the musicians behind them are playing drums, flutes, and clappers to accompany the performance. . A large curtain, sometimes called a "backrest" or "god", hangs in the background of the stage. Another actor is lifting the curtain, as if coming from behind the scenes to the front of the stage, giving the scene a sense of movement.
This mural gives modern people who could only appreciate the charm of Yuan dramas from documents and unearthed cultural relics from tombs a vivid image; but it may not be surprising to the local people in the first year of Taiding, because it is very Probably a true reflection of what they saw and heard. Although ancient mural craftsmen mostly relied on existing painting samples and powder books to carry out their work, I am more willing to believe that painters would occasionally come to sketch. Perhaps just a month ago, the long-interrupted March God Sacrifice activities at the Water Temple were finally resumed. To celebrate the completion of the reconstruction project, a theater troupe led by local celebrities was invited to perform on the stage. The survivors of the earthquake and the newborns after the earthquake gathered in front of the stage. I wonder if what was sung on the stage was "Giving a Silk Robe", "Eliminating Three Pests" or "Er Lang Killing the Jiao"? In this land where Zheng Guangzu, the master of Yuan opera, was born, the troupes must be very good and the audience must have a high level of appreciation. Twenty years have passed. How much blood, sweat and tears have the people paid to restore their hometown to its old outlook? They deserve such joy after working so hard, so that their tired bodies and minds can relax for a moment.
Perhaps, the painter who was painting the murals in the temple also watched the wonderful performance of Zhongdu Show and was affected by the atmosphere of the scene, so he decided to make an exception this time and not use pink notebooks. Instead, he used the time-consuming and labor-intensive sketching technique to paint this moving picture. The moment is frozen. After all, Pingyang is not only famous for opera, but also for painters. In Ruicheng County at roughly the same time, Zhu Haogu's team from Xiangling County, Pingyang Prefecture, was painting murals for Yongle Palace. I think the painter who took over the work of the Water Temple must also be very skilled. Does this realistic opera picture also contain some hint of his showing off his skills?
Unfortunately, fundraising efforts to rebuild in difficult circumstances are not always successful. During the Republic of China, Guangsheng Temple was dilapidated. The monks who had no money to repair the temple sold the murals such as "The Blazing Light Buddha Association" and "The Medicine Master's Sutra" in the front and back halls of the lower temple to antique dealers. They were later resold by Lu Qinzhai to The United States, collected in the Nelson-Atkins and Metropolitan Museums, has become a symbol of China's cultural relics lost overseas. The monks faithfully recorded this incident in the inscription, explaining their helplessness: "Everyone thought that there was no money to build the temple. It has been a regret for many years. If we don't do it, the wall will be destroyed and the statue will be destroyed. After repeated discussions with the customer, we sold it. One thousand and six hundred yuan in silver is not enough to raise funds to subsidize it. "
Opera murals in the main hall of the Water Temple of Guangsheng Temple
Although the main hall preserves precious opera murals from the Yuan Dynasty, the stage where famous actors performed in the Temple of Water is no longer there. Existing ones were rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. In the northwest of Linfen County under Pingyang Prefecture, three Yuan Dynasty theater stages have been fortunately preserved to this day, two of which have clear dating texts. The stage of Niuwang Temple located in Weicun Town has two stone pillars with inscriptions, which are "Du Xiu, a stone man from the south of Guiwei Ji in the 20th year of the Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty" and "Wei Da Yuan Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty". On the ninth day of the second lunar month of Xinyou and Mengqiu, a stone was erected." Two inscriptions outline the history of this stage: it was newly built in the 20th year of Zhiyuan (AD 1283), destroyed by the Hongdong earthquake 20 years later, and rebuilt in the first year of Zhizhi (AD 1321).I wonder if Du Xiu, who had funded the project during the Zhiyuan period, experienced the Hongdong earthquake and whether he lived to see the completion of the new stage?
The inscription on the Houtu Temple Stage in Dongyang Village records that in the fifth year of Zhizheng (1345 AD) villagers Wang Zijing and Wang Yifu and their son paid for the stone and asked the stonemasons Wang Zhi and Wang Er from the same village to chisel it into a column and carve it out. The relief sculpture of a boy transformed from a lotus flower was carried by the villagers to the Houtu Temple to be used as a stage component. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, this type of stage had various names such as dance pavilion, dance floor, and music pavilion. It was also used in temples and temples to perform operas to reward gods. Of the above two stages, the Niuwang Temple where the former is located enshrines the Ox King, Horse King, and Medicine King who are in charge of livestock and human health, while the Houtu Temple where the latter is located enshrines Emperor Dongyue and Empress Houtu who are in charge of the land. .
After the Hongdong earthquake, it took eighteen and forty-two years for the two stages to be rebuilt respectively. Compared with the slow accumulation of bricks and stones by the private sector, the reconstruction of public power buildings can use government funds and is naturally much faster. For example, the reconstruction of the government office in Huozhou, Pingyang Prefecture, started in the year after the earthquake. It was completed in the ninth year of Dade (AD 1305), which took only about one year. When an earthquake occurs, the seismic performance of common brick-concrete houses and adobe and brick cave dwellings in loess areas is not as good as that of government offices and public buildings. Therefore, the lower the class, the heavier the casualties and losses. Some people say that "everyone is equal in the face of natural disasters." In fact, if a disaster does occur, inequality will only become more intense.
Yuan Dynasty stage of Dongyanghou Tu Temple in Linfen
In other places in the earthquake area, people are also actively engaged in rebuilding temples and reshaping statues of gods. What people want to rebuild is not so much faith as hope. After all, most ordinary people are realistic. They believe that the gods can bless the local people with good weather and the happiness and well-being of the people, so they are willing to worship the clay dolls. Around the end of the 1950s, the Shanxi Provincial Cultural Administration Commission received a wooden sign from Daning County. On the front was an ink inscription: "General Hebai of Sang'e Village made plastic decorations to commemorate the villages and decorated them with four statues of great virtues." On the sixth day of the eighth month, there was an earthquake. Seventy-seven buildings on Pingyang Road collapsed, killing 15,800 people. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I’m going to survive the drought for three years. In the eleventh year of Dade, the people are homeless, unemployed, and hungry. Money. The harvest will be good in autumn (number is missing) and the statue will be made to decorate General Luan Hebai." On the back, it is written "I would like to use my own labor to decorate General Hebai." Zhang Tai's wife Zheng's second wife's son Zhang Rong and Zhang Ti's wife Zhao May the whole family be happy and free from disasters. May the statue be made and decorated on the third day of September in the 11th year of the Great Virtue, and will forever be remembered by Zhang Rong."
This wooden sign was originally supposed to be hidden inside a statue of a god, but it was exposed again after the statue was damaged. In this inscription in vernacular mixed with white characters, Zhang Rong recorded the tragic situation he experienced in the disaster area during the Hongdong earthquake. The purpose of donating his labor to rebuild the statue of General Ha Baek that was destroyed by the earthquake is also very direct. He hopes that the gods will continue to bless him and his family who survived the earthquake, and that his family will still be safe and happy in the future. In the article, he first described the loss of harvest in farmland and the high price of food after the earthquake, and then said that in the fourth year after the earthquake, "the harvest will be good in autumn." I wonder if he was talking about the final harvest of food in the autumn of that year, or was he expressing his own vision? Judging from the signing date of September, it should be the former. Of course we also hope it is the former. We hope that the situation will finally improve and that life at home will no longer be as difficult as it was in previous years, so that Zhang Rong can have enough money to reshape the statue of the god. It is worth noting that the article stated that the number of victims of the earthquake reached 475,800. This number exceeds the total registered population of Pingyang Prefecture recorded in "Yuan History". Even taking into account hidden household registration, floating population and other factors, this number seems to be a bit too high. I wonder how the Zhang family arrived at it?
Coincidentally, similar wooden signs were found in Xiaodeng Village of Xiangfen County, which read: "Pingyang and Taiyuan are all flat, and more than 100,000 people were killed." "There are no shrines, temples, or holy statues. Contents such as "This village was destroyed and broken into pieces" were signed by Deng Junzhang and were dated one year earlier than the wooden plaque of Sang'e Village.Different from the inscriptions displayed in temples for passers-by to read, this type of inscription is usually installed in the body of the statue, and gods or gods are its target readers. Of course, perhaps the author also wanted to leave a secret record of the era he personally experienced in this special way.
Some people also choose other recording methods. There is a cliff carving preserved on Wuerling in Gedi Township, Yonghe County, which reads: "The earthquake in Xushi killed and injured 176,365 people and 54,650 households along Pingyang Road. More than 54,000 households were disabled. There was an earthquake on the sixth day of August in the seventh year of Dade." Another inscription is adjacent to it, which reads: "Li Shan of Tieluo Village, on August 1, the 30th year of the Yuan Dynasty. He bought Wolu Mountain with thirty-four coins and lived there on the 15th day of the fourth month of the third year of Yuanzhen." It can be seen from this that Li Shan bought Wolu Mountain in 1293 and moved to live in the mountain in 1297. Six years later. We experienced the Hongdong earthquake here. Li Shan's hometown, Tieluo Village, may be Tieluoguan Village, about 20 kilometers southwest of Wolu Mountain and located on the bank of the Yellow River. What was the reason that made Li Shan move out of his village and live in a mountain in Wolu Mountain? What specific experiences did he have during the earthquake, and how did he come up with such detailed casualty figures? We no longer know. Only a few lines of text stuck on the rocks left evidence that the earthquake had happened and that Li Shan had experienced it.
"The Record of General Hebai of Sang'e Village" wooden plaque
"Yuan Shi·Xiaoyou Biography" and chronicles at all levels also record another thrilling story. When the Hongdong earthquake occurred, a large-scale ground slip occurred in Xunbao Village near Guangsheng Temple. The surface soil slid along the alluvial fan under the influence of the seismic waves, passing through the slope zone one after another like dominoes. "The land is so furious that it rushes for miles, crossing ravines and valleys." A large amount of loess debris poured into Yingtian Village in the southwest, almost completely destroying the village. Only the families of brothers Li Zhong and Li Shu were spared. The government went to investigate the situation afterwards and found that the Li brothers lost their mother when they were young. They were raised by their mother Song, and they were extremely filial to their mother as adults. So they came to the conclusion that the Song family's "jie" and the Li family's filial piety The earth shook, so the earthquake mercifully spared the Li family. The local officials also set up a monument in Yingtian Village to commemorate the incident.
From a scientific point of view, the Li family's luck is most likely due to the fact that the house happens to be located in a special geographical location, avoiding the impact of the sliding and pouring soil. Of course, in that ignorant era, it was not surprising for people to make any explanations for things that were beyond their control and difficult to understand. The great Confucian Xiao Xiao, who was a bachelor of Jixian Hall and a minister of Guozi, and was listed in the "Yuan History·Confucian Biography", wrote an "Earthquake Questions and Answers" after the Hongdong earthquake, which recorded in detail "the piles surged, the ditches cracked, and the walls of the house were damaged". After the Hongdong earthquake, which "disliked people and animals and killed countless people", due to the constant aftershocks, "people were all squatting in the streets of Kongting City, and the day was burning with fire. No one could stay in Luxiang to express his gratitude." There is no day and no place.” Xiao believes that earthquakes are caused by "great changes in heaven and earth", and that heaven, earth and man are one, and man is "the heart of heaven and earth". It is precisely because of "man's lack of learning" and "the loss of man" that the heaven and earth "lose their rationality" ”, human error is the fundamental cause of earthquakes. Next, the Duke wrote more than 6,000 eloquent words, quoting scriptures and denouncing the country's lack of education and the moral decay of today's people and their lack of correction. At the end of the article, I hope that both the country and individuals can use this disaster to reflect on themselves, be "moved and work hard" in the future, and turn bad things into good things. In the face of natural disasters, the incompetent government is unable to provide relief and sends officials to beg the mountain gods for mercy, or the idealistic scholar who sadly warns people to cultivate their moral character. Who is more useless?
Two inscriptions preserved in the temple in Yiwang Village, Hongdong respectively record that the imperial court sent personnel to worship Huoshan twice due to the earthquake in 1303 and the aftershocks in 1309.
The earthquake not only claimed the lives of many living people, but also disturbed the people. the peace of the departed. In 2021, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other units excavated a number of Yuan tombs in Xikong Village, Ganting Town, Hongdong County. One of the tombs numbered m33 unearthed a land purchase coupon written in ink. Land coupons are a kind of "land certificate" widely used in ancient tombs, and were extremely common in the Song and Yuan Dynasties.The land purchase certificate borrows the form of the real land sales contract, symbolizing that the deceased purchased the cemetery as a residence in the underworld, but the content is mostly fictitious, for example, spending "nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine yuan" to purchase "Up to the Sky" ""Down to Huangquan" the land within the four directions to the four gods. It is also often combined with Taoist talismans, which means to avoid evil and avoid victory. The land purchase certificates unearthed by
m33 record the reburial of the ancestors of the Guo family in the eleventh year of Zhizheng (AD 1351). The tomb of the Guo family was "damaged due to the earthquake" and the descendants "could not bear to offer sacrifices repeatedly", so they rebuilt the tomb in the "ancestral tomb in the northwest of the village". Judging from the time, Guo's old tomb was most likely damaged in the Hongdong earthquake. The structure of m33 is also quite special. There are dozens of large pottery pots, pottery basins, and pottery bowls placed in the tomb. Twenty-one of them contain human bones. A small number of human bones were also found in the niche on the west side of the tomb passage. . Taken together, it seems that the descendants of the Guo family collected the remains of more than 20 ancestors from the severely damaged ancestral tombs and moved them to a new tomb. It can be seen that the earthquake that year caused serious damage to both above-ground and underground buildings. The Guo family's ancestral tombs may have been extremely damaged. Not only was it difficult to repair, but it was even difficult to distinguish the names of each person. The family could only gather in one place to bury them. . A similar situation was found in the tomb of Yuan Dynasty in Jiajiazhuang, Xiaoyi County. On the wall of the tomb there is an ink inscription: "In the seventh year of Dade, an earthquake fell into the house and flattened the people. The king died and no one was buried. On the sixth day of the lunar month, there was an earthquake." Unfortunately, the text is incomplete. There are many, and it is difficult to know the details. The owner of the tomb may be an earthquake victim, or like the Yuan Tomb in Xikong Village, the tomb may have been moved because the old tomb was destroyed by the earthquake. What is somewhat comforting is that people are free to renovate the old tombs of their ancestors, which should mean that the living conditions in the disaster area have initially improved.
Land purchase coupons unearthed from the Yuan Tomb in Kongcun, Hongdong
Thanks to people's efforts, bustling towns and traffic have reappeared in the basin. After the wound gradually healed, the words on the stele served as the healed scar. However, the unkind world will not sympathize with a place just because it has suffered misfortune and treat it favorably next time. After surviving the man-made disasters of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, natural disasters began to brew underground in Pingyang Mansion again. In the thirty-fourth year of Kangxi's reign (AD 1695), another earthquake occurred in Pingyang that was no less powerful than more than 300 years ago. Pingyang Prefecture, which had developed commerce and a dense population, suffered another disaster. According to Kangxi's "Pingyang Prefecture Chronicles", in the evening of that day "there was a sound like thunder, and city walls, government offices, temples, and houses collapsed, killing tens of thousands of people. All states and counties were shaken at once, including Linfen, Xiangling, Hongdong, and Fushan. Especially”. In addition to casualties and house collapses, the Fendi irrigation project built by local people over many years was also severely damaged, and the agricultural foundation that could support a large population was severely damaged.
The Glazed Pagoda of Dayun Temple in Linfen, the original pagoda was rebuilt after being destroyed by the Pingyang earthquake in Kangxi
Faced with the inevitable disaster, people can only continue to climb up from the ruins, bury the remains of relatives and friends, and heal their injured bodies and minds. They did not abandon their hometowns in earthquake zones that lurked disaster, but began to rebuild their homes from the rubble. This perseverance is certainly worthy of praise, but it also reveals profound helplessness: Although our country is vast and spans mountains and seas, the land that can be cultivated, raised, and multiplied is actually very limited. There are still people struggling to cultivate and graze in the mountains and deserts, so how can people abandon this fertile basin next to the Fen River to avoid shocks?
In the process of rebuilding their homes and bodies and minds, shame may be a common emotion among survivors. When they regard their luck as a debt to the victims, they may comfort themselves by telling themselves that they must continue their lives, live as wonderfully as possible, and strive to compensate the victims for their losses. However, the ancients had already revealed the truth in their lamentation that "life is an illusion, and sacrifice is in vain." What is lost is finally lost, and people who set foot on the vast sea of underworld can no longer experience the bitterness, bitterness, and sourness of the human world. sweet.
Even so, the living will still write down or pass down the experience of the disaster orally, for the sake of their old friends, the times, and themselves. Steles, buildings, and texts will become monuments, and people's memories will become invisible forces that fight against distortion and forgetfulness.Of course, nature will take up the ultimate weapon of time and try to erase the evidence of its own crimes in the world. It is true that as time passes, monuments will decay and collapse, and memories will disappear with the body, but the cracks in the earth cannot be easily erased. It will eventually be unearthed and bear witness to the lives that were once trapped in misery.
The pictures and citations in this article are from the following documents, and they are not specified in the text:
(1) Xu Yueren, He Honglin, Li Wenqiao, etc.: "New evidence for the revision of the macroepicenter of the 1303 Hongdong earthquake", "Seismic Geology" 2018 Issue 5.
(2) Institute of Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Macroscopic Investigation Team of Shanxi Earthquake Team: "Report on the Earthquake of Hongzhao County, Shanxi Province on September 17, 1303", "Shanxi Earthquake" Issue 3, 2003.
(3) Ding Yan, Yue Lianjian, Hu Ke: "Song and Jin Dynasty Sites of Zhangwangqu in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province - Discovery of Fenghe River Changes and Signs of Earthquake Sand Liquefaction", http://kaogu.cssn.cn/zwb/xccz/202107/t20210701_5344397 .shtml.
(4) Yao Daquan, Shao Jing, Chen Anguo, etc.: "Discovery and Preliminary Analysis of Prehistoric Earthquake Relics at Yangshao Site, Lantian New Street, Shaanxi Province", "Progress in Geophysics", Issue 2, 2012.
(5) Lu Houyuan, Li Youmei, Zhang Jianping: "Analysis and replication of ingredients of 4000-year-old noodles unearthed from the Lajia site in Qinghai", "Science Bulletin", Issue 8, 2015.
(6) Wang Minghui: "Research on Human Bones Unearthed from the Minhe Lajia Site in Qinghai", "Northern Cultural Relics" Issue 4, 2017.
(7) Zhou Qiang, Zhang Yuzhu: "Exploration and Analysis of the Causes of Prehistoric Disaster at Lajia Site in Qinghai", Acta Geographica Sinica, Issue 11, 2015.
(8) Li Cunxin: "Protection and Treatment of Qijia Cultural House Site at Lajia Site in Qinghai", "Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeological Science" Issue 2, 2009.
(9) Wang Rudiao: "Looking at the Shanxi Hongdong Earthquake in the Seventh Year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty from the New Historical Data", "Shanxi Earthquake" Issue 3, 2003.
(10) Fan Shumin: "Research on the Ming Dynasty Lelou Inscriptions at Chengtang Temple in Xinbi, Zezhou", "Chinese Opera" Issue 1, 2000.
(11) Zhang Yongfeng: "A New Interpretation of "Solo Singing" in Yuan Zaju and the Yuan Dynasty Comedy Mural in the Water Temple", "Journal of Shanghai Theater Academy" Issue 3, 2015.
(12) Wang Jian: "Record of General Hebai of Sang'e Village", "Cultural Relics" Issue Z1, 1962.
(13) Yao Guoqian, Jiang Yun, Yu Xueming: "Study on the 1303 Zhaocheng, Shanxi, magnitude 8 earthquake and its related parameters", "Earthquake Research", Issue 3, 1984.
(14) "Qinzhiji Volume 4·Miscellaneous Works·Earthquake Questions and Answers", Zhizhige-Jizang-Sikubieji-Qinzhaiji, http://daizhige.org/Collection/Sikubieji/Qinzhige Zhaiji-5.html.
(15) Meng Fanxing, Linhongwen: "A brief discussion on some issues in using ancient buildings and attachments to study the two major earthquakes in Shanxi history", "Cultural Relics" Issue 4, 1972.
(16) Shanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute, Hongtong County Culture and Tourism Bureau: "Brief Report on the Excavation of Yuan Dynasty Earthquake Chronological Tombs in Xikong Village, Hongdong, Shanxi", "Cultural Relics Quarterly" Issue 4, 2022.
(17) Qi Shuqin: "Characteristics of Shanxi Earthquake Historical Materials and Their Use in the Past and Today", "Shanxi Earthquake" Issue 3, 1980.
