Ancient China had a custom called funeral burial, which was one of the most cruel customs of ancient times. When the emperor died, he would be buried with many other people, some were buried alive but some were killed or committed suicide before burial. The custom of bereavement appeared during the Zhou Dynasty and ended during the time of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, any woman who was buried would be extremely pitiful. No matter how noble their status was before, whether they were concubines favored by the emperor or not, at the moment they faced death, they were all very tragic. Because in the feudal dynasty, women could not decide their own fate.
From the Han Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, the custom of bereavement rarely took place. During the Cao Wei period, before he died, Cao Cao told his concubines not to be buried with him, and if they wanted to remarry, they should remarry. Such civilized sayings are very rare in history.
However, by the Ming Dynasty, the custom of bereavement had once again reached its peak. From the time of Minh Thai To Chu Nguyen Chuong to Minh Tuyen Tong Chu Chiem Co, they had to apply the burial custom for those living in the palace. It was not until Minh Anh Tong Chu Ky Tran came to power that he issued an edict abolishing the funeral regime in the royal family.
During the time of Qin Shi Huang, the custom of bereavement reached its ultimate cruel level, the number of people buried with him in the mausoleum to this day still cannot be counted. Archaeologists have found a large number of women’s remains in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. They determined that these were all the remains of concubines who were buried with the Emperor of the Qin Dynasty.
The most special thing is that the leg bones of most female remains are not closed. After all, what did these concubines experience before they died that their legs could not be straightened?
After a period of research, scientists have found the cause of that problem. Oxygen in the catacombs is very low. When the soldiers finished sealing the tomb door, the people inside had only one way to die.
In such a terrifying environment, the buried palace servants had to risk their lives to struggle in despair, cry in pain and finally die from lack of oxygen. That’s why, after death, the bodies of these women had a very strange position, either curled up or twisted, or their limbs could not close or straighten as usual. But no matter what, one thing is certain: they experienced extreme fear.
