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Day 3 : Walking the Emperor's Tomb
Reported by Choo Li-Hsian. |
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21 April 2006 (Day 3)
Day 3 marks the end of our journey in Xian. Post checkout activities and collection of our luggage by the local tour operator for our afternoon flight check-in, we made our way to the final destination of the Xian leg of the Excursion. Prior to that, a quick stop was made to the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China.
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We arrived at the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang later that morning amidst wet and misty weather. Though not as impressive as the Qian tomb seen the day before, it was similarly built up and had pretty landscaped gardens and the usual symbolic carvings, more for tourist effect than for Feng Shui reasons. The many local Chinese tourists there that same morning seemed to enjoy the atmosphere.
We negotiated a few flights of stairs before reaching a platform. Who was Qin Shi Huang anyway? In the year 246 BC, at the age of 13, Ying Zheng ascended the throne of the state of Qin and assumed the title "Shihuang" or First Emperor. He was the Emperor who united the country and standardized the country and written script. However, he had a notorious reputation for purges, massive book burning parties, enforced labour in massive construction projects and other tyrannical behaviour. He ruled until his death in 210 BC and was succeeded by his only son who held out only for another four years, before being overthrown by the revolt that established the Han dynasty. Historical accounts say that his tomb were underground palaces filled with precious stones and ingenious defences against intruders (this has deterred many people even up to current times from excavating this tomb for fear of the consequences of triggering these booby traps despite knowledge of the tomb location), housing ceilings vaulted with pearls, statues of gold and silver, and rivers of mercury. It was also said that the artisans who created these were buried alive within, taking their secrets with them.
At the site, students were given the opportunity to see for themselves the landform features of the area and assess for themselves the Feng Shui aspects of the tomb. Joey, in his recap at the site, points out that during Qin Shi Huang's time, the practice of Feng Shui was still very basic. This is in spite of the fact that the Burial Book was written at this period of time. Qin Shi Huang's tomb suffers from bad Feng Shui, similar to many other Chinese Emperors' tombs (this is true generally with the exception of a handful of Emperors). In this particular tomb, which is located on the sides of a moving dragon, there is no table mountain facing the tomb. Instead, it faces wide open spaces. Hence, the Qi is spread out and dispersed, not retained. Behind the tomb, there are moving dragons with no main protectors. No release of vein! Hence, there is no main meridian spot. The great Qin Empire met its downfall shortly after Qin Shi Huang's death.
In response to a question at this debriefing, Joey explains the actual direction of the tomb is of primary importance, what is critical is that the tomb be positioned in a meridian spot (of which there is none in this context as established earlier). At this mountain, there is no embrace, nor is there a clear definition of a water mouth. The only good thing this tomb has going for it is the fact that the actual burial location is deep into the ground. This is known as Cong Xue in the study of classical Landform Feng Shui, a method used to access the Qi from the mountains when they are steep.
We leave the tomb and move on to a very quick 30 minute lunch at a local restaurant before rushing off to the Xian airport to catch a flight to Changsha for the next leg of our Excursion. We reach Changsha in the evening in time to enjoy the best meal of the trip so far, delicious specialty dishes specific to the Hunan region - sweet and tender braised meats, pickled vegetables and the occasional cold dish. Many ended the evening taking an early rest at the hotel while some went for foot massages, to ease the little aches from the treks of the last 2 days, in preparation for the long march up tomorrow to Chairman Mao's ancestral burial site.
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