What do you mean by "the emperor is going to give it"?

It is a word that will appear in the form of an inscription or a memorial tablet.

In addition to expressing the relationship with the person who set up the monument, sometimes the words "Qing", "Huang Qing", "Huang Ming", "China", "Republic of China" and "Huang Qing to be given" appear at the top of the list. Although all these show the sense of belonging of the ancestors who admitted that they died in a foreign land, their political positions are obviously different. In particular, the inscriptions on "Qing Emperor" and "Ming Di" were used by the deceased in the same era, or the words "Give the Qing Emperor" were engraved on the tablets of the leaders of the anti-Qing Restoration organizations, all of which indicated the change of political stance. Some of these tombstones will engrave the official title given by the Qing Dynasty or local government to the people in the tomb, or communist party's private donation number at the top of the list, so as to illustrate his glory in the tomb before his death.

These may help you:

When a person is buried after death, the next most important task is to erect a monument. Generally speaking, setting up a tombstone is the key point of building a grave, and setting up a tombstone is also the first step of building a grave. Because China people believe in geomantic omen, geomantic omen is traditionally "based on monuments", that is, the form of monuments and the direction of the midline determine good or bad luck; Therefore, in the traditional grave sweeping project, it is impossible to erect a monument anytime and anywhere. The time for setting up a tomb must be set according to the good omen in Feng Shui. If you choose the date and hour of breaking ground according to the past customs, it will not be too close to the day of burial (unless it is specially treated). This is to let the rain combine with the soil and prevent the stone tablet from sinking easily.

Objectively, because this is an important link to explain the identity of the deceased, the arrangement of Feng Shui is also extremely cautious. Mr. Feng Shui and his family will not erect a monument immediately after their ancestors are buried. In addition to considering the color and orientation of the monument according to the geomantic omen, they will also give everyone a period of time to consider the words and good or bad meanings of the inscription before setting up the monument. Therefore, in addition to the needs of geomantic omen, choosing the date and time also gives everyone enough time to think about the content of the inscription.

The inscription format of China tombstones in Fujian and Guangdong has a set of traditional rules and a specific basic format. The inscription must fully explain the name, birthplace, identity, descendants and the date of burial or reconstruction of the tombstone of the deceased. Because feng shui is for the later candidates when the tomb is built and the monument is erected, the situation of feng shui must also be explained clearly through the monument.

In addition, the height and width of tombstones and the font size are also limited by the traditional beliefs of Ding Lan rulers. Ding Lan's foot is about 38.0 1 cm, and each foot is divided into 10 squares. The words "rich, damaged, prosperous, dead, official, righteous, bitter, prosperous, harmful and ding" are engraved in turn, and the words "rich", "prosperous", "official" and "prosperous" are used. All the words on the tombstone must be arranged in an area in line with the proportion of Ding Lan, and even the size of the words is quite particular. Of course, it is better to meet the standard.

The area of tombstones, regardless of size, basically follows the same principle when engraving. It is necessary to explain the identity relationship between the deceased and the tombstone builder simply and clearly, so as to maintain the spirit of filial piety and cautious pursuit of the future, and to consider the good fortune and bad luck.

(a) the origin of the tomb.

For Nanyang Chinese, the place of origin of the people in the tomb is very important. Therefore, the top of local graves and tombstones are engraved with explanatory words about the origin of Yin owners. Most of these characters are carved horizontally at the top of the tombstone plane.

Now, perhaps because the deceased was buried in his native land, the tombstone of the deceased does not necessarily indicate the origin of the owner of Yin House. Especially in the public graves of clan villages, it is even more unnecessary for tombstones to indicate the birthplace of the deceased.

But before Malaysia's independence, all ancestors who died in Malaysia were considered as "guests who died in a foreign land", and at the same time, their burial sites were often buried in public graves used by people in other counties. Therefore, it is more important to indicate the origin of the owner of Yin House at the top of the tombstone.

Generally, the words in the upper left corner and upper right corner of the tombstone inscription will usually become the proof of textual research on the ancestral home of the deceased. It is often engraved with double characters from right to left, indicating the hometown of the owner of Yin House. The words on the tombstone indicating hometown, some are only engraved with the name of the government, such as Huizhou and Chaozhou, some are engraved with the name of the county, such as Taishan and Chaoan, and some are engraved with X city as the county. There are also some tombstones that indicate the place of origin, but specifically refer to the clan village where the deceased originated. The tombstone bears the name of the birthplace of their tribal village. For example, Yang, one of the five surnames of Fubon in Penang, used Xiayang Village instead of Tongan County, Qiu also used Xinjiang, Xie used Shitang and so on. This description of the ancestral home of the clan village clearly shows the difference between the deceased and other people with the same surname, which is the proof that the clan society was transplanted to Malaysia and formed its own local power.

In the past, the naming of characters was not complicated, but might be similar. The inscription emphasized that hometown could deepen the role of identifying graves. In addition, this practice is also a silent teaching, reminding future generations to remember the hometown of their ancestors.

(B) confessions of Feng Shui

China people believe in geomantic omen, especially the graves of wealthy families, and pay more attention to the design of geomantic omen, so that future generations can prosper.

The left side of the tombstone is commonly known as "Dragon Edge". In the eyes of China people, the left respects the right and the left is big; Strictly speaking, if it is a delicate grave robbery, the cemetery is large and the tombstone size is relatively large; The upper left corner of the tombstone is used to illustrate the situation of Feng Shui.

For general tombstones, if the descendants of the monument pay attention to geomantic omen, the direction of the tombstone will also be engraved in the upper left corner to show which mountain the tomb is located in, and which mountain the inscription faces. A more refined way to explain the linearity of the mountain direction, or further explain its golden line. In addition, there is a detailed explanation of the cave shape and the origin of choosing Feng Shui. This practice is to enable future generations to trace the words on the tablet back to the "feng shui effect" expected by the predecessors when they were buried, so as to understand the painstaking efforts of the predecessors. In fact, this is to worry that future generations will move the wrong geomantic omen, correct the wrong geomantic omen, and explain it in advance with tombstones, so that future generations can understand the wishes of predecessors who built tombs for future generations.

The local practice is inevitably due to the general scale of public cemeteries, which makes Yin Zhai restricted by the difficult choice of cemetery area and direction. Therefore, the tombstone inscription is relatively simple in dealing with the "dragon edge", and the "year, month and day" engraved on the tombstone replaces the explanation of feng shui marking; There are only a few tombstones on the "Dragon Side" to illustrate the feng shui of the monument.

However, this does not mean that local tombs do not talk about geomantic omen when they are built. In fact, the descendants of the masters of the Yin family may explain or carve the feng shui patterns on the front of the tomb table beside the tomb. Some are carved into couplets on short columns or Chinese watches in front of armguards connected to graves. For example, Qiu Sifang of Penang carved couplets on the four pillars of the antique pavilion that built the tomb when 1896 died, explaining the geomantic landscape formed by the direction he chose during burial and the surrounding scenery at that time, explaining the situation of mountains, scenery and internal and external waters, and also explaining that the direction he chose was "sitting on the dry sea and mourning for himself" and explaining his ancestors to later generations.

(c) the date of burial, reconstruction or erection of the monument

On the left side of the tomb, if the feng shui line is not stated, the date of erection or reconstruction must be stated, so the date on the monument is not necessarily the date of death of the deceased. The reason why the date is marked is also related to Feng Shui. Because the shape of a tomb design is mainly based on the tombstone, as long as the tombstone does not move, its direction can be measured at any time. Therefore, if future generations want to further determine the role and desire of Feng Shui, it depends on the date of burial and monument.

There are also many forms to explain the date. For example, ancient tombs are engraved with imperial names of dynasties, such as "Jiaqing 15 Ji Chun" or "Tongzhi Ugly". After entering the Republic of China, the words "Republic of China" were engraved, but some only engraved the year, month and day, such as "Wuyin Year 65438+ 10/6". In some tombs, the titles of the Qing emperors were replaced by the titles of "Tianyun" or "Dragon and Phoenix", indicating that they did not accept the rule of the Qing Dynasty, while in other tombs, the word "Ming Di" was used, indicating that the deceased was an overseas orphan who continued to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in Southeast Asia, some "Ming tombs" are not necessarily Ming tombs, but do not accept the tombs of members of the Qing Dynasty and the remains of the previous dynasties. The year number on the old grave actually reflects the "political inclination" of the deceased.

Most tombstones are only engraved with the date of last year, and others are generally engraved with "auspicious day" and then explained. All this is actually related to Feng Shui. The geomantic circle thinks that choosing a day for burial is a profound secret and is unwilling to reveal it easily. Moreover, the date and age of the monument are not announced in order to protect the geomantic situation of the Yin family from being destroyed. Therefore, many tombstones do not indicate the "exact date" of the monument or burial, let alone the time of the monument.

As for the explanation of the month on some stone tablets, words such as Meng Chun, Zhongchun and Ji Chun are often used. Actually, April, February and March are spring, April, May and June are summer, July, August and September are autumn, and 10,1,12 are winter. Although there are no four seasons in Malaysia, according to the custom in China, the monument-setters use the word "Meng" to represent the first month of each season, the word "Zhong" to represent the second month and the word "Ji" to represent the third month. In addition, the folk tradition takes Hua Ming as the alias of1February. The common month names of tombstones are as follows:

65438+ October Yang Meng, Meng Chun, Yue Mei, the first month.

February is mid-spring, mid-sun, beautiful moon, apricot moon and bright moon.

Ji Chun Yangchun, Silkworm Moon and Peach Moon in March.

April is summer dream, summer dream, Yue Yang Huai Yue, Gan Yue.

Midsummer in May: At noon, Liu Yue and Yuejeep Month.

In June, there is no moon in the last month of summer.

July Zhao Qiu, Qiu Meng, Guayue, Qiao Yue, Qiao Yue

Mid-Autumn Festival in August, Gui Yue in the middle of the month.

September, autumn, late autumn, chrysanthemum, chrysanthemum.

10 Meng Dong early winter, full moon in Tan Yue, spring moon.

1 1 midwinter, second month, third month.

65438+ February season winter dusk winter, December oak month, December.

When explaining Memorial Day, many tombstones will use the words "Gu Dan", "Ji Dan" and "auspicious day". The word Gu Erdan comes from The Book of Songs, Chen Feng, East Gate. There is a saying in the poem: "Gu Erdan is poor, the source of the East". "Biography of Mao" explains: "The valley is good." Jian Zheng explained: "Dan, Ming." Therefore, the word "Gu Erdan" on the stone tablet means a beautiful day. Besides "Gu Erdan", some tombstones also use words such as "Ji Dan" and "auspicious day", which have the same meaning as "Gu Erdan". The use of these words, in addition to the pursuit of literal good omen, may often involve superstition of good words or bad words.

(d) the identity of the person in the tomb

The central part of the tombstone, commonly known as "Zhongbang", is engraved with the text of the tombstone, which explains the identity of the deceased in the tomb with the shortest specifications. The key points it must explain include the name of the deceased, the highest rank or position of the deceased before his death, and the relationship between the deceased and the monument. In addition, before the independence of Southeast Asian countries, Chinese tombstones in Southeast Asia were all buried in "foreign lands". Compared with China's tombstone, which doesn't bear the name of the country, there are more words that emphasize China's consciousness, and most of them add the words of Qing,,, Republic of China, China, etc., indicating that the deceased died in a foreign land.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there was also a set of requirements for the word format of the tombstone "Zhongbang" in southern China.

Some appellations in the center of the tombstone address the deceased by calling his surname, such as "the tomb of X Gong xx Fu Jun", or "Zukao xxx Gong Cong xxx", "Hua Zi xxx" and "Hua Nv xxx". Generally speaking, most of them are engraved with "linked names with surnames", such as "Old xx Gong Lin Tomb", "Xiankao Changshuilin Cemetery" and "Xianyan Yushuilin Tomb". According to the rules circulated in feudal times, the female deceased was the head of the husband's family. As a result, inscriptions such as "the tomb of the Lin family in Qiumen" appeared, and some female deceased may have nameless surnames on their tablets, such as "Lin Ru, a famous city".

Some people have married their wives, and the tombstone of their wives is also given a translated surname according to the above format.

In the "Zhongbang" line, when the name of the deceased is stated, some special terms will appear at the top of the honorific title of the deceased, such as "Xian Kao", "Xian Cong", "Xian 15" and "Xian Kao in the 24th century". These special words are used to explain the kinship between the deceased and the monument-erector. If the monument erected by Comrade communist party shows the relationship between their comrades and communist party, words such as "righteous man" and "Chu Shi" may appear instead of the above-mentioned kinship terms.

1982, the author found the tomb of Zheng Quan, the leader of Yixing, in the first public grave of Guangting House in Penang. This name can't be found in any British colonial literature, and his god station occupies a prominent position in the middle of the front row of the main shrine of Mingying Temple in Penang. His tombstone appears in Yishan, which shows that he is very active in Penang. The tombstone is rarely called "Brother Zheng Quan" directly.

The following are some terms that can reflect the relationship between the monument erector and the deceased and the identity of the deceased:

Take the exam and show it-father

Congcong, Xiancong-Mom

Zu, Zu, Zu Kao and Zu Kao's grandfather.

Zucong, Xian Zucong-Grandma

Men and women-men

Family, Confucian-female

Flower girl-unmarried man (commonly used in Guangdong)

Daughter and Flower Girl-Unmarried Women (commonly used in Guangdong)

The 24th generation test-ranked by genealogy, the father is the ancestor of the 24th generation.

2 1 Grandparents of this generation-according to the genealogy, grandmothers are Chu Shi, the ancestor of 2 1 this generation, and Chu Shi, the righteous man of the official; A righteous man is a dedicated person. There is a saying on the tombstone that the people in the tomb are related to attending the party.

In addition to expressing the relationship with the person who set up the monument, sometimes the words "Qing", "Huang Qing", "Huang Ming", "China", "Republic of China" and "Huang Qing to be given" appear at the top of the list. Although all these show the sense of belonging of the ancestors who admitted that they died in a foreign land, their political positions are obviously different. In particular, the inscriptions on "Qing Emperor" and "Ming Di" were used by the deceased in the same era, or the words "Give the Qing Emperor" were engraved on the tablets of the leaders of the anti-Qing Restoration organizations, all of which indicated the change of political stance. Some of these tombstones will be engraved with official titles given by the Qing Dynasty or local governments or private donation numbers of social parties at the top of the list, so as to illustrate the pre-life glory in the tomb.

In fact, words related to political identity, such as the list of winners, can also explain the political identity of the monument builder himself.

In fact, the characters used in the Malaysian tombstone list are also influenced by the special customs of Chinese mainland, Fujian and Guangdong. For example, in feudal society, only the mothers or wives of officials with more than seven products can be called "Confucians" on tombstones, but the tombstones of all Hakka women in China can be called "Confucians". According to the legend of the guests, this is because Hakka Chai Nv once collectively rescued the drivers in Mei Village and stopped Yuan Bing. Therefore, since the imperial edict of the Song Dynasty, all the firewood women have been labeled as "Confucianism".

In the local area, some Hakka women and even women of other languages in Fujian and Guangdong follow the same customs. Even if their husbands or sons didn't receive more than seven patent letters, their families still carved the word "Ruren" on their tombstones.

Therefore, we should pay attention to the honorific words for the dead in some tombstones in Malaysia. Sometimes, "Fu Jun" is used instead of "Gong" and "Ru Ren" is used instead of "Teacher". These words are intended to indicate the gender of the deceased, but they do not necessarily indicate the identity of the deceased. In fact, they are usually used to deal with the word number of "China" lines, that is, to use single words or double words according to the needs of good or bad words when carving tombs.

Watch your words.

■ This inscription reads "All Nations" * *17: "Show ancestral home, Jin Juniang, Qiumen, the beautiful capital of Wu's family's children". Huang Qing shows the thoughts and political tendencies of his expatriates. The word "ancestors from" means that the deceased was the grandmother of the monument builder. 17 gets the beautiful meaning of the word "old".

The word "Zhongbang" occupies an important position in the inscription, and the traditional inscription thinks that its number of words involves good or bad luck and cannot be sloppy.

The judgment of the inscription is mainly based on this behavior in the list. The total number of characters in the table should conform to the five characters of "birth, old age, illness and pain", and take "birth" and "old age" as the rules. In Chaoshan area, "Prosperity, Prosperity, Death and Absolute" shall prevail, "Prosperity" and "Prosperity" shall prevail, and "Death" shall prevail. For example, the twenty-second ancestor Kao Yulin Taiwei Cemetery in Xi 'an has a total of 13 words. Read on in the order of "birth, aging, illness and death", and the last word of the whole line ends with "disease". Such a tombstone is unlucky. The solution is to change "XXIII" to "XXIII", so that the last word in the whole bank ends with the word "old"; Alternatively, the word "zhi" in the tomb of "zhi" can be removed, so that the last word in the whole line ends with the word "sheng".

To put it simply, the number of words in the line that introduces the identity of the owner of the Yin House in the list is 6,7, 1 1, 12, 16, 17. In order not to encounter bad numbers, we can add or subtract words, such as adding "Huang Qing", or omitting the word "Huang" from the word "Qing", or renaming "Gong" as "Fu Jun", or omitting the word "Zhi" from the tomb of "Zhi" or replacing it with the word "Ying". Sometimes the word "Xian" can be removed from the "Xian Kao" or "Xian Yan". For example, the "imperial examination" was changed to "examination", and the words and additions and deletions in "China" paid attention to expressing their identity. After addition and deletion, it conforms to the auspicious format of "birth, old age, illness and death", and its meaning is the same, but the meaning of good or bad words is different.

The customs of Zhang Quan in southern Fujian also pay more attention to the number of auspicious and unlucky words. This practice emphasizes that both the date of the monument erected on the left side of the tomb and the total number of words erected on the right side of the tomb should be in line with good or bad luck and the words "born" and "old" and "died of illness". If the dates are inconsistent, you can change "March 10" to "March 10" in Ji Chun. The most important thing is that, except for the horizontal character representing the native place, all the other three lines of characters on the left, middle and right should conform to the word "old", and the total number of words added up to three copies should also conform to the word "longevity", which is called "three old people together".

Some feng shui masters can't cope with this local custom spread in Fujian, Guangdong and Nanyang, and will take the six words on the list as auspicious numbers. Some people think that the words involved in country names such as "Huang Qing" should not be included in the calculation of good or ill luck figures, and that they have the same nature as banners and are not included in the text of the list.

■ This tombstone is arranged in 2 1, which highlights the "official title" and seniority, and has the auspicious meaning of "longevity".

It is worth noting that there is "Ming Gu Lai's Tomb" (1614) near Zheng's tomb, a Chinese in Malacca. In the introduction of the Collection of Chinese Inscriptions in Singapore, edited by Chen Yuxi and Chen Jinghe, it is also mentioned that this Ming Dynasty tombstone on Sambo Mountain in Malacca reads? The Tomb of Brunei. The editor thinks that this shows the widespread intermarriage between China and aborigines at that time. I regard it as folk historical materials, which is enough to reflect the early marriage between China people and indigenous people, and the female side has followed the man's beliefs and customs. The tombstone of a Brunei Tu woman who married a China man is a monument erected by China people, and the word "Lao" is used as an auspicious number.

However, it can be seen from other materials that Chinese in Malacca in the early Ming Dynasty did not necessarily pay attention to the format requirements of "China List" since the late Qing Dynasty.

For example, in the 28th year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty in bukit china (1689), the script of Gong Zheng, the sage of Xiankao, is an example.

(f) Level of Pillar Maker

On the right side of the tombstone, commonly known as "Tiger Side", in the lower right corner of this side of the tombstone, it is used to record the list of people who set up the monument. Some practices, if the "Dragon Side" on the left is full of records about geomantic omen, also move the date of burial and monument erection to the right of the lowest corner of "Tiger Side" and engrave it on the right of the list of monument erectors.

There are three main types of tombstone erectors; One is about the direct descendants of the Yin master, and the descendants or relatives will erect a monument. Second, if the relevant figures have no children and have made extraordinary achievements, they will be erected by organizations, such as public graves in all parts of North Malaysia, where the tombstone of party member marked "Yixing Pavilion" is very common; Or the hometown of the deceased is responsible for burying the body and erecting a monument. The third is to erect a monument by relatives. Especially in the early era when hazel thorns were opened, it was probably the white-headed people who sent blackheads. There are still many Qing tombs erected by uncles or brothers on some righteous mountains in Penang.

1 is a monument erected by later generations. Of course, you can also use the title of "Xian Kao" or "Xian Zukao" to address the people in the tomb to show the ancestral relationship between the deceased and the living. Other people's monuments can't use words such as "Cong" and "Kao", or in order to avoid the words of "sickness and death" in the whole line, they can only use "Gu" instead (for example, Qing Dynasty ×× Cai Cemetery).

If the names of the descendants of the deceased are on the right side of the tombstone, they must be arranged in the order of seniority and male first and female last. The first behavior in the format, the first generation of descendants; Men left and women right, men and women separated. If the position is not enough, the men's volleyball team is followed by the second row of women's volleyball team at the bottom right. The second generation is also ranked in the next line of the first generation according to this format. If there is a third generation or a fourth generation, it is also an analogy calculation. In every line, the elderly are on the far right.

Regardless of the descendants or elders who set up the monument, the specifications of the tombstone are to list the names of the people who set up the monument in the lower right corner. Here we follow a traditional concept of "respecting the left and belittling the right" and "the dead are the biggest".

It must be noted that, when all the descendants of the tomb erected a monument to their ancestors, in order to emphasize that the meaning of "filial piety" not only belonged to them before their death, but also emphasized that "filial piety" must continue after their death, they also carved the names of the deceased descendants into the ranks of "monument-setters" in the spirit of taking care of the integrity of the family system.

However, because China people attach importance to their children and grandchildren, people may be obsessed with good or bad luck figures, and the list of monument-setters appearing on some tombstones in the past may be unrealistic. The list will include some "unborn" or even "never born" immediate family members. Their children may carve a series of lists in advance before the deceased has adopted grandchildren or the list of grandchildren is not rich enough, and the grandchildren born after that will be arranged according to the list on the tombstone. This created a "trap", so that later historians had to work hard according to other materials; Otherwise, we may misjudge the number of descendants of the deceased.

■ Biography of descendants, burial time, feng shui sitting position and gold distribution are all engraved on the altar to inform future generations of their ancestors' wishes.

Hou Yu

The above discussion on the inscription format of Yin House is mainly aimed at the general people's tombs, and does not include the norms of the monks and Taoists. The source of relevant information is years of learning experience from predecessors in the fields of geomantic omen and stone carving, and it is also a kind of knowledge that is difficult to quote written reference materials.

The investigation report did not specify the carving pattern of the tombstone. Different tombstones, in addition to the specifications of the inscription, have to be limited. Their fonts, sizes and carved patterns allow craftsmen to give full play to their artistic talents and meet the requirements of folk beliefs, which can be said to be a relatively neglected folk art.