YELLOW EMPEROR
Legend has it that the mausoleum of Yellow Emperor is that 0[
Xuan Yuan, founder of the Chinese nation. The Mausoleum stands
at the top of Mt. Qiaoshan, north of the Huangling County seat.
Huang Di was a great tribal chief at the time towards the end
of primitive society in China. He was honoured as the ancestor who
had initiated Chinese civilization. He was attributed with the inven-
tions of jade weapons, carts, boats, bows and arrows. Luo Zu, his
wife, was good at raising silkworms. Cang Jie, an imperial histori-
an, created the Chinese pictograph. Da Rao, one of his officials,
worked out the first "Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch
Calendar". Ling Lun, his official composer, developed musical in-
struments. All of these brilliant achievements put forth by Huang
Di, were indispensable to the later success of China as one of the
world's four ancient civilized nations.
Huang Di's exploits went down in history also because he had
punished the evil and wicked, and unified the Chinese nation for the
first time. In that historical stage, the Chinese people laboured,
lived and multiplied on the vast land around the Yellow River val-
ley. Yan I)i (Emperor Yan) and his people of the Qiang nationality
inhabited the middle. Tai Gao and his Yi tribe lived in the east. Chi
You and the Man lived in the south, and Qiang, Dee and Rong
tribes lived in the north and west. Huang Di and his tribe led a no-
madic life then, in the west. Later they migrated south to the mid-
dle. In a battle launched by the Man nationality, led by Chi You,
whose aim was to seize the middle'area, Yah Di was defeated and
turned to Huang Di for help. The combined forces defeated Chi
You. At last, Huang Di unified these groups to become the first
Chinese nation, after 52 battles. Huang Di was said to have lived to
be 118. One day on an inspection tour to Henan, Huang Di heard a
sudden crack of thunder from the sky, and a yellow dragon de-
scended in front of him. The dragon said to Huang DJ, "You have
accomplished your mission. Now, please return to Heaven with
me." Huang Di knew he was not in a position to run counter to
God's will and could do nothing but mount the dragon and go with
it. When flying over Mount Qiaoshan of Shaanxi, Huang Di asked
the dragon to land so that he could appease his subjects. At the
news, the people hurried over and wept bitterly. Having been urged
by the yellow dragon, Huang Di again mounted it. But the people
got tight hold of his clothes, trying to make him stay. However,
the yellow dragon took him away. All that the people had left of
him was his hat and his clothes, which they buried on Mount
Qiaoshan in a tomb that was built for him. That was how the leg-
end went, yet some people believe that Mount Qiaoshan is exactly
where great man's final resting place is.
The burial ground is about four square kilometres. It is sur-
rounded by mountains and rivers, and is covered with lush forest.
According to statistics, there are over 60,000 one-thousand-year-
old cypresses there. As one nears the top he passes a stele with the
inscription. "Both civil officials and military officers must demount
from here."
~ It is said that those who come to pay homage would walk from
this spot up to the tomb. In front of the tomb there is a memorial
pavilion with a huge stone stele, on which is carved Guo Moruo's
calligraphy, which reads "Mausoleum of Huang DJ". Behind the
pavilion another stele is inscribed with four characters "Qiaoshan
Long Yu" (Mount Qiaoshan Dragon Carriage). A little farther up
stands the Mausoleum of Huang Di, right in the middle of the
mountain top. The south-facing mausoleum is four metres high and
50 metres in circumference. About 40 metres infront of the tomb is
a twenty-metre-high platform with a stele on one side, on which is
inscribed "Han Wu Xian Tai" (Han Wu Praying Platform). It is
said to have been built in 110 B. C. for Emperor Wu Di of the Hah
Dynasty to pay homage to Huang Di, and to pray for good luck on
his way back to Suo Fang. Since then, it has been a state ceremony
to pay homage to the Huang Di's Mausoleum on Chinese Memorial
Day. Many eulogies to Huang Di by emperors of later dynasties
have been passed down through the ages. Before 1949, some
famors senior statesmen of the Nationalist Party, such as Yu
Youren, Jiang Dingwen, and Cheng Qian, had been here. During
the Yanan period, the Chinese Communist Party Central Commit-
tee sent its representatives here to honour this great man. On the
Memorial Day of 1937, Lin Boqu, entrusted by Mao Zedong and
Zhu De, commander-in-chief, came to officiate at the ceremony.
At the foot of the mountain stands a temple known as Xu-
anyuan Temple, where there are still some structures, ancient cy-
presses and stone steles. The first thing that strikes one's eyes upon
entering the gate is a huge cypress, 19 metres tall, and six metres
in circumference. It would take more than seven people to encircle
the tree with outstretched arms. Some foreign scholars call it "fa-
ther of world cypress". Legend goes that it was planted by Yellow
Emperor himself, which would make it over 4,900 years old.
North of the gate there is hall and a pavilion with 47 stone ste-
les on display. Before the temple's main hall stands another tall
tree, known as the Cypress for Hanging Armor. It is covered with
scars in regular patterns on its hark, seemingly, marked by armor
and holes can be found in the trunk, with broken nails inside. Cy-
press rosin flows out constantly from these holes, making this cy-
press unique among all the cypresses in the temple. According to
legend, the Han Dynasty Emperor Wu Di had left all these marks
when hanging his armor on it.
Above the door of the magnificent main hall is a large horizon-
tal tablet with a four-character inscription. Ren Wen Chu Zu
(Founder of the Human Civilization). Inside the hall is a gorgeous
shrine. Displays along the side walls give an introduction to the
temple and the mausoleum.