A Study On The Emperor's Personal Visit To The Mausoleum In Tang Dynasty And Related Issues

The emperor of Tang Dynasty paid a visit to the mausoleum in person,which originated from the ceremony of going to the mausoleum since the Han and Wei dynasties.In the Tang Dynasty,there were three times of emperor's visit to the mausoleum,which were concentrated in the early Tang Dynasty,namely,the Emperor Taizong's visit to the mausoleum in the 17th year of Zhenguan,the Emperor Gaozong's visit to the Zhaoling in the 6th year of Yonghui,and the Emperor Xuanzong's visit to the five mausoleums in the 17th year of Kaiyuan.Thcsc three large-scale,complicated procedures and strong display of the emperor's ritual activities have the political appeal of establishing orthodoxy and displaying the image of filial piety,but the three emperors are faced with different circumstances,seeking their own political purposes through the ritual activities.As the sons of Wu Zetian,Zhongzong Lixian and Ruizong Lidan have complex attitudes towards the Wu family,which also makes them face a dilemma on the issue of paying a personal visit to the mausoleum.Coupled with the complicated and chaotic situation of the dynasty,Zhongzong and Ruizong were unwilling to organize large-scale acticiticy of visiting the mausoleum in person.After the Anshi rebellion,the Tang Dynasty was faced with a series of problems,such as the separation of vassals,the dictatorship of eunuchs,the struggle of allies,the financial crisis,the border crisis and the continuous Peasant uprisings,which made the Tang monarches give up the sacrifice to the imperial mausoleum and turn to other sacrifices,such as the more convenient and cheap imperial temple sacrifice,in the process of ancestor worship and seeking the legitimacy of power to achieve the purpose of etiquette.From the point of view of the empceror's paying homage to ancestors,the sacrifice to the place where the spirits of the ancestors of mausoleum and temple lived in the Tang Dynasty changed from the equal emphasis on mausoleum and temple in the early Tang Dynasty to the retreat of mausoleum and temple in the late Tang Dynasty.In Zizhi Tongjian,it is recorded that emperor Yizong of Tang Dynasty worshiped the sixteen Mausoleums in February of the 4th year of Xiantong.From the different fate of the mausoleum in the early and late Tang Dynasty,we can see the vicissitude of the Tang Dynasty from prosperity to decline.