THE CHINESE PYRAMIDS
Victor Segalen
1923-1924
trans. Jason Colavito
2013
|
NOTE |
Ancient astronaut writers Hartwig Hausdorf and the late Philip Coppens each claimed to have been the first to popularize the existence of pyramids in China. Hausdorf, for example, claimed in The Chinese Roswell (1994; trans. 1998) that such pyramids were mere "rumors" before he investigated them, while Coppens claimed that he "broke the story of the existence of Chinese pyramids" in 1995, despite citing the very report you are about to read. The following archaeological report was composed by the French ethnologist and archaeologist VICTOR SEGALEN (1878-1919) in 1917 following his expeditions to China (1909-1914, 1917). Published in his posthumous Mission archéologique en Chine (1923-1924), and widely cited thereafter, this description of the pyramid mound-tomb of China's first emperor demonstrates clearly that the Chinese pyramids were not the discovery of ancient astronaut writers.
Segalen's book has never been translated into English. For this translation, I have not reproduced the numerous footnotes, which may be read in the original French here. Note that I have clarified that Segalen's mention of "extraterrestrial life" was intended to refer to the afterlife, not beings from another planet. Finally, I am not a professional translator, so be sure to consult the original French before citing any material herein. |
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MISSION IN CHINA, 1923-1924
The Imperial Mounds of the Wei Valley
The Tomb of Shi Huangdi
In the history of China, Shi Huangdi [Qin Shi Huang] plays a dominant role. He is the sole legitimate ruler of the dynasty he founded, and his death precipitated a brief convulsion. And yet this dynasty, more than any other, has set its seal upon later centuries. The name of Shi Huangdi, which he awarded himself, means “Sovereign Emperor.” His actions, his buildings, his travels, his desires, his every move imprint themselves upon the texts that describe them with a powerful grandeur. Thus his tomb is the most famous among all.
However, as we approached the place at the village of Sin-fong where an old man had marked for us its location, we feared a disappointment, too often justified in China: we expected any pile of dirt to be labeled with a modern stele, a ruined kiosk bearing the expected name. There was no kiosk or stele, but there was no need for them. Because, when one comes across the funeral mound, one suddenly sees it occupying on the ground the same sovereign place as Shih Huang-ti in the written histories. This tumulus, the oldest among those identified with certainty, and which does not seem disturbed, is also the largest, whose form indicates the need for further research and expresses the greatest beauty.
It is located 3 km and a half east of the sub-prefecture of Lin-t’ung, in the prefecture of Xi’an. A long climb leads from the Wei valley at the base of Mt. Li, rising in parallel to it. The slope, low to the foot of the mound, decreases still behind it, forming an expansive plateau. Up on the mountain, there is a rippling of the land rather than genuine relief, but this broad movement assaults the naked fields, enough to raise the work above the plain, while keeping it clear of the sharpness of the mountainous landscape. It covers almost the entire southern half of the horizon. A rock spur, which has its counterpart on the left, abuts the walls to the right of Lin-t’ung. Between the two bounding advances, the Li-chan describes an arc that aligns the pyramid to its rocky underpinning, the regular foothills buttressing the mountain’s mass. Just behind the tomb in the south, the peak rises as a swollen patch on the shoulder of two matched cones. This central unit is symmetrical, and the roofline extends eastward and westward. It was bold before the great order of mountains to prepare an earthwork with no pedestal other than the ground.
The emperor nevertheless demanded this of his architects. In the 26th year of his reign, when the sovereignty he had established now extended to the barbarian countries as well, he had fixed for his tomb this place where it arises in a conquered valley like a seal at the bottom of a decree. He himself, no doubt, decreed the plans for the tomb, and we know that he hastened their execution with reinforcements consisting of myriads of workers. For the first time we have with this tomb the opportunity to judge a major figure in Chinese history with something other than literary essays. And this work only adds to the historic greatness: The surrounding mighty mountain is forced into a subordinate role. It is only a framework, an open screen, scenery.
A poet of the Qing dynasty described the tumulus as "three superimposed hills." Sitting on the natural, long base, probably also reworked to a large extent, the earthwork first rises along the sides of a square of six hundred meters, hollow strips bordering the first projection, the base of the mound, built on a concentric square of three hundred and fifty meters. Above, the land rises in a vigorous concave corrugation, connected to a mid-height flat horizontal shoulder on which the hill rises to a truncated apex. Climbing the sides, we see that the model is more complex: In order, no doubt, to arrange a form less distorted when viewed obliquely, the mound is swollen from the base in the middle of each side, while above that a projection to the north and south opposes a reentry to the east and west.
These opposite curvatures are a reason to eliminate the assumption of a complete distortion of the mound by compaction and rainfall, which has perhaps acted with consistency, but could not act with this diverse symmetry if the original solid had been a simple quadrangular pyramid base. Fine powder of loess is one of the architect’s most desired materials to keep the desired shape.
At forty-eight meters above the base, at about sixty above the previous limit of earthworks, the mound has a volume of half a million cubic meters. As the builder had first to dig to establish the substructure of the tomb, the volume of earth moved was much more considerable. A crucial passage of Sima Qian (we borrow the translation to Professor Chavannes) tells us about the content and construction of the tumulus:
“From the beginning of his reign, Shi Huangdi had dug and remodeled Li Mountain. And when he had gathered in his hands the whole of the empire, he had sent to him seven hundred thousand workers; they dug into the ground until the water flowed from the third layer of springs, and they poured bronze for a sarcophagus. Replicas of palaces, scenic towers, and the hundred administrators, marvelous utensils, jewels, and art objects; all were transported to fill (the sepulcher) and were buried. Artisans were ordered to craft automatic bows and arrows so if someone wanted to make a hole and enter (into the grave), he would have been suddenly shot. Mercury was used to create imitations of the hundred rivers, the Yellow River, the Yangtze, and the vast seas, and machines made it so they seemed to flow from one to another. Above were all the signs of the heavens; below the whole geographical layout of the earth. Torches were manufactured with blubber, calculated not to extinguish for a long time. Er-Shi [the second emperor] said, ‘It would be unfitting to have those of the women in the former emperor’s harem who bore no sons sent away.’ He ordered that all of the women accompany the former emperor in death, and those who were put to death were numerous. When the coffin had been lowered, someone said that the workers and artisans who built the machines and hidden treasures knew everything that was there, and the great value of what was buried might be disclosed. So when the funeral was completed, the gate leading to the central burial was hidden and blocked and the door to the outside entrance was closed, shutting in all those who were employed as laborers or artisans so they could not come out. Trees and bushes were planted so that (the grave) had the appearance of a mountain.”
It is difficult to distinguish in this way if the description of the provisions inside the tomb of Shi Huangdi is wrong and what can be considered traditional and ritual. In the facilities and decoration, there is no presumption of extraterrestrial life [i.e. an afterlife], so there is reason to believe that the Chinese even before the Han period, placed in tombs representations of one’s earthly, human life. The existence of a corridor seems to imply that the underground palace occupied only part of the area covered by the reported land. But nothing indicates there was, as in the Han tombs of Shantung, a funerary shrine, that is to say, a temple outside but near the mound and connected by an underground passageway to the vault. It is likely instead that the provision was different because after the emperor’s death in 210 B.C., his son made sacrifices at the ancestral Ki temple, which was on the south bank of the Wei in the enclosure walls of the capital, to the west of the confluence of the Pa-shui. This temple was also connected to the mound by one of the “suspended paths” that Shih-huang had established across the plain.
South and east of the mound, at the point where the major axes intersect the outer boundary of the excavation, we noticed bumps of high ground five to six meters above the surrounding soil. They cannot be accidental, as we reported there are similarly placed mounds around the Chou mound and we denote still more of these types of mounds around the Han mound. We see the remains of the bases of pillars as part of a funeral road pointing normally to the mound’s faces. We do not know if the main entrance to the tomb was in the south, as is generally the case, or the north or west sides, which were reached from Hsien-yang. In any case, the plan of the pyramid is exactly oriented along the cardinal directions.
The successor to Shih Huang-ti (by usurpation), Er-Shi, who had a dismal reign of two years, was buried “as a private citizen” in a corner of the park, having been put to death by the eunuch who orchestrated the treason through which he had come to the throne. It is therefore not surprising that we were unable to find his grave, although, according to tradition, Emperor Han Wu Di had one built on the advice of the philosopher Sima Xiangru. As to that of his successor, Ziying [San Shi], slaughtered by Xiang Yu after surrendering to the rebel coalition, it is unlikely to be occupied by his puny body.
This Xiang Yu, a rude and violent man of war, sacked the Qin palaces and violated the tomb of Shih Huang-ti. It is difficult to assess the importance of this profanation. Did he merely break in to insult the imperial remains, or did he destroy all the contents of the tomb? It seems he did not order a complete subversion, which would have left traces of sagging on the outside. Similarly, the bandit Huang Chao, who is said to have again violated the tomb at the end of the Tang dynasty, had to enter through the access corridor that he had succeeded in identifying, and to be content to lay hands only on easily transportable valuables.
However, as we approached the place at the village of Sin-fong where an old man had marked for us its location, we feared a disappointment, too often justified in China: we expected any pile of dirt to be labeled with a modern stele, a ruined kiosk bearing the expected name. There was no kiosk or stele, but there was no need for them. Because, when one comes across the funeral mound, one suddenly sees it occupying on the ground the same sovereign place as Shih Huang-ti in the written histories. This tumulus, the oldest among those identified with certainty, and which does not seem disturbed, is also the largest, whose form indicates the need for further research and expresses the greatest beauty.
It is located 3 km and a half east of the sub-prefecture of Lin-t’ung, in the prefecture of Xi’an. A long climb leads from the Wei valley at the base of Mt. Li, rising in parallel to it. The slope, low to the foot of the mound, decreases still behind it, forming an expansive plateau. Up on the mountain, there is a rippling of the land rather than genuine relief, but this broad movement assaults the naked fields, enough to raise the work above the plain, while keeping it clear of the sharpness of the mountainous landscape. It covers almost the entire southern half of the horizon. A rock spur, which has its counterpart on the left, abuts the walls to the right of Lin-t’ung. Between the two bounding advances, the Li-chan describes an arc that aligns the pyramid to its rocky underpinning, the regular foothills buttressing the mountain’s mass. Just behind the tomb in the south, the peak rises as a swollen patch on the shoulder of two matched cones. This central unit is symmetrical, and the roofline extends eastward and westward. It was bold before the great order of mountains to prepare an earthwork with no pedestal other than the ground.
The emperor nevertheless demanded this of his architects. In the 26th year of his reign, when the sovereignty he had established now extended to the barbarian countries as well, he had fixed for his tomb this place where it arises in a conquered valley like a seal at the bottom of a decree. He himself, no doubt, decreed the plans for the tomb, and we know that he hastened their execution with reinforcements consisting of myriads of workers. For the first time we have with this tomb the opportunity to judge a major figure in Chinese history with something other than literary essays. And this work only adds to the historic greatness: The surrounding mighty mountain is forced into a subordinate role. It is only a framework, an open screen, scenery.
A poet of the Qing dynasty described the tumulus as "three superimposed hills." Sitting on the natural, long base, probably also reworked to a large extent, the earthwork first rises along the sides of a square of six hundred meters, hollow strips bordering the first projection, the base of the mound, built on a concentric square of three hundred and fifty meters. Above, the land rises in a vigorous concave corrugation, connected to a mid-height flat horizontal shoulder on which the hill rises to a truncated apex. Climbing the sides, we see that the model is more complex: In order, no doubt, to arrange a form less distorted when viewed obliquely, the mound is swollen from the base in the middle of each side, while above that a projection to the north and south opposes a reentry to the east and west.
These opposite curvatures are a reason to eliminate the assumption of a complete distortion of the mound by compaction and rainfall, which has perhaps acted with consistency, but could not act with this diverse symmetry if the original solid had been a simple quadrangular pyramid base. Fine powder of loess is one of the architect’s most desired materials to keep the desired shape.
At forty-eight meters above the base, at about sixty above the previous limit of earthworks, the mound has a volume of half a million cubic meters. As the builder had first to dig to establish the substructure of the tomb, the volume of earth moved was much more considerable. A crucial passage of Sima Qian (we borrow the translation to Professor Chavannes) tells us about the content and construction of the tumulus:
“From the beginning of his reign, Shi Huangdi had dug and remodeled Li Mountain. And when he had gathered in his hands the whole of the empire, he had sent to him seven hundred thousand workers; they dug into the ground until the water flowed from the third layer of springs, and they poured bronze for a sarcophagus. Replicas of palaces, scenic towers, and the hundred administrators, marvelous utensils, jewels, and art objects; all were transported to fill (the sepulcher) and were buried. Artisans were ordered to craft automatic bows and arrows so if someone wanted to make a hole and enter (into the grave), he would have been suddenly shot. Mercury was used to create imitations of the hundred rivers, the Yellow River, the Yangtze, and the vast seas, and machines made it so they seemed to flow from one to another. Above were all the signs of the heavens; below the whole geographical layout of the earth. Torches were manufactured with blubber, calculated not to extinguish for a long time. Er-Shi [the second emperor] said, ‘It would be unfitting to have those of the women in the former emperor’s harem who bore no sons sent away.’ He ordered that all of the women accompany the former emperor in death, and those who were put to death were numerous. When the coffin had been lowered, someone said that the workers and artisans who built the machines and hidden treasures knew everything that was there, and the great value of what was buried might be disclosed. So when the funeral was completed, the gate leading to the central burial was hidden and blocked and the door to the outside entrance was closed, shutting in all those who were employed as laborers or artisans so they could not come out. Trees and bushes were planted so that (the grave) had the appearance of a mountain.”
It is difficult to distinguish in this way if the description of the provisions inside the tomb of Shi Huangdi is wrong and what can be considered traditional and ritual. In the facilities and decoration, there is no presumption of extraterrestrial life [i.e. an afterlife], so there is reason to believe that the Chinese even before the Han period, placed in tombs representations of one’s earthly, human life. The existence of a corridor seems to imply that the underground palace occupied only part of the area covered by the reported land. But nothing indicates there was, as in the Han tombs of Shantung, a funerary shrine, that is to say, a temple outside but near the mound and connected by an underground passageway to the vault. It is likely instead that the provision was different because after the emperor’s death in 210 B.C., his son made sacrifices at the ancestral Ki temple, which was on the south bank of the Wei in the enclosure walls of the capital, to the west of the confluence of the Pa-shui. This temple was also connected to the mound by one of the “suspended paths” that Shih-huang had established across the plain.
South and east of the mound, at the point where the major axes intersect the outer boundary of the excavation, we noticed bumps of high ground five to six meters above the surrounding soil. They cannot be accidental, as we reported there are similarly placed mounds around the Chou mound and we denote still more of these types of mounds around the Han mound. We see the remains of the bases of pillars as part of a funeral road pointing normally to the mound’s faces. We do not know if the main entrance to the tomb was in the south, as is generally the case, or the north or west sides, which were reached from Hsien-yang. In any case, the plan of the pyramid is exactly oriented along the cardinal directions.
The successor to Shih Huang-ti (by usurpation), Er-Shi, who had a dismal reign of two years, was buried “as a private citizen” in a corner of the park, having been put to death by the eunuch who orchestrated the treason through which he had come to the throne. It is therefore not surprising that we were unable to find his grave, although, according to tradition, Emperor Han Wu Di had one built on the advice of the philosopher Sima Xiangru. As to that of his successor, Ziying [San Shi], slaughtered by Xiang Yu after surrendering to the rebel coalition, it is unlikely to be occupied by his puny body.
This Xiang Yu, a rude and violent man of war, sacked the Qin palaces and violated the tomb of Shih Huang-ti. It is difficult to assess the importance of this profanation. Did he merely break in to insult the imperial remains, or did he destroy all the contents of the tomb? It seems he did not order a complete subversion, which would have left traces of sagging on the outside. Similarly, the bandit Huang Chao, who is said to have again violated the tomb at the end of the Tang dynasty, had to enter through the access corridor that he had succeeded in identifying, and to be content to lay hands only on easily transportable valuables.
