Liu Xiu, the Founding Emperor of the Eastern Han, Lies Alone in the Yellow River's Course – 'Buried in Beimang' Becomes an Eternal Wish

“Born in Suzhou or Hangzhou, buried in Beimang” has since ancient times been the hoped-for pleasure of life and final resting place for emperors, officials, and nobles. Mang Mountain, lying between Luoyang City and the Yellow River, is considered a dragon vein that all people look up to. Driving along the Lianhuo Expressway in the towering Mangling Mountains, one frequently passes by hill-like ancient tombs that seem tirelessly to tell passersby of the centuries of wealth and noble aura here. Beneath those earthen mounds and ancient tombs, who knows what priceless treasures and profound unsolved history lie buried?

Yet one emperor alone did not favor the dry golden loess of Beimang. He lived apart, lying lonely on the shady side of Mang Mountain by the Yellow River bank, facing the north wind and listening to the waves. His descendants did not follow him to guard and encircle him; instead, after death they all slept soundly on the sunny slopes of Beimang, enjoying warmth and light. This emperor is Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu, the founding monarch of the Eastern Han.

Liu Xiu's mausoleum, the Mausoleum of Emperor Guangwu of Han, is located today in Tiexie Village, Baihe Town, Mengjin County, 20 kilometers north of Luoyang. Among the Eastern Han emperors, only Liu Xiu – only Liu Xiu – has his mausoleum here, on the bank of the Yellow River at the foot of Mang Mountain. Some explain that this is the unique character of Emperor Guangwu: he disdained the conventional “backing onto a mountain and facing a river” and instead broke the norm by “planting his feet against the mountain and pillowing his head on the river.” “Backing onto a mountain and facing a river” implies “using an open and changeable terrain to symbolize a broad mind and the will to master all things.” But these people did not explain the lofty essence of “planting feet against the mountain and pillowing the river.”

Tiexie Village is my maternal grandmother’s home. In Tiexie Village, in Mengjin County, in the whole of Luoyang, the name “Mausoleum of Emperor Guangwu of Han” is not that resonant. The name known to all is “Liu Xiu’s Grave.” Compared to “Mausoleum of Emperor Guangwu of Han,” “Liu Xiu’s Grave” is more down-to-earth and easier to remember. When I was very young, my grandmother often told me stories about Liu Xiu’s Grave.

Grandmother said: Liu Xiu’s son was very disobedient. If his father said west, the son insisted on going east; if his father said sweets were good, the son said salty was delicious. On his deathbed, Liu Xiu thought: all his life his son never listened to him. I must not end up, after I die, not buried in Beimang but thrown into the Yellow River. So he called his son and said: “After I die, if you are filial, do not bury me on Mang Mountain. Instead, make the Yellow River roll north three times and bury me right in the riverbed.” But the son thought: I have never listened to my father in my life; now that father is dead, I must follow his last wish. So after Liu Xiu died, his son had the Yellow River diverted northward and buried his father in the main channel of the river.

Although this story sounds absurd, to this day there is no credible explanation why Liu Xiu’s grave is not on Mang Mountain but by the Yellow River.

As the founding emperor, Liu Xiu lived a simple life and advocated for frugal burials. Therefore, the Mausoleum of Emperor Guangwu is just a slightly larger mound. In front of it, there is a broad road about 200 meters long, paved with cobblestones—quite crude. Inside the gate, there are no carved beams or painted pillars, no halls or pavilions. Only a modest stone tablet stands tall, bearing an inscription in the hand of Emperor Qianlong, which instantly shows Liu Xiu’s highest honor as Emperor Guangwu.

Apart from Liu Xiu’s tomb, the most valuable above-ground cultural relics here are the 1,458 towering ancient cypresses inside the garden. Due to Liu Xiu’s simple and close-to-the-people style during his lifetime, it was not until the Sui and Tang dynasties that later generations planted these cypresses, which are now over a thousand years old.

People have also invented many interesting stories about these thousand-year-old trees. Liu Xiu lost his father as a child, and his family declined. It was not until he was 29, already a mature bachelor, that he met by chance the 19-year-old girl Yin Lihua from Xinye. Liu Xiu fell in love at first sight and married her. But Liu Xiu, who was set on a great cause, did not finish his honeymoon with his young wife; he hurriedly bid farewell and disappeared into the smoke of battle. Many years later, after he ascended the throne as emperor, the empress by his side was not Yin Lihua. Yet Liu Xiu was not an ungrateful man. After achieving his great enterprise, he had Yin Lihua brought to his side and appointed her as an imperial consort, later deposed the empress and re-established Yin Lihua as empress. In the Han mausoleum garden, an ancient cypress tightly embraces a chinaberry tree, the two trees sharing the same root. This is praised as a beautiful story of Liu Xiu and Yin Lihua’s bitter love that finally bore fruit.

During the process of Liu Xiu establishing the Eastern Han Dynasty, the famous Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai followed him, charging to and fro, laying down their lives on the battlefield and rendering immortal service. In the garden, there is an ancient cypress named “Loyalty” to commemorate and describe the loyalty and bravery of the twenty-eight generals to Liu Xiu.

More interestingly, besides these meaningful and solemn ancient cypresses, there are many that bring light-hearted joy and a smile. For example, the “bird-chirping cypress” that makes birds twitter when you clap your hands, a deer looking back in fear, a monkey standing upright, baring its chest and belly, trying to curry favor…

Another aspect of Liu Xiu’s grave that makes it even more approachable to the people is that visitors can climb up the high mound, disrespectfully mount the emperor’s head and lord it over him. At the top of the grave there is a thousand-year-old cave. Just toss a coin inside, and if you hear a crisp “ding-dong,” Liu Xiu will tell you where to go to get rich and enjoy fortune.

In my childhood memories, during the Cultural Revolution, Liu Xiu’s grave was a dilapidated garden with collapsed walls, overgrown weeds, cawing crows, and children running wild, making noise, and playing hide-and-seek. We had no idea that this was the resting place of a founding emperor, nor that it was a supremely noble imperial mausoleum. All we knew was that Liu Xiu had an unfilial son, and that old Liu Xiu’s fate was even worse than that of a poor old man who could at least be buried halfway up Beimang—he could only let his stiff body be soaked and swollen by the muddy water seeping from the Yellow River, rotting and disappearing.

Today, this is the 3A-rated Mausoleum of Emperor Guangwu of Han. I wonder if the bones lying in the tomb are aware, and if they still long to climb up to Beimang and burrow into the dry yellow earth. But I always feel something strange, so strange, so strange…