Three Gorges Suspending Coffin

Three Gorges Suspending Coffin – Brief Introduction

Suspending coffin, which located in Three Gorges areas, can be divided into boat coffins and cave coffins for the different region. There are suspending coffins in many gorges, like the Coffin Gorge, Bellow Gorge in Qutang Gorge, Bawu Gorge and Dicui Gore in Daning River, The Military Manual and Precious Sword Gorge in Xiling Gorge, Jiuwan Stream and many other places. "Boat coffin burial" is a special custom of Ba Nationality. There are several different ideas about the suspending coffin: one idea thinks that people want to use the similar pronunciation of suspending coffin to wish the later generations can be rich; the second idea thinks that it was used to protect the corpses of ancestors from attacking; the third idea thinks that the descendents of the dead want to express their emotions to the dead, so they used all the property to make a coffin for the dead, and chiseled caves on the river bank cliff to place the coffin.

Three Gorges Suspending Coffin – History

Tan Zhongpai, who is a folk-custom specialist, has devoted into suspending coffin research for many years. In recent tens years, he had visited Badong, Lichucan, Fengjie, Xushan and other districts to research the suspending coffins, and written large amount of materials. According to research, he thinks that most of these suspending coffins were the relics of Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, wars frequently happened there, and it was very hard for people to live. So the ancient people choose a high place to locate the coffins. And the people at that time thought that "hanging the coffins higher means the descendents is more piety to the dead, and can get blessing"; the coffins placed in the natural caves which is perpendicular with the water surface, to express praying for auspicious and show piety to the dead.

Three Gorges Suspending Coffin – Culture

In different history period and different districts, the burial way is different. About in Spring and Autumn Period, there appeared suspending coffin burial ways in river bank areas where Ba people lived in. Ancient Ba people thought that placing the dead higher can express their piety to the dead better, and it needn't to worship later. So they put the corpse in the wooden box or coffins and place it at high place.

On the contrary, suspending coffin burial way is the natural development of inhumation. Specifically say, it was closely related with the inhumation in New Stone Age. At that time, the inhumation burial way was widely spread in China; the districts include the districts where found the suspending coffins. In the late of New Stone Age Period, there appeared cave grave and boat coffins. In fact, suspending coffins cave was the change form of lifting the underground graves to a higher place.