Gongyi Song Tombs, a dynasty's lonely silhouette

Gongyi Song Tombs are one of the three major royal tomb complexes in China (alongside Beijing's Ming Tombs and Yinchuan's Western Xia Imperial Tombs). Flanked by the Songshan Mountain to the south and the Yellow River to the north, the Song Tombs are praised as a feng shui treasure, where it is said 'to live in Suzhou and Hangzhou, to be buried in Beimang'. Of the nine emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty, except for Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong who were captured by the Jurchens and died in the north, the other seven emperors are buried in Gongyi, along with the tomb of Zhao Kuangyin's father, forming the 'Seven Emperors and Eight Tombs'. Currently, only the Yongzhao Mausoleum of Emperor Renzong, located in the city center, has been reconstructed, and the Yonghou Mausoleum has been maintained and repaired. The other five imperial tombs and the tombs of the concubines and children are scattered in the fields between suburban villages. The Northern Song once created a flourishing era of ancient Chinese economy, technology, culture, and art, but it ultimately ended in a tragic defeat at the hands of the Jin and Yuan dynasties. These tombs have been repeatedly burned and looted, and the graves are now empty. Walking on the cemented or rural dirt spirit roads, the tombs have become very small due to soil erosion. Standing still and gazing at the remaining stone statues from the purgatory below—civil officials, military generals, foreign envoys, palace attendants, mythical beasts—one's mind flashes with stories from books and dramas that are still vivid. However, even the heaviest of histories will dissipate like smoke, and all the glory and shame are frozen in these hard stones. They stand for a thousand years with the same expression, leaving behind a dynasty's solitary and desolate silhouette for posterity.