When it comes to the tomb of the Eight Kings, we have to mention the owner of the tomb, Azig.
Azig, born in the thirty-third year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1605), was the twelfth son of Nurhachi, the founding emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and was born with big princess Abahai, the fourteenth son Rui Dourgen and the fifteenth son Yu Duoduo.
Prince Azig of England was a famous general in the early Qing Dynasty. He can be a good fighter, he is extremely brave and has made outstanding achievements all his life. He once enlisted Chahar, Gurkha and Korea with his father and brother, and made many achievements in the wars of Ningyuan, Jinzhou and Guangqumen that broke out in the Ming Dynasty. He was a military commander in the late Jin Dynasty and even in the early Qing Dynasty.
In the first year of Shunzhi (1644), Prince Wu Sangui joined forces with Regent Dourgen to defeat Li Zicheng's Dashun Army in the battle of Shanhaiguan. The Qing army sent troops to pass, and Fu Lin, the ancestor of the Qing Dynasty, moved to Beijing. In the same year, Prince Aziz was awarded the title of Prince Heshuo, ranking eighth among the kings. After the Qing Dynasty made Beijing its capital, Azig was ordered to lead an army to chase Li Zicheng from Shanxi to Shaanxi, and then landed in 38 cities. Li Zicheng fled to Jiugong Mountain in Hubei. In the fifth year of Shunzhi (1648), he appointed Azig as the general of Pingxi, put down the rebellion of Bian Jiang, the general of Datong, slaughtered the city and destroyed the pool, and returned to the division with victory.
In December of the seventh year of Shunzhi (1650), Regent Dourgen died suddenly. Azig, who has always been ambitious, tried to emulate Dourgen and seize power to succeed the Regent. As a result, he was defeated and imprisoned, and his son, Lao Qin, was deprived of his title and reduced to Beizi. However, during his imprisonment, Azig still did not want to repent. He hid the broadsword in his cell and dug underground, hoping to burn it down. His violent rudeness shocked the emperor shunzhi and the princes. He was so rebellious that he might be a future trouble. In October of the eighth year of Shunzhi (165 1), the emperor shunzhi issued a edict to offer a personal sacrifice to Prince Azige and his son, and cut off their ancestral home. After his death, Azig was buried in a desolate place by the Tonghui River, which was called "Eight Kings Tomb" by later generations.
Prince Azig ranks 12th among the sons of Nurhachi, the founding emperor of Qing Dynasty, but why is his tomb called "the tomb of eight kings"? This is actually because Azig was the "Eight Kings" in the ranking of founding kings in the early Qing Dynasty, and he was a royal aristocrat who was established as a prince earlier.
The eight tombs that have been repeatedly destroyed.
As the twelfth son of Qing Taizu, Prince Azig of England was given suicide, and his grave was very shabby. After Emperor Kangxi ascended the throne, he still sympathized with his great-uncle. Azig made a very important contribution to the Qing Dynasty's entry into the customs and even the establishment of the world, and was the main meritorious service for the founding of the country. Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, he not only made a conclusion for Azig, but also made some repairs to his mausoleum. In the 11th year of Emperor Gaozong in Qing Dynasty (1746), the imperial court ordered the restoration of the tomb of the Eight Kings, including the palace gate, the viewing hall, the treasure dome, the wall circle and the dragon tablet. The main grave and the earth grave are clearly divided into "East Yamen" and "West Yamen". The area of Bawangfen has expanded to 67,000 square meters, which is much larger than before.
However, since the Daoguang period, the tomb of Prince Azig in England has been repeatedly stolen and dug because of its remote location and no official protection. After the Revolution of 1911, with the demise of the Qing Dynasty, the tombs of princes of the Qing Dynasty, which were distributed all over Beijing, were also doomed. The palace gate and appreciation hall of Bawangfen were demolished and sold as bricks and tiles, resulting in serious damage to the buildings on the ground as a whole. During the Japanese puppet regime, the tombs of the Eight Kings were stolen many times, among which "Dongyamen", where the most sacrificial objects were buried, was the most seriously damaged and almost looted. By the early stage of the release, no one was interested, and the overgrown tomb of the Eight Kings was even more dilapidated.
As one of the most magnificent princes' tombs in Qing Dynasty, the situation of Bawangfen is embarrassing. 1950, the former Beijing Finance Printing Factory was moved to Tonghui River, and the land of "Dongdaemun" was requisitioned. Five years later, it was transferred to the winery, while Zhengfen and Xiyumen were requisitioned by other units as economic production land. As many factories took root here, the Bawangfen area quickly became a residential area. With the extension of Chang 'an Avenue to the east and west, Bawangfen area, which was originally inaccessible, was naturally firmly fixed on the trunk line of Beijing's transportation network by virtue of its advantages as the core area of Beijing, and became a household name.
1965, influenced by the ultra-left ideological trend, Bawangfen was once renamed as "Jianguang Dongli", and it was not until 1977 that its original name was restored. Today's Bawangfen has long been a part of Beijing's central axis, with Dawangqiao (overpass) as the core, Jianguo Road in the west, Jingtong Expressway in the east and Dawang Road in the north and south. Subway (1 line) and dozens of bus lines run through the traffic vein between Bawangfen and Beijing. In Beijing's core area, the previously neglected Bawangfen area has also been developed on a large scale. After entering the 2 1 century, a series of high-rise buildings, such as SOHO Modern City and Lanbao International Center, have been built in the area centered on Bawangfen, which has become a prime location for real estate. The "Eight Kings Tomb" that once really existed in history has been almost forgotten because it no longer exists. It's true that the Eight Mausoleums have become history, leaving no place names to remind people that there is a prince of the Qing Dynasty buried here.