A dedicated few in
Beijing's suburbs keep a lookout
for tomb raiders, day and
night
It was a clear day
in March, and the air was still
cold on this morning of early
spring in Beijing.
Li
Jianzhong, a 54-year-old keeper of the
Yongling Mausoleum, was walking along
a path as usual, checking to
see if there was any problem or
threat in the mausoleum.
The
mausoleum, in which Emperor Jiajing of
the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and his
three empresses were buried, was
empty, except for several researchers —
college students guided by their
archeology professor. Like most of
other tombs of the Royal Mausoleum
of Ming, Yongling Mausoleum is not
open to the public.
For
the past three years, Li has
been guarding the tomb with his
two colleagues recruited by the Ming
Tombs Special Administration. They work
in shifts to ensure the tomb is
monitored 24 hours a day.
On
a regular day, he would spend
about half an hour patrolling around
the mausoleum, and make seven or
eight trips every day.
"Our
duty is to guard the mausoleum
against thieves and fire," Li said.
"We also have to keep the site
tidy."
Li has not encountered
any thieves, thanks to strict
protection measures of the Ming Tombs
Special Administration. But fire is a
more dangerous hazard. Any fire is
forbidden, he said.
"No one
is allowed to smoke in the
mausoleum," he added.
More
measures to guard against fire are
taken from October until May, as
the weather is dry during this
time around Beijing, he
said.
"We usually start to
cut off grass at the mausoleum
and nearby at the end of
September, as it can catch fire
easily," he said.
To remove
the grass, usually as high as
one meter and growing amid the
gaps of bricks and stones, is
never easy. It often takes days
to finish the work, he
said.
"This is the most
tiring part for us," he said,
noting that in general, the work
is not very hard.
"But
sometimes it is a little lonely,
feeling cut off from the outside
world."
Modern technology has
also made the work of the
keepers much easier.
A complete
anti-theft system has been installed
in the Royal Mausoleum of Ming,
the 80-square-kilometer cemetery of the 13
emperors of the Ming Dynasty and
a World Heritage site, according to
the Ming Tombs Special Administration
in Beijing. Other equipment that has
been widely adopted at the site —
located 50 km outside Beijing — such
as cameras, has also greatly reduced
the burden of tomb keepers like
Li.
In Yongling Mausoleum
alone, 11 cameras have been installed
since 2006, at every corner and
covering the entire area, according to
Li.
"Besides checking on site,
we can also check the entire
mausoleum at our computer screen at
the office, so on rainy days we
don't have to go out to
check so often," Li
said.
The simple office for
Li's team sits near the gate
of the mausoleum and is less
than 10 square meters. Inside, three
large screens linked to the cameras
give a real-time display of key
areas, including the interiors of some
buildings.
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