Sacrificing the living is a cruel and barbaric system in ancient China. Burying with the living is a common custom in ancient funerals. It remains to be verified when China's human sacrifice system began, but what is certain is that it existed in the prehistoric civilization of China. Modern research shows that people were martyred during the Dawenkou culture period, and later they were found in Longshan culture, Qijia culture and Erlitou culture. In other words, as early as the matriarchal clan society, there was such a very cruel martyrdom system. In folklore, there were such martyrdom events from the 20th century to the Republic of China. This is one of the oldest customs in China.

After the birth of the country, human sacrifice did not stop, but intensified. It is generally believed that Xia is the beginning of China's national culture, and the martyrdom of Erlitou culture proves that there was martyrdom in Xia Dynasty. However, the most prosperous era of human martyrdom was the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. According to Kao Zhan's excavation, people were buried in the tombs of Shang nobles.

In the Gong Ling area of Yin Ruins, more than 5,000 people have been martyred or killed in more than a dozen tombs that have been excavated. In a medium-sized tomb excavated in the northwest suburb of Anyang City, Henan Province, there are 1400 human sacrifice pits densely arranged around the tomb. Most of the martyrs were underage children, some of them were beheaded or sawed off their feet, and many of them also carried instruments of torture. Archaeological excavations found more than 80 tombs of martyrs in the Western Zhou Dynasty, most of which were owned by aristocratic workers, and there were more than 200 martyrs. From the analysis of relics, most of the martyrs were eunuchs, concubines, handmaids, guards and handymen.

After the Qin and Han dynasties, the system of human martyrdom was somewhat convergent, and wooden figurines and pottery figurines were often used instead. However, in the Liao Dynasty, the wind of martyrdom revived. After the death of Lu Ye, the ancestor of Liao Dynasty, Shu Ping even forced 100 ministers to die. Since then, there has been a human sacrifice system in the early Jin, Yuan and Ming Dynasties.

Especially in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang revived this barbaric practice and used it as a system in the Ming Dynasty. Not only the emperor of the supreme ruler died, but also his children and grandchildren, that is, governors.

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