Folklore classifies hanging coffin burial as a form of cliff burial (that is, wind burial) This kind of burial can be divided into several ways, such as manually wedging wooden stakes or hanging coffins in cracks in natural rocks, and inserting coffins into natural caves or artificially drilled rocks to make them semi-suspended. The common feature of these types is the word "hanging", so future generations will continue to use the name of Gu in the Southern Dynasties, which is commonly known as "hanging coffin". However, hanging coffin burial is not unique to Wuyi Mountain. According to documents, it still exists in many areas such as Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Taiwan Province, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan. Archaeologists in various regions have carried out scientific excavation and cleaning. Through the determination of carbon 14 and the comparison of funerary objects, it is considered that these hanging coffins have existed from Shang and Zhou Dynasties through Han and Jin Dynasties to Ming and Qing Dynasties, and should be a popular burial custom among ethnic minorities in ancient China. ? She compatriots living in Zhouning, Fuding, Zherong, Pingnan and other areas in Fujian have a legend about the origin of hanging coffin burial: Pan Hu, the ancestor of the She nationality in ancient times, married Yincui gorge and gave birth to three men and one woman. The whole family moved to Phoenix Mountain to hunt and farm. Because King Pan Hu was born in the stars, he could neither live nor die, so after his death, his children and grandchildren put the coffin in the cave on the cliffs of Phoenix Mountain with wheels and ropes. Its descendants inherited it and formed the hanging coffin burial custom of the ancient She nationality. The word "she" of the She nationality, written as "Lu" in ancient times, also contains the meaning of this story: in Phoenix Mountain, after the death of a great man, his coffin was hung by wheels in a cliff cave and buried. Some people think that hanging coffin burial is a natural development of funeral custom, specifically, it is closely related to Neolithic tombs. At that time, tombs in China were all over the country, including the hanging coffin burial area recorded in literature and the hanging coffin burial area discovered by archaeology. The wooden-stick-sealed door of Liuwan Racecourse-style tomb in Ledu, Qinghai Province and the canoe-style coffin in Qijia cultural tomb all show that as early as the late Neolithic period, cave tombs and canoe-style coffins appeared in China. The appearance of the hanging coffin cave tomb is essentially a change that lifts the underground cave and its coffin to a higher cave. ? Others believe that hanging coffin burial is related to the rock dwelling practices of prehistoric primitive people and is a reflection of people's cave life. Since people lived in caves when they were born, they should be buried back after death. Some people think that the formation of hanging coffins is actually related to the level of war and technology, and there are no other complicated reasons. But the retort points out that there is no data so far to show that the formation of this burial custom is related to the war. ? Others think that hanging coffins is a sign of "filial piety" or for the pursuit of good luck. For example, Zhang Kun, a writer in the Tang Dynasty, recorded the ancient custom of cliff burial, saying that "the highest man thinks he is the most filial" and even left his family hanging high; According to Jing Li's Yunnan Annals in Yuan Dynasty, after the death of Liao people, the coffin was hung "the first one to descend is lucky". Some people think that most of the ancient Yue, Pu and their descendants lived in seclusion in the deep mountains, and regarded the steep mountains and rivers as the support of their lives, or they were mysterious because they were beyond their reach, and then worshipped them as a way for immortals to live or ascend to heaven. Therefore, placing the coffin of the deceased between cliffs and caves in the mountains not only made the deceased close to the immortal kingdom, but more importantly, it was convenient to attach to the immortal kingdom. For example, the Records of Wuyishan written by Dong Tiangong in Qing Dynasty recorded the legend that the Queen Mother of the West gave a banquet to all the villagers in Wuyishan, and called the wooden strips used to place coffins near the cliff hole where hanging coffins were buried as "Hongqiao boards", believing that all the villagers went through the air for dinner from these "Hongqiao boards". Some scholars speculate that the real purpose of these wooden strips is to communicate the road. Hongqiao spans the sky, allowing the souls in the cliff cave to freely enter and exit and return to the sky. However, some people deny these views, thinking that the Queen Mother of the West is the Taoist goddess after the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it is impossible for the Guyue people who lived in Fujian 3,000 years ago to worship the "fairy kingdom" in Taoism beyond the social development level of the Han nationality at the same time; As for the meanings of "native chicken", "filial piety" and "filial piety", it is the result of the influence of Han culture on the hanging coffin burial in later generations, which reflects the evolution of religious beliefs contained in the hanging coffin burial, but it is not its original conceptual consciousness. ? Others explore the origin of hanging coffin burial from the concept of primitive reproductive worship. For example, when Yang Jun and Zheng Congwu discussed the hanging coffin burial of Gupu people in Sichuan, they thought that the cause of this custom could be correctly explained in the legend of Bo people (Pu people living in Yibin today are also called Bo people). There is a legend in the collection of Gelao folk tales "The Mystery of Hanging Coffin": When the Gelao people were threatened by the epidemic, their ancestors told them that the only way to escape the threat of epidemic death was to carry out rock burial. It can be seen that the reason why the Gelao people are buried in rocks is that rocks protect them, which is a manifestation of stone worship. Bo people worship stones, on the one hand, as they say, burying coffins on cliffs for peace, on the other hand, they hope that stones can be given to themselves and their groups can flourish. For example, Volume 53 of Taiping Yulan records that there is "begging for stones" in Jiang Nanan of Mahu, and "begging for children by Bo people is verified here". Obviously, the rock burial of Bo people contains the cultural factor of seeking children with stones-that is, the pursuit and worship of reproduction. ? There is also a view that almost all the bones of hanging coffins are on the precipice of Linjiang, which shows that the people who travel with hanging coffins have the characteristics of "walking mountains", and the tools for burial are mainly boat coffins and canoe coffins excavated with whole wood. If we comprehensively analyze the coffin placement, burial system and burial style, the custom of hanging coffin burial is a reflection of the concept of ancestor worship developed on the basis of primitive religious worship of ghosts and gods. These people who are used to living on water and are famous for shipbuilding and boating firmly believe that after their ancestors died, ghosts went to another world where people and ghosts were separated, but they did not leave the geographical environment where they once lived by mountains and rivers, and they will still stay with their families and future generations to bless them to prosper. Therefore, the main significance of the boat-shaped coffin or canoe-shaped coffin is not that the soul of Purdue returns to his hometown or sails to the other side of the world, as some people think, but that it meets the needs of the ghost ancestors; As for putting the coffin high on the precipice, it is to avoid the damage of human beings and animals or other factors to the remains as much as possible, so that the souls of ancestors can rest in peace forever and get their blessing and blessing in the dark (hanging coffin burial in Chen Mingfang, China). ? Comparing various opinions, it seems that the analysis methods of stone worship theory and ancestor worship theory are more reasonable. But has the mystery of the origin of the hanging coffin burial custom hidden on the misty cliff been solved? Still inconclusive. ? Take a boat down the Yangtze River and pass through Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan and other places. Looking up, the coffins hanging high on the steep cliffs on both sides of the strait are amazing. This is the world-famous hanging coffin burial. According to ancient records, the earliest hanging coffin appeared in Wuyishan, Fujian more than 2000 years ago during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This is the residence of the ancient Yue people, so some people say that Baiyue people are the founders of hanging coffin burial. Later, hanging coffins spread all over Hunan, Sichuan and Hubei provinces. Hanging coffins on the cliff is not the ultimate goal. The ancient book says that "the one who falls first is lucky", that is, I hope the coffin will fall into the river and drift away with the water, so I put the hanging coffin on the cliff by the river. Some people think that the ancients protected their bodies from being eaten by wild animals; Others believe that only heroes or monarchs who are worshipped can be buried by hanging coffins. How did a heavy coffin climb a steep cliff in ancient times without mechanical equipment? Hanging coffins have been placed on misty cliffs for thousands of years, and now they are waiting for people's scientific answers. According to archaeological records of cliff coffins (also known as hanging coffins and cliff tombs), the history of cliff coffins can be traced back to more than 2,600 years ago. At that time, there was no modern lifting and transshipment equipment at all, but the ancients could put coffins weighing hundreds of kilograms or even more than 1000 kilograms on cliffs dozens or hundreds of meters away from the water or the ground. After the archaeologists entered the cliff cave, they didn't find any carving marks at all, let alone any lifting and transferring devices or appliances. So it has always been a mystery what device and method the cliff coffin was put into the cliff hole. At present, some areas with cliff coffins regard the process of visiting cliff coffins as a tourism development project, and some even offer a reward for the method and device for cracking cliff coffins, and use this device as a tourism product to simulate the process of performing cliff coffins, so as to expand tourism projects, increase income, and at the same time let people know the wisdom of ancient working people more intuitively. Until now, there is not a set of equipment that can fully meet the situation at that time and carry the coffin into the cliff.