Worship at the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor

The Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor, Zi Wu Ridge, Huangling·Yan'an During the National Day holiday, I drove to Huangling County, Yan'an City to worship at the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor. The Qiaoshan where the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor is located, is in the north of Huangling County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, and is part of the eastward extension of Zi Wu Ridge. Zi Wu Ridge runs from south to north, the north is 'Zi', and the south is 'Wu', hence the name 'Zi Wu Ridge'. The Qiaoshan mountain body is solid and majestic, with the Jushui River flowing around three sides. The forest on the mountain is dense, covered with ancient cypress trees, with more than 81,600 ancient cypress trees, including more than 30,000 that are over a thousand years old. It is the oldest, largest, and best-preserved group of ancient cypress trees in China. The Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor is the mausoleum of Xuanyuan Yellow Emperor and is the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor recorded in the 'Historical Records'. The Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor was formerly known as 'Qiaoling', and is the place where emperors and celebrities of all dynasties worshipped the Yellow Emperor. The Jushui River flows from west to east in a U shape around Qiaoshan. Standing on the mountain and looking down, there is a river to the east and a river to the west, as if the water is passing through the bottom of the mountain, hence the name Qiaoshan, and the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor is named Qiaoling because of the mountain. The earliest worship of the Yellow Emperor in history began in the third year of Qin Linggong (422 BC), when Qin Linggong 'made Wuyang Shangzhi, dedicated to worshipping the Yellow Emperor'. Since Emperor Wu of Han personally led an army of 180,000 to worship at the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor in the first year of Yuanfeng (110 BC), Qiaoshan has always been the place where dynasties held national grand ceremonies, preserving various cultural relics from the Han Dynasty to the present. The 'Cypress planted by the Yellow Emperor' in front of the mausoleum is more than 5,000 years old. It is said to have been planted by the Yellow Emperor himself and is the oldest cypress tree in the world. After the Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor defeated Chiyou, he became the leader of the Huaxia tribal alliance and became the common master of the world, leading the Huaxia people from the barbaric era to the civilized era. The great achievements of the Yellow Emperor naturally received the respect and worship of later generations. After the Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven on a dragon, people expressed their feelings of remembrance for this ancestor of humanity by building a tomb on Qiaoshan and establishing a temple for worship. In the thousands of years after the Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven on a dragon, the activities of worshipping the Yellow Emperor have never been interrupted. From Yu, Xia, Shang, Zhou to Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, except for some periods when the Yellow Emperor was worshipped as a 'heavenly god' and 'emperor', the Yellow Emperor was worshipped as an ancestor without exception.