Making modern connections through ancient tombs

Ma Xin, who teaches Chinese courses in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, visited the Two Mausoleums of the Southern Tang Dynasty (937-975) for the 72nd time during Qingming Festival in early April.

It has long been a festival tradition to visit their ancestors' graves, though an increasing number of young people across the nation are flocking to the ancient tombs of historical figures, trying to connect with ancestors in a broader sense and to bridge history and reality.

As a history buff focusing on the Southern Tang Dynasty, which ruled today's southern and central China, Ma feels most connected to Li Yu, the last emperor of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960). Over the past decade, she has explored almost every place associated with Li. The two mausoleums she has visited so frequently are the final resting place of Li's parents and grandparents, which should also be Li's as well — but he isn't there.

Li, who was also a poet, is widely known and beloved for his beautiful, romantic poems. But Ma sees far more than that in the ruler who lost his kingdom, and she has been inspired by this distant historical figure throughout her life.