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The suspended coffins
are the coffins hung on the bluff of the precipice. The coffins
are usually hung 33 to 164 feet high and some even as high as 328
feet above the ground. Along the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River
and the Three Little Gorges of the Daning River, the ancient suspended
coffins can be commonly seen. Like the ancient
plank road,
it is also a mystery that puzzles numerous people.
The coffins are usually built in three ways. One is the stake style. Two or three
holes are chiseled on the bluff in which stakes are inserted to support the coffin.
A second way is to chisel caves on the bluff and put the coffins in directly.
And another is to put the coffins directly in the natural caves or cracks between
the two cliffs.
Along the banks of the Daning River, there are hundreds of suspended coffins.
When the cruise ship coming out the mouth of the Bawu Gorge (one of the gorges
of the Three Little Gorges), visitors can admire a suspended coffin in a square
cave, on the eastern bank of the river. As it is 1,312 feet high above the water
surface, people can only admire it by looking up. In order to let visitors see
the suspended coffin clearly, a platform for viewing the coffin has been built
just opposite it over the river. A powerful telescope is situated there. Most
coffins can be seen in the middle and upper reaches of the Daning River.
Research has found that the suspended coffins are one of the funeral customs
of the Pu People (people who lived around the Daning River 2,000 years ago).
The higher the coffin is hung; the greater the filial piety is expressed.
After the water level of the river is raised due to the Three
Gorges Project,
visitors will be able to see the suspended coffins more clearly as the water
level rises.
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