What does Tombstones Meaning?

A tablet in front or behind a tombstones for graves bearing the name, history, etc of the deceased.  

A memorial carrier made by humans to the burial place of the deceased, usually made of stone material, but also made of wood, metal and other materials.  

In ancient China, "tombs instead of graves" were only buried underground, without marks on the surface. Gradually, there were graves with earth on the ground, and then there were tombstones.  

One or two generations can remember the graves of their loved ones, but three generations later, it is not clear, especially after migration and war, I do not know where the graves are. People have come up with many ways to solve this problem. In the early days, people were inspired by the wooden piles used to hold the coffin ropes of the deceased in the garden. In front of the tomb, they inserted wooden poles and bamboo poles, tied with fiber (paper or silk), and wrote the date and time of the deceased's birth and death, which was called "Mingjing" (or "Mingjing"). But it was easy to damage, so people tried another way: instead of wooden garden pillars, the rich and the poor carved on the stone pillars the names of the deceased, the time of birth, and the rank of the official.  

In order to carve its shape and evolved into a square, rectangular, began to be buried in the tomb or outside the tomb, referring to the housing construction, the top of the monument with the monument cap, decorated with moving, plants or landscape patterns, the body of the monument engraved on the resume of the dead. It indicates that he was buried alone with his wife, concubine, son, daughter, etc. Attached with Yin zhai (tomb) geomantic geographical location direction (to heaven and earth branch). The middle class may be marked by a medium tombstone, while the poor may be marked by a small stone tablet with a name, or a clay brick tablet, or some kind of evergreen tree.  

Thus, tombstones are gradually transformed from practical articles into cultural works of art, and their functions, forms, textures and decorations are also more diversified. Celebrity tombstone more pay attention to the stele body with high quality stone such as hua Gang rock, marble, the top of the monument has a statue of the dead or in the center of the monument inlaid with the porcelain of the dead. The tombstone became a badge of honor and decoration to record the lineage of the deceased's family and deeds of merit. This is very in line with the Chinese people to honor their ancestors, benefit the future generations, immortal social customs.