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Yangling Mausoleum of Han

The Yangling Mausoleum of Han (simplified Chinese: 汉阳陵; traditional Chinese: 漢陽陵; pinyin: Hàn Yáng líng) is the mausoleum of Emperor Jing (ruled 157–141 BCE), the sixth emperor of the Western Han dynasty and his Empress Wang. The mausoleum complex is a part of the Western Han dynasty imperial tombs located in the Weicheng district of the City of Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, on the northern bank of the Wei River and about 20 km to the north of the city center of the provincial capital of Xi'an.

Description

The Han Yang Ling is composed of two large burial mounds, 86 smaller burial pits and a criminals' graveyard. The site today also hosts a museum. The larger of the two mounds is the burial place of the Jing Emperor, it sits next to the slightly smaller mound of his Empress Wang. The mausoleum is surrounded by 86 outer burial pits, 21 of which are accessible to visitors. The pits display more than 50,000 miniature terracotta figures reflecting the daily life of the Han emperor's court, including eunuchs, servants, tools and domesticated animals. The human figurines are naked but were originally clothed with exquisite fabrics that decayed in the space of two millennia.

The complex is one of the "Five Mausoleums" of the Western Han dynasty (Chinese: 西汉五陵; pinyin: Xī Hàn Wǔ Líng). Compared to the early and much more famous Terracotta Army of the first Qin dynasty Emperor Qin Shihuang (210 BCE), the terracotta statues of Yangling are much smaller in size (about 50 centimeters in height), but also much less militaristic, softer in style, and give a bigger weight to daily life.

In 2016, the discovery of the earliest tea traces known to date from the mausoleum of Emperor Jing was announced, indicating that tea was drunk by Han dynasty emperors as early as 2nd century BCE.

Gallery

Notes and references

"Hanyangling Museum". Xianyang, China: Hanyangling Museum. Retrieved 2019-08-16. English language website of the museum.
Dendl, Jörg (1998). "Die Pyramiden von Xian – Chinas rätselhafte Kaisergräber" [The Pyramids of Xi'an – the Puzzling Graves of China's Emperors]. Geheimnisse, Rätsel, Analysen, Lösungen G.R.A.L. ; Zeitschrift für Archäologie und archäologische Grenzwissenschaften (in German). 11. Berlin: Michael Haase. ISSN 0943-4070. OCLC 85161565. Online version updated in 2007.
Li, Jiajun (2009). "West Han Artifacts of Han Yangling Mausoleum Museum, Maoling Mausoleum Museum, and Xianang Museum in Xi'an" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2019-08-16. Li Liajun was affiliated with Art Museum of the Xi'an Jiaotong University.