The Guishan Mountain Tomb is composed of two connecting, parallel tombs. The southern one is the resting place of Liu Zhu, Prince Xiang of Chu. His wife is interred in the northern one. The couple’s tomb was built inside the mountain. It has been described as an “oriental pyramid” because of its imposing manner and exquisite craftsmanship. Many mysteries surrounding the tomb remain unsolved today.
The Shizi Mountain Tomb is a short 10-minute drive east of Pengcheng Square in the center of the city. This is the mausoleum of Liu Wu, the third-generation Prince of Chu during the early Western Han Dynasty. About 4,000 terracotta figures were found here in 1984. Ten years later the prince’s coffin chamber was discovered. Built deep inside the mountain, the huge coffin chamber extended about 100 meters deep. The number of various precious cultural relics unearthed exceeded 2,000 pieces of gold, silver, copper, iron, jade, stone and ceramics. The magnificent mausoleum housed some exceptionally beautiful artifacts, some of which were the first of their kind to be found in the history of Chinese archaeology. The most precious find was the osseous remains of the prince, which have enabled modern scientists to recreate his physical appearance 2,100 years after he lived.
In the Han Dynasty, it was popular to worship ancestors and promote filial piety as taught by Confucius. People believed the soul would be eternal; therefore, they formed an idea that the deceased would continue to live, as living people do, but in a different realm. When designing and building tombs they aimed to include all the commodities and tools that living people would use in everyday life.
In 1984 when workers of a brick factory were digging earth on the western slope of Shizi Mountain, they uncovered the terracotta army of the Han Dynasty. Archaeologists believe that compared to the terracotta army of the Qin Dynasty (in Xi’an), the Han terracotta army better reveals the warriors’ inner world. At the museum of the Han terracotta army, visitors can see figurines with various facial expressions: Some of them appear charmingly naive, some grave, some with hollow eyes and some look to be deep in thought.
Another wonder of the Han culture in Xuzhou is the Han stone carvings. In fact, this refers to stone engravings in the underground tombs and ancestral halls, as well as those erected in front of temples and mausoleums of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty stone carving tradition is one of China’s greatest creations. The Han Dynasty ruled at the same time as the Romans in the West. Just as the ancient Romans did, the Chinese people in the Han Dynasty liked recording social and economic life in carved images, which depicted various aspects of the politics, economy, culture and religion of the Han Dynasty and are a valuable primary source in the study of Chinese history. The craftsmanship of the carvings represents the highest level of Chinese carving art at that time.
At the Han Stone Engravings Gallery, it is hard not to feel awe of the grandeur of historical scenarios. Here is a window into the real life of the Han Dynasty – traveling carriages, competitions in military skills, dances and music, acrobatics, hospitality, architecture and rural work scenes, as well as figures from fairy tales and a large number of auspicious images. Jian Bozan, a prominent Chinese historian, said, “If we can systematically collect and sort out all those stone carvings, we can make them into a picture book of the Han Dynasty history.”
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