The Yangling Mausoleum of Han () is the

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

of Emperor Jing (ruled 157–141 BCE), the sixth emperor of the

Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring in ...

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 Xianyang ( zh, s=咸阳 , p=Xiányáng) is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now int ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

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 Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

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 (). Compared to the early and much more famous

Terracotta Army The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting him in his aft ...

of the first

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

Emperor

Qin Shihuang Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary dynasty in Chine ...

(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 Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

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

File:Painted earthenware tomb figurine of a warrior. From the tomb of Emperor Jing (reigned 157 BC - 141 BC). Yangling Mausoleum, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China.jpg, Painted earthenware tomb figurine of a warrior. From the tomb of Emperor Jing (reigned 157–141 BCE). Yangling Mausoleum, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China File:2011 Han Yang Ling, Tomb of Han Jingdi 01.jpg, Yangling excavation File:China's Yangling Terracotta army.jpg, Western Han Terracotta Army of Yangling File:China.Terracotta statues007.jpg, Servant and adviser from lower or middle class, Yangling File:Pottery Animals, Yang Ling Tomb of Emperor Jing of Western Han (40530831583).jpg, Pottery Animals, Yangling Tomb of Emperor Jing of Western Han File:Xian-Yangling-34-Figuren-2012-gje.jpg, Yangling figurines File:Xian-Yangling-12-Tiere-2012-gje.jpg, Yangling terracotta animals

Description

Gallery

See also

Notes and references

Further reading