The Yongling Mausoleum (), commonly known as the tomb of Wang Jian (), is the burial place of Wang Jian (847–918), the founding emperor of

Former Shu Great Shu ( zh, c=大蜀, p=Dàshǔ), known in historiography as the Former Shu ( zh, c=前蜀, p=Qiánshǔ, links=no) or occasionally Wang Shu (王蜀), was a dynastic state of China and one of the Ten Kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and ...

. It is located at 10 Yongling Road,

Jinniu District Jinniu District () is a central urban district of the City of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, China. Jinniu District is bordered by Chenghua District to the east, Qingyang District to the southwest, Pidu District to the northwest, and Xindu ...

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, China. In the

Later Tang Tang, known in historiography as the Later Tang, was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China and the second of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in Chinese history. The first three of the Later Tang's four ...

dynasty (923–937), Emperor

Meng Zhixiang Meng Zhixiang (; 10 May 874–7 September 934), courtesy name Baoyin (),''New History of the Five Dynasties'' vol. 64. also known by his temple name as the Emperor Gaozu of Later Shu (), was the founding emperor of the Chinese Later Shu dynast ...

issued a decree to protect the tomb. However, the auxiliary buildings of the site decayed from the

Northern Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, endin ...

(960-1127) on. Only the

grave mound A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. ...

and the

coffin A coffin or casket is a funerary box used for viewing or keeping a corpse, for burial, entombment or cremation. Coffins are sometimes referred to as caskets, particularly in American English. A distinction is commonly drawn between "coffins" a ...

chamber survive. It was excavated between 1940 and 1943 by the archaeologist Feng Hanji and others and confirmed as Wang Jian's tomb. A number of cultural relics were found, which were transferred to

Sichuan Museum Sichuan is a Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capita ...

. It has twice been listed as a cultural relics protection site in Sichuan Province. In 2001 a tomb passage was rebuilt in the style of other

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

imperial

mausoleums A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the Chamber tomb, burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's Cadaver, remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be ...

Description

The Yongling Mausoleum is located at 10 Yongling Road,

, China. To date, it is the only ancient Chinese royal tomb found with the coffin chamber above ground. The grave mound is circular, and the coffin chamber is located underneath the middle of the mound. The chamber has three rooms, with a coffin in the middle room and a stone statue of Wang Jian in a sitting position in the room behind.

History

Wang Jian (847 – July 11, 918), formally Emperor Gaozu, was the founding emperor of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state

. He died in the first year of the ''Tianguang'' period (918 CE) at the age of 72, with a temple name of ''Gaozu'' and was buried in Chengdu.欧阳修等《新五代史·卷六十三·前蜀世家第三》：王建，字光图，许州舞阳人也。......（天复）三年八月，唐封建蜀王。......武成元年正月，祀天南郊，大赦，改元......六月，以遂王宗懿为皇太子。建加尊号英武睿圣皇帝。......光天元年六月，建卒，年七十二。......谥建曰神武圣文孝德明惠皇帝，庙号高祖，陵曰永陵。 In December 918 and again in March 925 (the first year of the ''Xiankang'' period), Wang Yan, Wang Jian's successor, visited the tomb to show his respect. In 933 (the fourth year of the ''Changxing'' era of the Later Tang dynasty),

had the tomb renovated and formally prohibited the cutting of firewood in the nearby area. In 1014 (the 7th year of the ''Dazhongxiangfu'' era of the

), several of the mausoleum buildings were demolished, and the material used to repair a local

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

temple named ''Yuejuhua''. The remaining buildings were served as a

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

temple named ''Yongning'', renamed ''Yongqingyuan'' in 1103 (the second year of the ''Chongning'' period of the Northern Song Dynasty). The whole structure was later destroyed by fire, with only the grave mound surviving. The location of the tomb was not recorded accurately in historical records. The most widespread description of its location was in a poem by

Lu You Lu You ( zh, s=陆游, t=陸游, first=t; 1125–1210) was a Chinese historian and List of Chinese language poets, poet of the Southern Song Dynasty (南宋). Career Early life and marriage Lu You was born on a boat floating in the Wei River e ...

, which described the tomb of Wang Jian along with that of his empress as being located immediately outside the "Old West Gate". The poem described the grave as having already been heavily damaged, stating that only two stone columns, carved with scriptures, and several huge human and horse statues still stood. Since then, records of the tomb in local

chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

s followed Lu You's description.

Excavation

In 1940, brick walls of the grave were discovered during the construction of a bomb shelter. The discovery drew the attention of Feng Hanji, an

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

professor at Huaxi University. After an investigation, Feng identified the mound as an ancient tomb. Due to conditions at the time, the exposed parts of the site had to be temporarily closed, and an

excavation Excavation may refer to: * Archaeological excavation * Excavation (medicine) * ''Excavation'' (The Haxan Cloak album), 2013 * ''Excavation'' (Ben Monder album), 2000 * ''Excavation'' (novel), a 2000 novel by James Rollins * '' Excavation: A Mem ...

plan was not developed until the establishment of the

in 1941. On September 15, 1942, the excavation of the tomb began, led by Feng Hanji and Liu Fuzhang. The tomb was filled with

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

, and archaeologists were only able to clear a 3-meter path to the chambers. During the excavation, several items made of

jade Jade is an umbrella term for two different types of decorative rocks used for jewelry or Ornament (art), ornaments. Jade is often referred to by either of two different silicate mineral names: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in t ...

were unearthed and it was determined that the tomb was the Mausoleum of Wang Jian. The site of the tomb is close to the location given in Lu You's poem, but the archaeologists did not find the huge stone human statue it described. The

sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...

, Michael Sullivan joined the excavation; he was mistaken by a

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

student for a foreign

grave robber Grave robbery, tomb robbing, or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a grave, tomb or crypt to steal commodities. It is usually perpetrated to take and profit from valuable artefacts or personal property. A related act is body snatching, a term ...

, reported to government officials, and detained along with other archaeologists. The excavation work was interrupted by this misunderstanding. In November 1942, the excavation work was temporarily suspended. On March 1, 1943, the archaeologist Wu Jinding and Wang Zhenduo, an expert in museology, launched the second stage of the excavation. This stage focused on the southern part of the grave mound and the main chamber. The excavation discovered traces of grave robbing and unearthed a large number of cultural relics. On September 21, all excavation work was completed. The cultural relics were transferred to Sichuan Museum, and the mound was closed again. In 1971, when building a house to the south of the tomb, a member of the Fuqin production brigade of Chengdu Jinniu District found a stone statue high, confirming the Lu You's description.

Recent developments

The tomb of Wang Jian has twice been listed as a cultural relics protection site in Sichuan Province: in 1956 and 1980. In 1961, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection site. In 2001 a tomb passage was rebuilt on the south side of the Wang Jian Tomb, using materials and techniques found in other

imperial mausoleums; and several stone statues were added by the Yongling Museum.

In popular culture

The grave is widely believed to be the location of the legendary meeting between

Sima Xiangru Sima Xiangru ( , c. 179117BC) was a Chinese musician, poet, and politician who lived during the Han dynasty#Western Han, Western Han dynasty. Sima is a significant figure in the history of Classical Chinese poetry, and is generally regarded as ...

and

Zhuge Liang Zhuge Liang () (181September or October 234), also commonly known by his courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman, strategist, and inventor who lived through the End of the Han dynasty, end of the Eastern Han dynasty ( 184–220) and t ...

, two famous military strategists during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...

period. According to the folk legend, they played the ''qin'', a traditional Chinese musical instrument, on the grave mound during their meeting. This caused the grave mound to be named ''Fuqintai'', meaning the place where ''qin'' are played.

Note

References

{{reflist, 2, refs= 欧阳修等《新五代史·卷六十三·前蜀世家第三》：王建，字光图，许州舞阳人也。......（天复）三年八月，唐封建蜀王。......武成元年正月，祀天南郊，大赦，改元......六月，以遂王宗懿为皇太子。建加尊号英武睿圣皇帝。......光天元年六月，建卒，年七十二。......谥建曰神武圣文孝德明惠皇帝，庙号高祖，陵曰永陵。 {{Cite book , editor=傅璇琮 , editor2=徐海荣 , editor3=徐吉军 , display-editors=etal , script-title=zh:五代史书汇编10·蜀梼杌 , location = 杭州 , publisher = 杭州出版社 , date = 2004-05-01 , pages =6707 , ISBN =7-80633-648-6 {{Cite book , author=陆游 , editor = 钱仲联 , script-title=zh:剑南诗稿·上 , location = 长沙 , publisher = 岳麓书社 , date = 1998-09-01 , pages =790 , ISBN =7-80520-809-3 {{Cite book , author=冯汉骥 , script-title=zh:前蜀王建墓发掘报告 , location = 北京 , publisher = 文物出版社 , date = 2002-10-01 , pages =93 , ISBN =7-5010-1386-1 {{cite journal , author = 李志嘉 , date=June 1980 , title=王建墓 , journal=文物 , pages=94–97, 109 {{cite journal , author = 陈古全 , date=June 1981 , title=成都永陵出土石人 , journal=文物 , pages=28 {{Cite book , author=（宋）黄休复 , script-title=zh:茅亭客话 , location = 北京 , publisher = 中华书局 , date = 1991 , pages =86 , ISBN =7-101-00894-1 {{Cite book , editor=（宋）袁说友等；赵小兰整理 , script-title=zh:成都文类·下 , location = 北京 , publisher = 中华书局 , date = 2011-12-01 , pages =449-1458 , ISBN =978-7-101-07436-9 {{cite news, language =zh-cn, url =http://www.cdylbwg.org/newspic.aspx?mid=444&sid=, title =千载帝陵图册, publisher =成都永陵博物馆, date =2013, access-date =2018-02-09, url-status =live, archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180318000458/http://www.cdylbwg.org/newspic.aspx?mid=444&sid=, archive-date =2018-03-18 {{cite news, language =zh-cn, url =http://www.xinhuanet.com/local/2015-12/21/c_1117525176.htm, title =建在地表券拱结构成都永陵王建墓室如此出众, publisher =成都日报, date =2015-12-21, access-date =2018-02-09, url-status =dead, archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180314174748/http://www.xinhuanet.com/local/2015-12/21/c_1117525176.htm, archive-date =2018-03-14 {{cite news, language =zh-cn, url =http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2012-07/03/content_1075329.htm, title =永陵访古, publisher =人民日报海外版, date =2012-07-03, access-date =2018-02-09, url-status =live, archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180316023030/http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2012-07/03/content_1075329.htm, archive-date =2018-03-16 Buildings and structures completed in the 10th century Tombs in China Former Shu Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Sichuan Tourist attractions in Chengdu 10th-century establishments in China 918 establishments 1940 archaeological discoveries