Mount Mangshan, north of Luoyang, was considered to be a very good place to be buried, and thousands of ancient tombs have been found in this area. Twenty three of these, ranging in age from 1000 to 2000 years old, have been reassembled underground here at this museum. With them side by side, it is easy to compare the different layouts used by each successive dynasty. Most of the tombs had been robbed in antiquity, so there was very little in any of them, but the museum has a few funerary objects on display, and the area where the bodies would have lain is indicated in the tombs.

This is the tomb of an Eastern Han Dynasty official. (25 - 220 AD) It is constructed of brick, and decorated with a mural called "Going Out", probably depicting a scene from the official's life. Tombs from other dynasties were built with this same brick, hollow brick or stone, and were decorated with murals or carvings. In one tomb, a dragon and a fish were carved on the first door to represent the man buried there, and three fish were carved on the second door to depict his three wives. Inscriptions on many tombs included emperors' names and reference to specific years in their reign, allowing archeologists to date them accurately.

Above ground, the museum is landscaped like a traditional Chinese garden, with rockeries, pools and willow trees. After passing through this garden, you come to the second part of the museum, the burial mounds of Northern Wei emperors (386 - 533 AD)

The founders of the Northern Wei Dynasty were Xianbei tribesmen from north of the Yellow River. In 494 AD the sixth emperor of this dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang, and set about trying to integrate his people with the Han Chinese (the main ethnic group of Chinese people). He changed his own family name and encouraged others to take Han surnames, outlawed the use of tribal languages, and said that all the nobility had to be buried in Luoyang. Here you see one of these burial mounds, along with its entrance.

This is the burial mound of one of the emperor's sons. We were able to go inside of this one. After going through the entrance and down a long steep ramp, we reached the burial chamber. There was a huge stone by the doorway, presumably used to seal the tomb. The floor space was not very big, but the vaulted ceiling was very high. Except for a massive stone coffin, the chamber was empty. We can only imagine the riches that would have been buried here originally.

Copyright 2005, Dr. Lee Williams

Last Modified: 6 May 2005

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