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Mancheng
Han Dynasty Tombs are located at half way up the hill 1.5 km west
of Mancheng County, 25 km west of Baoding.
This
tomb complex is composed of the tomb of Liu Sheng and his wife
Douwan, 120meters apart. Liu Sheng was the
first emperor of Zhongshan State, Western Han Dynasty. (During the
Han Dynasty, the whole empire was managed in the system of
enfeoffment. Each nobles had his own piece of land to administer.
Liu Sheng was one of the sons of Emperor Jing of the central
government, he was appointed as the first emperor of Zhongshan
State (What is now Baoding.) in 154BC, and died in 113BC, he
stayed on the throne for 42 years. So the construction of the tomb
lasted 42 years.
As a tradition of
that time, the husband and wife were buried separately in the same
burial place. And also it was a good choice to have the tomb built
half way up the hill. The laborers spent over 40
years digging the tomb caves and polishing them with the most
primitive working equipments and methods. Liu Sheng's Tomb is 51.7
meters long, 37.5 meters wide, and 6.8 meters tall, with a total
volume of 2700 cubic meters. The tomb is made of the passageway,
the southern and northern side tunnel, the middle hall and the
back hall. It is in the back hall that the coffin was rested.
Douwan's Tomb is
39.7 meters long, but with a longer side tunnel, and the total
volume is over 3000 cubic meters.
There are over 10,000
articles excavated from these two tombs in total. Many of them are
among the top category of the unearthed artifacts, like the
Changxin Palatial Lantern, the Jade Clothes sewn with gold thread.
More
Pictures Of Unearthed Articles
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