Han Dynasty Tomb Museum

» Yangzhou, Jiang Su

Han Dynasty Tomb Museum Overview & Map Weather Transportation Information

In the southwest corner of Gaoyou District, outside the town of Tianshan lies the Ming Dynasty Tombs Archeological site. This is a quarry where two tombs from the mid-Western Han Dynasty were unearthed in very good condition. The tombs belong to Liu Xu, known as the Prince Li of Guangling, and his wife. Liu Xu, the son of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.) ,the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. He was assigned to rule the Yangzhou region.

Another name "System of the Sons of the Heaven"

The tombs used a specific method of construction known as "System of the Sons of the Heaven". It is the highest level funeral specific system used by the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty. These methods were also known as Xin Palace, Bian House and Huangchangticou.

Why to visit

Liu Xus tomb alone occupies 230 square meters (2,476 Sq. ft). The burial chamber was built from precious Cypress and Nanmu wood without using a single nail. It is 23.2 meters long, 18 meters wide and 4.7 meters in depth. There are more than one thousand unearthed cultural relics, including cooper ware, iron ware, jade ware, agate utensils, golden leaf, pottery and textiles, along with 3 chariots and 11 horses.

The only well-conserved large mausoleum

The full size chariots have scarlet-spotted wheels with blue covers made especially for princes and kings. As the only well-conserved large mausoleum site of the Western Han Dynasty in China, the Han Tombs are of great significance to the study of Chinese culture and history.

Used to be robbed by Tomb Reaver

Despite the seemingly impenetrable defenses, the tomb was actually robbed about 100 years later. The thieves were able to dig right down to the residential level with relative ease, suggesting that the tomb was robbed by descendants of the very people who built it. East of Liu Xu's tomb is that of his wife, who died 10 years after him. Three levels deep, the queen's tomb, also made fromnanmu, is approached from the bottom level.

The best season

A visit to yangzhou is suggested in late March to mid-May, and in September. September is the ideal season to come moon gazing. Sipping tea at the stem of a skiff with the reflection of the moon rippling on the water ahead, one may feel removed from all temporal matters.

What to see

Liu Xu's tomb is a grand five levels deep. The second airtight layer is made up of 840 nanmu(cedarwood) bricks linked to each other lengthwise by tiny hooks on the inside surfaces. These bricks could only be dissembled, and the wall breached, by locating the first brick.

On the third level was the warehouse, while the living quarters occupied the fourth level, the fifth and bottom level contained a coffin on wheels. In the northwest part of the tomb, there is even a bathroom, making this the first Han tomb to contain such.

Others we find around

The Tianshan Han Tomb Museum is located in the east of the Shugang Ridge-West-Slender-Lake Scenic Spot, neighboring the ancient Tangcheng, a walled city in the west, next to the Iron Buddha Temple in the east, facing the Guosan Hill in the south and close by the Tomb of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and the Ruan Yuan(1764 - 1849, well-known scholar and poet) Tomb in the north.

When to visit

Opening Hours: 8:30a.m. - 4:30p.m.

Attractions around » Yangzhou, Jiang Su

Natural Scene

• Slender West Lake

Cultural Site

• Han Dynasty Tomb Museum
• Heyuan Garden
• Geyuan Garden

Han Dynasty Tomb Museum Highlights

Museum in Great China

• Forbidden City
• Terracotta Warriors and Horses
• Shaanxi Provincial History Museum
• Sanxingdui Ruins
• Dunhuang Museum
• National Museum of China
• Shanghai Museum
• Weijin Art Gallery
• Gansu Provincial Museum
• Xi'an Banpo Museum
• Dinosaur Museum
• Han Yang Ling Museum
• Forest of Stone Steles Museum
• Tibet Museum
• Jingdezhen Ceramic History Museum
• Dongba Museum
• Chongqing Three Gorges Museum
• Hubei Provincial Museum
• Shanghai History Museum
• Great Wall Museum
• Memorial Hall to the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre
• Han Dynasty Tomb Museum
• Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
• Xianyang Museum
• Shandong Provincial Museum
• Nanjing Museum
• Meteorite Museum
• Salt History Museum
• Inner Mongolia Museum
• Hunan Provincial Museum
• National Tea Museum
• China National Silk Museum
• Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine
• Luoyang Museum
• Chen Family Temple

Han Dynasty Tomb Museum FAQ & Travelers's Tips

  Weather

1. What is the weather like there? How about the best time to go there?

  Other Hints

1. What is Yangzhou Three Knives?
2. Where to exchange money?
3. Electricity
4. Emergency Number

• What is the weather like there? How about the best time to go there?

  With an annual average temperature ranging from 13C to 16C, the climate in Jiangsu is semi-humid and subtropical. There are four distinct seasons with cold winters and hot summers. Besides, the annual average rainfall is 800 to 1,200 millimeters (31.5 to 47.2 inches), with high precipitation in the southeast and low in the northwest, and 60 percent of the rain falls during the summer.

  So the best time for a visit should be in spring and autumn.

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• What is Yangzhou Three Knives?

  Yangzhou is famous for its 'three knives': kitchen knife, pedicure knife and barber's knife

  The rise and fall of Han, Tang, Qing Dynasties activated the development of these three knives. Ecnomic pressure pushed the people of that time leave their homeland with these three knives with them and settle down in other cities, even other countires. After an unsmooth road of the three knives, they are finally accepted and welcomed and even loved by people from all over the world.

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• Where to exchange money?

  You can exchange main currencies such as US, Canadian and Australia dollars and Euros, etc. for the Chinese Yuan (Chinese Currency) at banks located in downtown Yangzhou. The bank opening hours are from 8:00 to 17:00.

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• Electricity

  220 volts, 50 cycles
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• Emergency Number

  • Tourist Hotline: 5261179
    
  • Ambulance: 120 , 7213460
    
  • Emergencies: 110 (foreigner's section 552729)
    
  • Fire: 119
    
  • Tel No. Enquiry: 114
    
  • Police: 110
    
  • Foreign Affairs Office of Police: 7216795
    

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