The Han Yang Ling (), or the Yang Mausoleum of Han, is the

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

of Emperor Jing, the sixth emperor of the

Western Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

and his Empress Wang. The mausoleum complex is a part of the

Western Han dynasty imperial tombs The Western Han dynasty imperial tombs (西汉帝陵; Xīhàn dìlíng) are a series of eleven imperial burial grounds from the Chinese Western Han Dynasty (206 BC–24 AD) in Shaanxi Province. Two of the emperor's mausoleums are located southeast ...

located in the Weicheng district of the City of

Xianyang Xianyang () 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 integrated into the Xi'an metrop ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

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 ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqing ...

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. The complex is one of the "Five Mausoleums" of the Western Han Dynasty (). 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 southwestern China and northe ...

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 BC.

Description

See also

Notes and references

Further reading