The Maoling () or Mao Mausoleum 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 Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...
(157–87 BCE) located in
Xingping
Xingping () is a city located in the center part of Shaanxi province, China. It has been a city since 1993, with a total area of 496 square kilometers and a population of 620,000. The annual average temperature is and its annual precipitation o ...
,
Shaanxi, China, about 40 km to the west of the provincial capital of
Xi'an. Maoling is one 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 ...
.
Background
Construction of the tomb began in 139 BC, the second year in the reign of Emperor Wu
[Xianyao Li, Zhewen Luo: China's Museums, Cambridge University Press, 2011]
/ref> and took 53 years until completion upon the emperor's death. About one third of the court's annual revenue from taxes and tributes was used towards construction of the tomb.
Maoling is the largest in a group of more than 20 tombs. The smaller tombs surrounding it belong to former members of Emperor Wu's court, such as Lady Li, the emperor's favorite concubine, and the military strategist Huo Qubing (died 117 BCE).
The town of Maoling was created during the construction of the tomb.[History of Maoling, the tomb of wudi at Xi'an](_blank)
''Monument-tracker.com'' (accessed on 24 June 2019)
The artifacts found in Wu's tomb are now in the Maoling Museum. The museum exhibits 4,100 cultural objects and 14 historical relics.
The golden horse of Maoling
Golden means made of, or relating to gold.
Golden may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
*Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall
*Golden Cap, Dorset
* Golden Square, Soho, London
*Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucesters ...
, the largest gilded horse ever found in China, was discovered in 1981 by farmers in a field nearby the mausoleum. In 1985, geophysical explorations of the area led to the discovery of gold deposits in and around the mausoleum's soils, estimated to be deposits from proterozoic
The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...
sedimentary rocks.
In 2009, restoration of the site began. The Chinese authorities aimed at preserving as much as possible the original construction material, but admitted that at least half of that material will be replaced because it was in poor conditions. In 2014, the Shaanxi Conservation Institute
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), ...
and the Wuhan University led a joint surveillance study on the site.Maoling to be renovated
''Chinadaily.com'', 30 December 2014 (accessed on 26 June 2019)
Description
The tomb is the largest of all tombs built during the Han Dynasty. It is also well known as "Great White Pyramid" since U.S. Army Air Corps pilot James Gaussman saw it as "a white jewel-topped pyramid during a flight between India and China during World War II" (see Chinese pyramids).[Charles George: Pyramids, ReferencePoint Press, Inc. 2008]
/ref>
It is a trapezoidal tumulus built from rammed earth with a rectangular base which measures and a height of .
See also
* Chinese pyramids
*"Maoling" is also the name of one of the Ming Dynasty Tombs to the northwest of Beijing
References
{{reflist
Han dynasty architecture
Buildings and structures in Xi'an
Mausoleums in China
Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shaanxi
Tourist attractions in Xi'an