The Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng () is an archaeological site in Leigudun Community (), Nanjiao Subdistrict (),
Zengdu District,
Suizhou
Suizhou (), formerly Sui County (), is a prefecture-level city in northern Hubei province, People's Republic of China, bordering Henan province to the north and east.
Etymology
The Sui in Suizhou is derived from the ancient 'Suishizu' () .
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(during the
Spring and Autumn period
The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...
called Sui County),
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...
,
China, dated sometime after 433 BC. The tomb contained the remains of Marquis Yi of Zeng (sometimes "Duke Yi"), and is one of a handful of ancient Chinese royal tombs to have been discovered intact and then excavated using modern archaeological methods.
Zeng
Zeng (, ) is a Chinese family name. In Cantonese, it is Tsang; In Wade-Giles, such as those in Taiwan, Tseng or Tzeng; in Malaysia and Singapore, Chen or Cheng; in the Philippines, Chan; in Indonesia, Tjan; in Vietnam, Tăng. The surname Zeng is ...
was a state during the Spring and Autumn period of China. The tomb was made around 433 BC, either at the end of the
Spring and Autumn period
The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...
or the start of the
Warring States period
The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...
. The tomb comes from the end of the thousand-year-long period of the burial of large sets of
Chinese ritual bronzes
Sets and individual examples of ritual bronzes survive from when they were made mainly during the Chinese Bronze Age. Ritual bronzes create quite an impression both due to their sophistication of design and manufacturing process, but also bec ...
in elite tombs, and is also unusual in containing large numbers of musical instruments, including the great set of bells for which it is most famous.
Discovery and layout
The
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...
accidentally discovered the tomb in 1977 while destroying a hill to build a factory at Leigudun. The tomb was constructed of large wooden timbers and covers an area of 220 square meters. The date "''jiayin'' 3rd day" () written on an astronomical diagram on a lacquered clothing chest from the tomb is believed to be the date of the Marquis's death or an important date in his life, and has been extrapolated to the evening of the 3rd day of the third lunar month of 433 BC.
The tomb is divided into four separate chambers, resembling the layout of a palace of the day. The northern chamber is the smallest and contained military artifacts. The eastern chamber contained the tomb of Marquis Yi, who was buried in a wooden
lacquer coffin nested inside a larger lacquer coffin. This chamber also contained eight other coffins that held the remains of eight women. The western chamber contained thirteen coffins that held the remains of thirteen other women. The central chamber is the largest, and contained a large ensemble of ritual musical instruments, including
a set of 64 ''
bianzhong'' (
bronze bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...
s).
In 1981, a less well-preserved and smaller tomb was discovered about 100 meters away, containing the remains of a woman related to Marquis Yi. This tomb contained a less extravagant set of 36 bronze bells and other musical instruments.
Contents
Musical instruments
The most famous discovery at the tomb is the large set of 64 ''
bianzhong'' bells, mounted on an elaborate framework, which required a cast of five members to be played, and were struck with wooden mallets to produce music. The bells are two-toned, producing two distinct tones when struck at the center or the side; this property is enabled because the bells have an almond-shaped cross-section. The bells cover a range of five
octaves
In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
. The collection also contains a non-matching bell, a
memorial
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of ...
to Marquis Yi from King Hui of Chu, recording King Hui's rushed trip from the west to create the bell and attend the Marquis's funeral during the 56th year of King Hui's reign; the inscription on the bell dates the event to 433 BC. The bells were inscribed with music notations that detailed the relationship among the pitch standards of Zeng, Chu and
Zhou.
Other musical instruments in the ensemble include stone
chimes. Various string instruments were also discovered in the tombs, including ''
se'', ''
qin'' and ''
zhu''. The tomb also contained
pan flute
A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...
s (''
paixiao
The ''paixiao'' (traditional: 排簫; simplified: 排箫; pinyin: ''páixiāo''; also pái xiāo) is a Chinese wind instrument, a form of pan flute. A major difference between the Chinese Paixiao and the panpipes used in European and South Ameri ...
''),
flutes and special ''
sheng Sheng may refer to:
* Sheng (instrument) (笙), a Chinese wind instrument
* Sheng (surname) (盛), a Chinese surname
* Sheng (Chinese opera), a major role in Chinese opera
* Sheng (升), ancient Chinese unit of volume, approximately 1 liter
* S ...
'', each made from a one-piece body through a time-consuming procedure; a gourd would be placed inside a mold that held the desired shape of the instrument. Once the gourd matured, it would take the shape of the mold that conformed to the desired musical properties of the instrument.
Ritual bronzes
Along with the Late
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally suc ...
tomb of Fu Hao, the tomb represents one of the largest sets of
ritual bronze vessels
Sets and individual examples of ritual bronzes survive from when they were made mainly during the Chinese Bronze Age. Ritual bronzes create quite an impression both due to their sophistication of design and manufacturing process, but also bec ...
to be properly recorded at the site. Most of the large number of ritual bronzes extant are individual pieces, or pairs, with no archaeological context recorded, but it is becoming clear that most pieces would have originally come from large groups deposited in an elite tomb.
The tomb had a total of 88 vessels and implements such as ladles and shovels, with many matching sets of a particular type of vessel. The decoration of the vessels is highly elaborate, with many protruding elements. The largest vessel is a unique ''pan'' wine vessel in two pieces, 33 cm high and nearly as wide. There are two different sets of the ''
ding'' type of cauldron, typically a key component of late sets of vessels: 9 matching open ''sheng ding'', 5 matching with covers, and seven individual ''ding'', two very large. There is a matching set of 9 of the smaller ''li'' type of cauldron. Other vessels include a set of 8 covered ''
gui'' for holding grain, 4 ''fǔ'' () square sacrificial vessels, 10 cups on legs, four ''fou'', and several other pairs or individual pieces.
[Rawson, 351-353; 68-69]
Other contents
In addition to aesthetic artifacts, the tomb contained a trove of weaponry, including arrowheads,
dagger-axe
The dagger-axe () is a type of pole weapon that was in use from the Erlitou culture until the Han dynasty in China. It consists of a dagger-shaped blade, mounted by its tang to a perpendicular wooden shaft. The earliest dagger-axe blades were ...
s spear tips and
chariot
A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nb ...
wheel spokes. This tomb is important in the history of
Ancient Chinese glass, as it contains 173 eye beads that were made in a western Asian style, similar to some found in
Gilan, Iran.
The earliest examples of Chinese ink writings on bamboo (Zhujian) were discovered in this tomb, showing the calligraphic styles of the Chu or Zeng state. They recorded the people who attended the Marquis's funeral, such as the officials and royalty of the Chu and Zeng states and also included details of their transportation, such as number of horses carrying the chariots. These bamboo slips provide important information on the development of Chinese brush calligraphy.
See also
*
Notes
References
*
Rawson, Jessica (ed). ''The British Museum Book of Chinese Art'', 2007 (2nd edn), British Museum Press,
* So, Jenny F., (2000), ''Music in the Age of Confucius'', Washington, Smithsonian,
* Kwan, Simon, ''Early Chinese Glass.''
* von Falkenhausen, Lothar. (1993). ''Suspended Music: Chime Bells in the Culture of Bronze Age China.'' Berkeley, University of California Press.
{{coord missing, Hubei
5th century BC in China
1977 archaeological discoveries
Archaeological sites in China
Chu (state)
Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Hubei
Tombs in China
Zhou dynasty bronzeware