To facilitate the construction of the Chang'an University Park and Chang'an Industrial Park in Xi'an, the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, archaeologists have carried out extensive excavations since December last year. To date, over 200 tombs have been unearthed and 3,000 cultural relics removed from the site.
According to Xi'an-based Hua Shang Bao (Chinese Business View), archaeologists have excavated 70 tombs at the Chang'an Industrial Park site. All tombs, except for one from the Sixteen-Kingdom Period (304-439), belong to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and contain mostly female remains. One of the memorial tablets is inscribed with the four Chinese characters "Yu Shi Er Niang," which mean Lady Yu No.12. Archaeologists say the shape and structure of the tombs are nothing unusual, but those buried in the tombs must have been extraordinary figures judging by the articles found alongside them.
Many articles used by women were unearthed from the tombs, including bronze mirrors, fine-toothed combs, bronze rulers and scissors. White porcelain boxes and tri-colored boxes used to hold the cosmetics were also discovered. Female cosmetic residue could still be found in a little silver box excavated at one of the sites. Fingernails and eyebrow clamps made from bronze were also unearthed. This is great proof that females from the Tang Dynasty took beauty very seriously.
The maidservant figurines unearthed at the sites show well-rounded figures and look very appealing. Cultural relic workers believe the tomb occupants might have been maids or concubines serving the Tang Dynasty's imperial palace.
The Chang'an University Park is a concentrated burial site. During the Tang Dynasty, it served as the graveyard for the Wei Family. Many high-ranking officials from the family were buried at the cemetery. A tomb found in the new Shaanxi Normal University site has been confirmed to contain the remains of Sun Chengsi, a grade-five official from the Tang Dynasty's Ministry of War. Over 160 cultural relics have been excavated, including 12-animal figurines -- a rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig, used to symbolize a person's year of birth, kneeling and sitting musical figures, a hundred opera figures and leading-camel figures, all precious treasures of art. The tomb of Wei Shenming, a member of the Wei Family who rose to the position of Tengzhou governor, was also unearthed at the university site.
Experts say such a large number of graves and an abundant number of precious cultural relics have rarely been seen before in history. They are of great significance in understanding the politics, economics and culture of the Tang Dynasty era.
(China.org.cn by Li Jinhui, November 29, 2002)
