Lecture review | The mysterious royal tomb in the heart of Xianggang commemorates the 38th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of the King of Nanyue
On the afternoon of December 3, 2021, Researcher Huang Miaozhang, Counselor of Guangzhou Municipal Government, was invited by our institute to give an academic lecture entitled "The Mysterious King's Tomb in the Heart of Xianggang - Commemorating the 38th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Tomb of the King of Nanyue" in the lecture hall of the Museum of the King of Nanyue (Exhibition Area of the Tomb of the King of Nanyue). Researcher Huang Miaozhang has long been engaged in cultural relics and archaeology, personally experienced the famous archaeological excavations of the Tomb of the Nanyue King of the Western Han Dynasty, and was the first person to enter the tomb chamber of the Nanyue King Tomb. This lecture is the 10th lecture of the "Archaeology Guangzhou Famous Masters Forum" in 2021, and also the first lecture of the series of lectures on "Ten Important Discoveries of Guangzhou Archaeology" in a series of academic activities celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of modern Chinese archaeology in Guangzhou.
The lecture was presided over by Yi Xibing, President of Guangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Vice President Zhang Qianglu. Guangzhou Municipal Cultural And Expo Unit peers, social enthusiasts and business personnel of our institute listened to the lecture.
Lecture site
The lecture notes are as follows
I. Historical geography of Guangzhou
Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province and the political, economic, scientific, educational and cultural center of Guangdong Province. Guangzhou is bordered by the South China Sea, located in the subtropics, the climate is warm and humid, there is no severe cold in winter, no heat in summer, the four seasons are like spring, the flowers are like a brocade, and it is known as the "flower city". Compared with other cities or lack of mountains, or less water, Guangzhou has mountains and water, between the Yunshan Zhushui, climatic conditions and geographical location are very superior, so the ancients chose Guangzhou as the center of Lingnan.
In ancient times, Xianggang was connected to Yuexiu Mountain, and was originally a scenic spot, named after its shape like an elephant. "Xiangling Qiao Song" is one of the eight scenic spots of Yangcheng in the Ming Dynasty.
Historical Background
In 221 BC, Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms and established the first centralized state in Chinese history. Subsequently, Qin Shi Huang launched a war to unify Lingnan, establishing three counties of Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang, and ren Huan was appointed as a lieutenant of Nanhai County. In 208 BC, before his death, the lieutenant of Nanhai Commandery Ren Hu asked Zhao Tuo to establish a state to resist the enemy by virtue of the dangerous terrain of Lingnan, which is close to the mountains and the sea. In 204 BC, Zhao Tuo unified Lingnan, founded the State of Nanyue, established himself as the King of Wu of Nanyue, and set the capital at Panyu (present-day Guangzhou), which became the political center of Lingnan.
From 204 BC to 111 BC, the State of Nanyue lasted for 93 years of the Five Kings. Zhao Tuo died in the fourth year of Jianyuan (137 BC), and there is no record of the place where Zhao Tuo was buried after his death in the "Records of History" and the Book of Han, so the mystery of Zhao Tuo's mausoleum began to arise after the burial of this legendary figure. Since ancient times, some people have begun to search for zhao Tuo's tomb. According to the Chronicle of Guangzhou, quoted in the Chronicle of Nanyue, "When Sun Quan was in his time, Wen Tuo's tomb was mostly martyred with foreign treasures, but thousands of people searched for his grave, but they could not get it... Moreover, at the beginning of Emperor Tuo's death, by the time of Sun Quan, Fang had three hundred years of wonder, and had been excavated and could not be obtained, and it has been more than a thousand years, and the benefits are untestable. ”
In modern times, the Guangzhou archaeological team has listed zhao Tuo's tomb as the focus of investigation. In the 1950s and 1980s, the archaeological team conducted a special archaeological survey of Zhao Tuo's tomb. According to the situation that the Han Dynasty mausoleum was more than 100 miles away from the capital Chang'an, the Guangzhou archaeological team believed that Zhao Tuo's mausoleum should be a little farther away from the capital City of Guangzhou because of his attack on the Han system, so the focus of the investigation at that time was on the peaks and hills on the outskirts of Guangzhou, but in the end nothing was found.
Three Discoveries of the Tomb of the King of Nanyue
On the morning of June 9, 1983, when the subordinate units of the Guangdong Provincial Government were cutting the top of Xianggang Mountain, which was 17.7 meters low, and excavating the wall foundation of the apartment building, they found a large flat stone slab, suspected to be an underground building. The person in charge of the construction site rushed to the scene and ordered the suspension of work, and immediately notified the archaeological team of the Guangzhou Municipal Cultural Management Commission. After the archaeologists arrived at the scene, they observed according to the tomb shape system, and the preliminary speculation was that it was a Ming Dynasty stone chamber tomb. Archaeologist Mr. Mai Yinghao looked at the internal artifacts of the tomb through the gap between the stones and judged that it was a tomb of the Western Han Dynasty. In order to protect the safety of cultural relics, on the evening of June 10, after the workers and the masses dispersed, the archaeological team sent Huang Miaozhang, who was the captain at the time, to venture through the cracks into the tomb. Mr. Huang Miaozhang spoke with emotion about entering the tomb and was shocked by the many burial items, so that the audience seemed to return to the first scene of the discovery of the tomb of the King of Nanyue 38 years ago:
I stepped lightly into the East Ear Chamber, and with the light pillar of the flashlight, I was greeted by a large copper pot with dappled land in the room, copper poles lying on the side, and copper carrying tubes, copper hammers, etc. arranged in an orderly manner. The most amazing thing is that along the foot of the stone wall, one by one, copper bells and stone chimes are neatly arranged, and a painted lacquered wooden bell is erected on the chime, as if the tomb owner has just left, and the melodious bell music still reverberates in the room. I preliminarily judged that no one had set foot in this tomb before me since it was buried, and that the tomb had not been stolen! This is a well-preserved Western Han Dynasty stone chamber tomb.
Excavation and protection of the tomb of the King of Nanyue
The Tomb of the Nanyue King of the Western Han Dynasty is another major discovery of Chinese Han Dynasty archaeology after the Mancheng Han Tomb and the Mawangdui Han Tomb. The State Administration of Cultural Relics organized relevant experts and scholars to listen to the special reports of Mai Yinghao and others, and then, under the guidance and help of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the "Guangzhou Xianggang Han Tomb Excavation Team" was formed by the Institute of Archaeology, the Guangdong Provincial Museum, and the Guangzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Management Committee, with Mai Yinghao as the team leader, Huang Zhanyue and Yang Shiting as the deputy captains, and the excavation team members were all experienced archaeologists, including teachers who had restored gold and jade clothes, experts who restored bronze and lacquerware, young archaeologists and film and television photographers, and so on. Excavations began on August 25 and ended on October 6. More than 1,000 pieces (sets) of cultural relics were excavated from the tomb. During the excavation, Huang Jingluo, director of the Cultural Relics Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and Cai Xuechang, director of the Institute of Science and Technology for Cultural Relics Protection, gave specific guidance at the excavation site.
Excavation site of the tomb of the King of Nanyue
Floor plan of the tomb of the King of Nanyue
The tomb of the King of Nanyue is chiseled into the mountain, and the overall plan of the tomb is in the shape of a "soldier", with an east-west width of 12.5 meters, a north-south length of 10.85 meters, and a construction area of 100 square meters. The tomb is divided into two parts, a total of 7 rooms: the middle is the main coffin room, surrounded by the front room, the east and west ear room, the east and west side room and the rear room, and the outer burial chamber is set outside the tomb door.
"Emperor Wen Xingxi" Dragon Button Golden Seal
The tomb owner buried 9 seals, the largest one is the "Emperor Wen Xingxi" dragon button gold seal, the rest are the "Taizi" turtle button gold seal, the "Taizi" covered bucket button jade seal, the "Zhao Xuan" cover bucket button jade seal, the "Emperor Seal" tiger button jade seal and 4 plain face seals. The seal on the tomb owner is the main evidence for judging the tomb owner.
Silky jade coat
The tomb of the King of Nanyue and the tombs of the same period have many unique features: in the Han Dynasty, when the phenomenon of martyrdom was weakened, a total of 15 human remains were found in the tomb of the King of Nanyue; the silk jade clothes excavated from the tomb of the King of Nanyue, using silk thread thread and sacking paste and embellished, are the earliest set of jade clothes with complete shapes and systems seen in China so far, and they are new varieties that have never been found in literature and archaeological discoveries, and the use of plackets in the form of jackets is also a major feature; after exploration, there is no funerary pit around the tomb of the King of Nanyue, and the entire elephant hill is occupied by it.
The Tomb of the Nanyue King of Xianggang is one of the major archaeological discoveries of the Han Dynasty in China, and is the largest, richest and oldest painted stone chamber tomb found in Lingnan. After the excavation, with the approval of the relevant departments, the original construction project was stopped, and the burial chamber was preserved in situ, and the Museum of the Nanyue King of the Western Han Dynasty was established. In 1996, the tomb of the King of Nanyue was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit. The Museum of the King of Nanyue is a national first-class museum and is currently being declared a World Cultural Heritage. 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, and the tomb of the King of Nanyue and the ruins of the National Palace of Nanyue were jointly selected as the "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in the Past Century" in China.
During the lecture and at the end of the lecture, Researcher Huang Miaozhang interacted with the audience many times and answered many questions raised by the audience. Several enthusiastic listeners actively answered questions and received book donations.
Book gifts for souvenirs
Interactive communication
【About the Author】
Huang Miaozhang, Researcher, Vice President of Guangdong Cultural Society. He once served as the leader of the Guangzhou Archaeological Team, the deputy director of the Guangzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the director of the Guangdong Folk Craft Museum, and the dean of the School of History of the Guangdong Provincial Government Museum of Culture and History. He participated in the excavation of the famous second generation of the tomb of the King of Nanyue and was praised by the media as the first person to visit the tomb of the King of Nanyue. He has been invited to give lectures on "Cultural Relics Archaeology, Culture and Tourism" for people from all walks of life at the "Lingnan University Forum", "Yangcheng Academy", "Celebrity Lecture Hall" and other lectures, and has also been interviewed by CCTV, Phoenix TV, Guangdong Provincial and Municipal Television stations and newspapers and periodicals for many times.
Source丨Guangdong Provincial Cultural Society He Media Studio
Responsible editor 丨 He Jinde
Released 丨 Ho Jin Tak Director Studio