In many film and television works related to tomb robbery or treasure hunting, it is easy to see an antique called "Yuhan", and usually regular antiques stores will not charge Yuhan, mainly because "Yuhan" comes from the mouth of the deceased, and the piece of jade contained in the mouth of the deceased is called "Yuhan", so that many people will have some avoidance.
The custom of taking a piece of jade in the mouth of the deceased began in the Qin and Han dynasties, when the ancients believed that after death, the soul would not dissipate, but would go to another world to continue living. In order for the ancestors to have a good life in another world, the later people will be precious items as a funeral, and the most precious jade is contained in the mouth of the deceased, if the conditions are insufficient, it is a copper coin or even a mouthful of rice, called "money contains, rice contains".
As for those extremely noble and powerful rulers, what they contained in their mouths after their deaths would not be ordinary jade, such as the night pearl that Cixi contained in her mouth when she was buried. Cixi died on November 15, 1908, and her funerary offerings were extremely precious, with pearls up to a foot thick in the coffin, and the night pearl in her mouth was worth 10.8 million taels at that time.
The ancients believed that the night pearl could keep the corpse from decaying, and it could also keep the soul from dying, and its value was extremely precious, even ordinary palace nobles could not afford to use it. However, it was precisely because the funerary goods were extremely rich that the tomb of Cixi was stolen in 1928 by the warlord Sun Dianying, who was eager for treasure, and according to Sun Dianying's description, the night pearl in Cixi's mouth was divided into two halves, and only when combined together could it shine, and Cixi's body was indeed not decayed.
Sun Dianying gave this "Cixi Night Pearl" to Song Meiling, who was used by Song Meiling as a shoe ornament, and when attending important occasions, he would hang this night pearl on his shoes, and later Song Meiling gradually grew old, and this night pearl has since disappeared.
What does another Wu Zetian in history, like Cixi, who became the actual controller of the empire as a woman, contain in his mouth? The funerary items that Cixi chose for herself were many precious pearls and jades, and even the pearls of the night, which reflected the woman's pursuit of beauty, while Wu Zetian's funerary products were very different.
According to the historian Guo Moruo's research, the funerary items in Wu Zetian's tomb are basically some calligraphy and painting works, such as "Vertical Arch Collection", "Golden Wheel Collection" and so on. As for what she contained in her mouth, it was neither jade nor night pearl, but a piece of wood, which could be said to be unique in history, why did Wu Zetian do this?
The answer to this question can be found from her famous wordless stele, Wu Zetian's life is unique enough, while making contributions to the development of the country, it will inevitably receive a lot of criticism, but she left a wordless stele to the world, saying "right and wrong, let future generations comment", and the piece of wood contained in her mouth is the same as the role played by the wordless stele to a certain extent.
The earliest history of the ancients was written on wood and bamboo chips, called mu jian and bamboo jian, and this piece of wood in Wu Zetian's mouth played the role of mu jian. After his death, he left a wordless stele, which was left for the world to comment, and contained a piece of wood in his mouth to go to another world, and let the ghost god comment, which was the exclusive mind and courage of the Heavenly Saint Empress.
Reference: History of Chinese Tomb Robbery