Qianling Mausoleum

The Qianling Mausoleum is a Tang Dynasty tomb site located in , Shaanxi province, China, and is 85 km northwest from Xi'an, formerly the . Built by 684 , the tombs of the mausoleum complex houses the remains of various members of the royal . This includes Emperor Gaozong of Tang , as well as his wife, the Zhou Dynasty usurper and China's first governing empress Wu Zetian . The mausoleum is renowned for its many Tang Dynasty stone statues located above ground and the mural paintings adorning the subterranean walls of the tombs. Besides the main tumulus mound and underground tomb of Gaozong and Wu Zetian, there is a total of 17 smaller attendant tombs or ''peizang mu''. Presently, only 5 of these attendant tombs have been excavated by archaeologists, three belonging to members of the royal family, one to a chancellor of China, and the other to a general of the left guard.

History

Following his death in 683, Emperor Gaozong's mausoleum complex was completed in 684. After the death of Wu Zetian, she was interred in a joint burial with Gaozong at Qianling on July 2 706. Tang Dynasty funerary epitaphs in the tombs of her son , grandson Li Chongrun , and granddaughter Li Xianhui of the mausoleum are inscribed with the date of burial as 706 AD, allowing historians to accurately date the structures and artwork of the tombs. Both the ''Book of Tang'' and ''New Book of Tang'' record that in the year 706 Wu Zetian's son Emperor Zhongzong of Tang exonerated the victims of Wu Zetian's political purges and provided them with honorable burials, including the two princes and princess mentioned above. Besides the attendant tombs of these royal family members, two others that have been excavated belonging to Chancellor Xue Yuanchao and General of the Left Guard Li Jinxing. In March 1995, there was an organized petition to about efforts to finally excavate Gaozong and Wu Zetian's tomb.

Location

3.6 m tall 'Uncharactered Stele' built to commemorate Wu Zetian The grounds of the mausoleum are flanked by Leopard Valley to the east and Sand Canyon to the west. The complex was originally enclosed by two walls, the remains of which have been discovered today, including what was four gatehouses of the inner wall. The remains of some of these houses have since been discovered. The building foundation of the timber offering hall situated at the south gate of the mausoleum's inner wall has also been discovered. The of the presented an ostrich to the Tang court in 620 and the Tushara Kingdom sent another in 650; in carved reliefs of Qianling dated c. 683, are modelled on the body of ostriches. Historian Tonia Eckfeld states that the artistic emphasis on the exotic foreign tribute of the ostrich at the mausoleum was "a sign of the greatness of China and the Chinese emperor, not of the foreigners who sent them, or of the places from which they came". These statues, now headless, represent the actual foreign diplomats who were present at Gaozong's funeral. Besides the statues, there are also flanking sets of octagonal stone pillars meant to ward off evil spirits. The tomb of Li Xian also features real fully-stone doors, a tomb trend apparent in the and Dynasties that became more common by the time of the Northern Qi. The stylistic stone door of Lou Rui's tomb of 570 closely resembles that of Tang stone doors, such as the one in Li Xian's tomb. Of the 18 emperors of the Tang Dynasty, 14 of these had natural mountains serving as the earthen mounds for their tombs. Children of the emperor were allowed to have truncated tumulus mounds as their burial place, but officials were only allowed conical-shaped pyramids for their burial sites. There are six vertical shafts for the ramps of each of these tombs which allowed goods to be lowered into the side niches of the ramps. In fact, in Li Chongrun's tomb alone, there were found over a thousand items of gold, copper, iron, ceramic figurines, colored figurines, and three-glaze pottery wares.

Murals

court ladies from a mural of Lady Li Xianhui's tomb. The actual murals in Li Xianhui's tomb have been replaced by replicas as the originals are now kept in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum to better preserve them. For the original in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, .]]

Historian Mary H. Fong states that the tomb murals in the subterranean halls of Li Xián's, Li Chongrun's, and Li Xianhui's tombs are representative of anonymous but professional tomb decorators rather than renowned court painters of handscrolls. Fong also asserts that the painting skill of portraying "animation through spirit consonance" or ''qiyun shendong''—an art critique associated with renowned Tang painters like Yan Liben, Zhou Fang, and Chen Hong—was achieved by the anonymous Tang tomb painters. Fong writes:


The "Palace Guard" and the "Two Seated Attendants" from Prince Zhang Huai's tomb are especially outstanding in this respect. Not only are the relative differences in age achieved but it is evident that the robust guard officer who stands at attention displays an attitude of respectful self-assurance; and the seated pair are deeply engrossed in a serious conversation.


Another important feature in the murals of the tomb was the representation of architecture. Although there are numerous examples of existing Tang for architectural historians to examine, there are only six remaining wooden halls that have survived from the 8th and 9th centuries. Only the rammed earth foundations of the great palaces of the Tang capital at Chang'an have survived. However, some of the mural scenes of timber architecture in Li Chongrun's tomb at Qianling have been suggested by historians as representative of the Eastern Palace, residence of the crown prince during the Tang. The underground hall of the descending ramp approaching Li Chongrun's tomb chambers as well as the gated entrance to the front chamber feature murals of multiple-bodied que gate towers similar to those whose foundations were excavated at Chang'an.