Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang is located in the eastern suburbs of Lintong
County, 35 kilometers (22 miles) east of Xian. According to traditional Chinese
geomancy, the site was chosen between the Li Mountain to the south and the Wei
River to the north. It is the first and largest imperial mausoleurn with the
most numerous sacrificial objects in China.
Qin Shi Huang and Construction of the Mausoleum
Qin Shi Huang (259 BC - 210 BC), the first emperor of China, ascended the
throne at the age of 13. Qin Shi Huang's reign was marked with great advances in
all sections of society.
he ordered the construction of a vast infrastructure of roads and canals
and the connection of the various border walls of his kingdom into one Great
Wall; he standardized the systems of writing, of weights and measures, and of
currency in order to simply communication and record-keeping; and he abolished
feudalism, forced the nobles to reside under his thumb in the capital city and
divided the rest of China into 36 separately governed states. He also fostered
religion, sacrificing to the gods in thanks for his military and diplomatic
successes, announcing that he had finally united Chinal. However, Qin Shi Huangi
was also a tyrannical despot and ruled with an iron hand for many years, handing
down draconian laws, and levying large tax rates to oppress the commoners of
ancient China and maintain and solidify his tenuous grasp on the monarchy.
Construction of the Qin Mausoleum began in 247 B. C. soon after Qin Shi
Huang ascended to the throne and was still underway at his death 210 B. C. Qin
Shi Huang ordered 720,000 conscript laborers to hurry up on building his royal
tomb. Many laborers died of hardship during its construction, and all the
workmen were entombed along with the emperor in order to keep their mouths shut.
His son, the second Qin Emperor,saw to his entombment.
Construction of the tomb required a large quantity of stones. According to
the historical documents, hundreds of thousands of criminals were forced to
carry stones from the North Mountains. The stone processing site in Zhengjia
Village shows that at least 750,000 square meters of stones were used to
construct the Qin Mausoleum. Stones used for the mausoleum were carved with
beautiful pattens and painted with moisture-proof red lacquer. Seams between the
stones was filled with melted copper and tin. Crossbows were installed to kill
any one attempting to rob the tomb.
Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang
Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang which covers 56.25 square km, was designed in
accordance with the layout of the emperor's capital. The original high of the
tomb is taller than today's. The Historian said the base of the tomb was
2087.65m in perimeter. Because of 2,200 years erosion by wind and rain, it is
1390m now.The Mausoleum is rectangular in shape and enclosed by two walls-the
inner city wall and the outer city wall. The inner wall covers a area of 79sqm,
and the outer wall 213 sqm.The walls no longer exist but the foundations halved
remained. Both walls featured comer towers and broad gates on four sides, with
the arrangement resembling a real city.
The underground palace of the mausoleum is the core of the whole buildings.
Some survey indicates that the ceiling is studded with jewels depicting the sky,
and mercury was pumped in mechanically to create images of flowing river. Trial
digs have revealed high contents of mercury in the soil. Candles made from the
fat of the walrus were said to bum for a very long time .This indicates that the
interior of the mausoleum is grand and gorgeous palace and treasure house. It is
said that the underground palace was brightly lit by whale oil lamps for
eternity. The coffin of Emperor Qin Shihuang was cast in bronze. The palaces and
other buildings within the walls of the mausoleum were destroyed. Only the huge
pyramid of the mound survived the devastation, In 1987 the mausoleum was by
UNESCO as a World Heritage site.
As a part of the mausoleum, the terracotta warriors have dazzled the world.
But the materials unexcavated are also worth studying. Archaeologists working
over several decades have discovered and excavated several dozen construction
sites covering tens of thousands' of square meters, including the most important
large tomb, gardens, temples and houses. The 50 meter long flagstone apron, 55cm
square plinth stones, drainage ditch, finely crafted stone water drainage system
and red interior walls show the architectural skill and magnificence of the
construction itself.
Many other tombs, unrelated to the Qin Mausoleum, have been found,
including ruins at the Five-Ranges Dam, the Zhengjia Village Stone Processing
Site and the Fish-pond Site. Ministers, princesses and princes, the famous and
the not so famous were inhumed there.The burial pits for horses, rare birds and
pottery figures were ever regarded as the sacrificial objects to the Emperor.
Hence the remains from these tombs and pits are beneficial for archaeologists to
make further research.
Three Layers of City Walls to Protect Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum
After 40 years of hard work, the archaeologists of Shaanxi Province
discovered the enigma of the city walls of Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum.
The whole Qin Shi Huang Cemetery was camouflaged by cities within a city
and divided into three-part city walls-the outer city, the inner city and a
small city within the inner city. Total length of the city walls was 12
kilometers, close to the length of Xian city walls built in Ming Dynasty. The
whole city was 2.13 square kilometers. The outer city has 4 city gates, and the
inner and small city altogether have 6 city gates. All in all, there were 10
city gates in the Qin Mausoleum city walls. Each city gate was about 70 meters
long. The city walls were hard and colored patterns were found in the walls. It
was also recorded that the height of the city walls was 10 meters. Within the
small city, large number of graveyards, pits for buried bodies, and all kinds of
architectural sites were scattered.
In a China mausoleum system, a long time ago, it was originally found out
that Lang Fang and other annexes were built inside and outside the city walls.
Moreover, the archaeologists have also found a group of San Chuque architectural
sites, which was built between the inner and outer walls in eastern mausoleum.
San Chuque was the highest symbol of architectural level a long time ago, and it
was used by the emperor only.
It was said that each tile used by the annexes was engraved with some
characters. Most of the contents of the characters were names of local
authorities. Some were personal names. From the characters in the potteries, we
can see that the local authorities who were responsible for providing tiles to
the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum were numerous and jumbled. The government offices of
Qin central pottery making, basically offered the tiles used in building Lang
Fang.
Experts say that the discovery of the city walls was another milestone in
the archaeology of Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum. It is of great meaning and
importance in studying the China emperor's mausoleum system.