Guangzhou >> Mausoleum of the Nanyue King

Attraction Typ: Historic Site

Location: City Centre - Central

Recommend: 4 Star

Mausoleum of the Nanyue King

The Mausoleum of Nanyue King, having a long history of more than 2,000 years, owns a number of invaluable rare objects.

Mausoleum of the Nanyue King (Chinese: 南越王墓; pinyin: Nán Yuèwáng Mù) has a long history of more than 2,000 years. It is located in Xianggang Hill on the western end of the Yuexiu Park.

The owner of the tomb is Zhao Mei, the self-proclaimed "Wen Di" (Emperor Wen) and the second king of the Nanyue Kingdom. He was the grandson of Qin-dynasty General Zhao Tuo, who was the founding father of the Nanyue Kingdom.

The tomb was found in 1983 when Xianggang Hill was leveled to make way for a dormitory building. Hidden 20 meters underground, the tomb is the earliest and largest early Han-dynasty mausoleum ever discovered, featuring the richest burial objects even seen. Made up of 750 huge stones with colorful murals, 1,000 pieces of cultural relics, bronze ware and terra cotta ware in particular of the tomb, feature the Yue Culture of south China (Nanyue Culture).

The body of the owner of the tomb--Zhao Mei was wearing a jade burial suit knitted with silk threads. The jade has been restored to its original condition. It's the earliest and only complete "silk-thread jade suit" among all Western Han jade suits ever found in China. A number of invaluable rare objects, including a blue plat glass panel, the world's first set of color print copperplate mould and African ivories have also been uncovered from the mausoleum.