Tombs for Nobles of the Yue State

The tombs at Hongshan Town, Xishan District, were excavated jointly by the Nanjing Museum Archaeology Institute and Xishan District Cultural Relics Management Committee of Wuxi. Leading the project was Zhang Min.

The findings give clues on the burial rites for nobles of the Yue State (770-446BC). The tombs are of varying sizes, presumably in accordance with the ranking of the nobles, of which there were five. More than 2,000 pieces of burial articles were found in the seven tombs successfully excavated.

One of the tombs at Qiuchengdun stretches some 57 meters in the shape of the Chinese character "zhong" (which means "center" and characterized by a rectangle with smooth edges and a long line down the middle). It is the second largest ever made for a noble of the Yue State, second in size only to the tomb of the King of Yue at Yinshan, Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province.

A total of 1,100 funerary articles were found, including complete sets of pottery, musical instruments and jade wares. The 500-odd porcelain musical instruments, about 10 varieties, make the tomb the largest underground storehouse of ancient instruments ever discovered, which includes the yongzhong (a type of bell) and qing (chime stone) from the central plains, chunyu (a metal percussion instrument), dingning (a bell with a handle), duo (big bell) and ling (little bell), which were made in typical Yue style. More significant was the discovery of the fou, a clay musical instrument whose existence could not be confirmed until now.

The site can be compared, in terms of number and variety of musical instruments, with the Mausoleum of Marquis Yi of the Zeng State (around 433 BC), which is famous for its Zeng Houyi Bells, the largest set of bronze bells excavated in the world, and its stone chimes.

The site's four spherical pottery pieces in red, blue, and white glaze, each made of eight coiling snakes, are rare research materials that can aid in the study of the origin of glass and the cultural exchanges between China and other countries.

The tomb site dates back to the early years of the Warring States Period (475-221BC), possibly during the reign of King Goujian who took the throne in 496 BC. The findings mark the most important archaeological discovery on the State of Yue to date. The site not only has far-reaching significance on the study of Yue history and culture, but may also help rewrite part of the ancient history of not only this region, but also that of music and porcelain making.