Tomb of King Qi of Jin, Wanyan Yan

Tomb of King Qi of Jin, Wanyan Yan

The Tomb of King Qi of Jin, Wanyan Yan, is a cultural tourism attraction.

Located in Chengzi Village, Juyuan Township, Acheng District. It lies approximately 40 kilometers south of the former site of the Jin Dynasty’s Shangjing (Upper Capital) and about 400 meters east of the Jin-era ancient city in Chengzi Village. Excavated in 1988, the tomb is a vertical earthen pit with a stone outer coffin and wooden inner coffin. At the center of the coffin lid is a silver nameplate identifying the tomb owner as the “Grand Marshal, Chancellor with Equal Authority to the Three Dukes, King of Qi.” The interior walls of the coffin chamber feature embroidered silk tapestries. The burial includes a husband and wife; the male is elderly with a beard still preserved, while the female is middle-aged. The clothes they wore are exquisitely patterned, vibrantly colored, and remarkably well-preserved. Beneath their heads was a wooden plaque inscribed in ink with “Grand Marshal, Chancellor with Equal Authority to the Three Dukes, King of Qi,” and on the back of the plaque is written “One House.” Research confirms that the tomb owner is Wanyan Yan. According to the History of Jin, Wanyan Yan served under four emperors: Taizong, Xizong, Hailing, and Shizong. He was granted the title of king under various reigns, including Ge, Song, Xu, and Qi. In the second year of the Dading era (1162) during the reign of Emperor Shizong, he was promoted to Grand Marshal but passed away the same year. Over a hundred artifacts were unearthed from the tomb, including gold ingots, gold rings, a gold-threaded agate necklace, gold earrings, a jade ornament in the shape of two geese, and bamboo branches. The tomb has yielded Jurchen ethnic garments rich in nomadic characteristics, filling a gap in China’s costume history for the Jin Dynasty and earning it the reputation of the “Mawangdui of the North.”