Beidongshan Han Tomb Museum

Beidongshan Han Tomb Museum

The Beidongshan Han Tomb Museum is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Beidongshan Han Tomb Museum is located in Dongshan Village, Maocun Town, Tongshan District, across a river from downtown Xuzhou. It boasts a prime location and beautiful natural surroundings. To the north lies the Maocun Han Dynasty Stone Relief Tomb, to the west is the Guishan Han Tomb in Jiuli District, to the east are the Jinpu Railway and National Highway 104, and to the south, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal flows gently from west to east.

The Beidongshan Han Tomb is a horizontal multi-chamber cave tomb, facing south and built by carving into the mountain. The tomb consists of a passageway, main chambers, and auxiliary chambers, stretching 70 meters in total length, reaching a maximum width of 20 meters, with a usable area of 320 square meters. The front and middle sections of the passageway were excavated and filled with rammed earth, with small niches carved on the eastern and western walls containing 220 painted pottery figurines. The entrance passage was sealed with blocking stones. The main chambers were all carved into the mountain rock and include side rooms, rear chambers, storage rooms, and even a latrine. The four walls and passageways of the tomb chambers were coated with cinnabar powder for preservation and moisture resistance. The auxiliary chambers were first hollowed out as vertical shafts on the mountainside, with timber-framed A-shaped roofs. The largest among them, the music and dance hall, covers an area of 465 square meters. Although the Beidongshan Han Tomb was looted multiple times in ancient times, over 1,000 precious cultural relics were still unearthed, offering significant insights into the politics, economy, and culture of the time. It is believed that the tomb owner was Liu Yingke, the second-generation King of Chu during the Western Han Dynasty, the nephew of Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang and the son of King Yuan of Chu Liu Jiao. The tomb is estimated to have been built around 175 BC. The Beidongshan Han Tomb is the only imperial tomb discovered in China so far that was constructed to replicate the living environment of the time.

The Beidongshan Han Tomb is a national key cultural relics protection unit. Excavated in 1984 by the Xuzhou Museum and Nanjing Museum, the Beidongshan Han Tomb Exhibition Hall was completed in 1988 and opened to the public early the following year. The exhibition hall mainly consists of surrounding walls, exhibition rooms, office areas, the tomb itself, and its earthen mound, covering an area of 36 mu. The surrounding walls are inlaid with 36 imitation Han Dynasty stone reliefs. The exhibition area spans 500 square meters, displaying over 40 cultural relics. Cypress, dragon juniper, and ancient locust trees are planted on the earthen mound, giving the entire site an elegant yet solemn and dignified atmosphere.