Hongshan Tombs Cluster

Hongshan Tombs Cluster

The Hongshan Tombs Cluster is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Hongshan Tombs Cluster is located in the eastern part of Hongshan Town, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province. It lies to the north of Taiboxu, to the south of Jiuchuan River, and to the east adjacent to Caohu Lake, facing Suzhou across the water.

The Hongshan Tombs Cluster is a burial site for the nobility of the Wu and Yue states during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The cluster provided the first comprehensive insight into the burial customs of Yue nobles within a single burial ground during that period, and classified the tombs into small, medium, large, and extra-large categories, representing five distinct social ranks among the Yue nobility. A total of 2,000 funerary objects were unearthed from seven tombs.

Among them, the Qiu Chengdun tomb, an extra-large "zhong"-shaped Yue noble tomb measuring 57 meters in length, is the second-largest Yue tomb after the King of Yue’s Tomb at Yueshan in Shaoxing. It is divided into a ramp, main chamber, and rear chamber, with the main chamber further partitioned into northern and southern side chambers by wooden boards. This tomb yielded over 1,100 funerary artifacts, most of which are exquisitely crafted sets of celadon ritual vessels, musical instruments, and jade artifacts, showcasing the highest level of Yue burial goods discovered so far in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region. More than 500 celadon and hard pottery musical instruments form a massive underground musical instrument repository, including both Central Plains-style bell chimes (yongzhong) and stone chimes (qing), as well as Yue-style instruments such as chunyu, dingning, duo, and bell-shaped objects. There was also a previously unconfirmed type of vessel called fu. The variety and quantity of these instruments rival those found in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. The jade artifacts include burial jades, sword ornaments, and pendants, with the paired “Five-Huang Pendants” representing the highest rank of personal adornment from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Of particular significance is the glass-glazed coiled snake orb-shaped object, a rare artifact that provides valuable insights into the origins of glassmaking and cultural exchanges between China and foreign civilizations.

Within the approximately 7-square-kilometer area of the Hongshan site, there are about 118 large earthen platforms and mounds. The archaeological findings from this site were honored as one of the “Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries of China in 2004.”

The Hongshan Noble Tombs date back to the early Warring States period, during the reign of King Goujian when the Yue state was at its peak. The excavation yielded a rich array of artifacts with clear distinctions in social rank, marking a major breakthrough in Yue culture archaeology following the discovery of the Yueshan Tomb. It holds significant importance for the study of Yue culture and the history of the Yue state. In June 2006, it was designated as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units