Tomb of the Wang Family of Xiangshan

Tomb of the Wang Family of Xiangshan

The Tomb of the Wang Family of Xiangshan is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangsu Province.

The Tomb of the Wang Family of Xiangshan is located on Xiangshan Hill, southwest of Mufu Mountain in the northern suburbs of Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province.

The Tomb of the Wang Family of Xiangshan is the family burial site of Wang Bin, a Minister of Personnel and Left Vice Director of the Secretariat during the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The excavated area of the Wang family cemetery exceeds 50,000 square meters. Between 1965 and 1970, the Nanjing Cultural Relics Preservation Committee successively excavated seven tombs. Except for Tomb No. 2, which dates to the Southern Dynasties, the rest are from the Eastern Jin Dynasty. According to epitaphs, Tomb No. 1 is the joint tomb of Wang Bin’s fourth son, Wang Xingzhi, who served as a Staff Officer of the Western Expeditionary Army and Prefect of Gan, and his wife. Wang Xingzhi died in the sixth year of the Xiankang era (340), and his wife, Lady Song Hezhi, died in the fourth year of the Yonghe era (348). Tomb No. 3 is that of Wang Bin’s eldest daughter, who died in the third year of the Shengping era (359). Tomb No. 5 is the tomb of Wang Minzhi, Wang Xingzhi’s eldest son, who died in the second year of the Shengping era. Tomb No. 6 is the tomb of Xia Jinhu, Wang Bin’s second wife, who died in the seventeenth year of the Taiyuan era (392). According to the epitaphs of Wang Xingzhi and his daughter, it is confirmed that Wang Bin was buried between them, but his tomb had already been destroyed. Wang Bin held the positions of Minister of Personnel and Left Vice Director of the Secretariat, and died at the age of 59. He was posthumously awarded the titles of Special Advance Guard General and Cavalry Attendant-in-Ordinary, and was given the posthumous name “Sù.” Tomb No. 7 likely dates to the early Eastern Jin period and may belong to Wang Bin’s elder brother, Wang Muzhi. Wang Muzhi served as General Who Pacifies the South, Inspector of Jingzhou, and Marquis of Wuling, and his funeral procession returned to Jiankang after his death. The Wang family originally came from Langya Linyi and were one of the main pillars of the Eastern Jin regime.

The tombs all feature brick structures. Tomb No. 7 is a domed tomb with a protruding rectangular plan and inward-sloping corner arches. It consists of a coffin chamber and a passage, measuring 5.3 meters in length, 3.22 meters in width, and 3.42 meters in height. The left and right walls are slightly arched outward, and each of the left, right, and rear walls has a straight-lattice false window in the middle, above which is a small protruding niche housing a small celadon bowl. The passage has a vaulted ceiling and is divided into inner and outer sections by a door slot, sealed with bricks. Tombs No. 1, 2, 4, and 6 are all vaulted tombs with a protruding rectangular plan, consisting of a coffin chamber and a passage. Tombs No. 3 and 5 are rectangular vaulted tombs without a passage. Some tomb walls also feature straight-lattice false windows and small protruding niches. In Tomb No. 6, a rectangular brick platform is built in front of the coffin chamber. All tombs have two layers of paving bricks, and most have brick drainage channels leading outside the tomb—for example, Tomb No. 6’s has a five-layer brick drainage channel in front, over 17 meters of which remains intact. Some tomb interiors also have lime-plastered walls.

A total of more than 230 burial objects have been unearthed from the tombs, including celadon ware, pottery, bronze ware, ironware, as well as gold, silver, agate, amber, crystal, and jade artifacts. Tomb No. 3 also yielded over 200 mercury sulfide pills, several thousand shell-shaped ornaments, and dozens of pearls. Tomb No. 7 produced two glass cups and one diamond-inlaid gold ring—items of foreign origin that serve as important evidence of trade between China and other countries at the time. There are 57 pieces of celadon ware, predominantly bluish-gray in glaze color, with some bluish-green and yellowish-green, and some vessels feature reddish-brown glaze spots on their upper parts or lids. Tomb No. 7 features a large pottery couch placed between the coffin chamber and the passage, measuring 1.12 meters in length, 0.65 meters in width, and 0.214 meters in height—an unusually large find. On the couch are placed everyday items and stationery such as a pottery armrest, pottery plates, pottery ear cups, a porcelain incense burner, a porcelain spittoon, and a pottery inkstone, indicating it served as the spiritual seat of the tomb owner.

The excavation of the Tomb of the Wang Family of Xiangshan holds significant value for the study of the aristocratic clan system and funeral customs of the Eastern Jin period. In 2006, the site was included in the sixth batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level by the State Council as a tomb complex from the Two Jin periods.

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Jiangsu Province

· Sixth Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level