Tomb of the State of Xing

Tomb of the State of Xing

The Tomb of the State of Xing is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Xingtai Tomb is located in the southwest of Xingtai City, Hebei Province.

Historical records indicate that the Marquis of Xing was named Ji Ju, the fourth son of the Duke of Zhou (Duke Dan), who was the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou. In the 11th century BC, King Cheng of Zhou enfeoffed Ji Ju, the fourth son of the Duke of Zhou, as the Marquis of Xing, establishing the State of Xing to govern the Xing region. In 661 BC, when the powerful Di tribes invaded Xing, the marquis moved the capital to Yi Yi, sought military assistance from Qi externally and rallied morale internally, achieving victory after several battles. To celebrate the triumph, he built the Platform of the Marquis of Xing. The name "Xingtai" originally derived from this.

Discovered in 1993, the site covers a total area of 1 million square meters and is the burial ground of the State of Xing during the Western Zhou Dynasty. It consists of two main areas: one in the Gezhuang Xingguo Gongjia Tomb Area, and another within the Nanxiaowang site. Large ancient tombs are distributed in the central part of the burial ground, surrounded by chariot and horse pits and smaller tombs. Burial methods are mostly supine with straight limbs, though some are lateral with flexed limbs. Burial objects are primarily pottery, but due to severe looting in earlier years, the combination of artifacts is not very clear— tripod cauldrons (li) and jars (guan) are the most commonly found. Other surviving items include bronze ware, jade artifacts, and stone tools; bronze items comprise ding tripods, halberds, swords, and bronze tools. Jade artifacts include halberds, gui tablets, and animal-shaped jade models. In 1997, a total of three large tombs and over 30 medium and small tombs were excavated, including more than 20 from the Western Zhou period and two from the Spring and Autumn period. Among the Western Zhou tombs, the large ones are of two types: rectangular with a projecting entrance ramp (jiazi character shape) and rectangular with a central ramp (zhongzi character shape), while the medium and small tombs are all rectangular vertical earthen pit graves. M202 is the tomb passage of the large jiazi-shaped tomb of the Marquis of Xing, with a total length of 35 meters, a tomb chamber 6 meters long and 4 meters wide, which had been severely looted in earlier times. At the connection between the passage and the chamber, six chariots were buried along with a batch of exquisite chariot and horse fittings. Around this tomb are four horse pits containing 12 horses. Although these tombs have all been heavily looted, a number of valuable cultural relics were still unearthed. Burial items mainly include bronze, jade, proto-porcelain, pottery, stone, and shell artifacts. Bronze items include halberds, cowrie shells, and chariot and horse fittings; jade artifacts are mostly in the form of various animals such as fish, cicadas, pigs, and dragons; proto-porcelain items mainly include zun vessels, dou stem cups, and vessel lids; pottery includes rain-making vessels, baskets, jars, dou cups, and vessel lids. The Spring and Autumn period tombs are all rectangular vertical earthen pit graves, with unearthed artifacts including bian vessels, dou cups, and jars.

To date, six large tombs have been excavated, including the Tomb of the Marquis of Xing, the Tomb of the Marquis’s Consort, and the Tomb of Zhao Xiangzi; there are also over 500 medium and small tombs; and nearly 10 tombs belonging to Marquises of Xing.

The Tomb of the State of Xing is a cultural heritage site where Shang Dynasty remains coexist with Zhou Dynasty burials. It has yielded large bronze ware, gold artifacts, lacquerware, and jade objects. The discovery of the Marquis of Xing Tomb resolved an academic debate lasting many years about the location of the State of Xing—the capital of the Marquis of Xing was in what is now downtown Xingtai or its surrounding suburbs. The discovery of pre-Shang remains in the Marquis of Xing Tomb provides new archaeological data for further research on pre-Shang culture and the origin of the Shang people. The excavation of middle-Shang remains offers physical evidence supporting the claim that King Zu Yi of Shang moved the capital to Xing, which is today’s Xingtai.

In 2006, the Tomb of the State of Xing, as an ancient burial site from the Zhou Dynasty, was listed by the State Council as part of the sixth group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units