Yi People’s Skyward-Facing Tombs

Yi People’s Skyward-Facing Tombs

The Yi People’s Skyward-Facing Tombs are a cultural tourism attraction.

Yi People’s Skyward-Facing Tombs

Yi People’s Skyward-Facing Tombs The Yi People’s Skyward-Facing Tombs are located in Yancang Town, about 20 kilometers northeast of Weining County, distributed around Dafengliangzi and Xiaofengliangzi. Similar tombs have also been found in towns such as Ertang, Longchang, Zhongshui, Yangjie, Dajie, and Chengguan.

The skyward-facing tombs come in two types:

Type I: Constructed with rough stones forming oval stone walls, usually 10–20 meters in diameter. If the tomb is built against a mountain, the stone wall on the mountain side is roughly level with the ground surface outside the wall, while the opposite side rises about 2 meters above ground level. The ground inside the stone wall is slightly higher than that outside, with a central earthen mound 3–4 meters in diameter and less than 1 meter high. A few tombs have a section of arc-shaped or semi-circular stone wall on one side of the circular wall. Some tombs are built with earthen rather than stone oval walls and are smaller in scale, with the circular wall being about 10 meters in diameter. Other tombs have stone walls built around them with the center filled with earth to form an earthen mound.

According to local residents, these tombs were used to bury slaves from the households of royalty at the time. Therefore, they differ greatly from the tombs of royalty—though similar in shape, they occupy less land and are smaller in scale.

Type II: Centered on the large tomb on Dafengliangzi and the small tomb on Xiaofengliangzi in Yancang, these hills are named after the large and small tombs. The large skyward-facing tomb, called “Zumu Wuqu” (meaning “Royal Tomb”) by the Yi people, belonged to the leader of the Yi’s Wusa tribe. This tomb features a large oval earthen mound. The existing tomb foundation is 45 meters long from north to south and 29 meters wide from east to west. The top of the mound is 27 meters long, 15 meters wide, and 10 meters high. Surrounding it are three tiers of rough stone walls—large, medium, and small—that have not been processed. On the north side, there is a staircase. The distances between the stone walls and the earthen mound, as well as between the stone walls themselves, are 2.5 meters, 4 meters, and 3.5 meters respectively. Each tier of the stone wall has steps leading to the top. At the top is a recess made of rough stones, 1–2 meters in diameter, with a mound of stones piled up toward the stars in the sky.

About 500 meters southeast of this tomb lies a smaller tomb, also enclosed with unprocessed rough stones in a roughly circular platform shape, commonly known as the “Pu’an Tomb.” The existing tomb foundation is 22 meters in diameter and about 5 meters high. Its owner was Ajing Maipa, the founding ancestor of the Ajing clan (Han surname Wang) of Puan Village, the son-in-law of a certain generation leader of the Wusa tribe, and also an ancestor of the Pu’an Tusi family in western Guizhou during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Within 200 to 3,000 meters around the Royal Tomb of the Yi King are several other skyward-facing tombs. Their tops all have earthen mounds pointing toward the stars in the sky, among which the five larger ones, along with the Royal Tomb of the Yi King and the Pu’an Tomb, align with the Big Dipper. Hence, some also call them “Star-Facing Tombs.”

Within about 100 kilometers centered on the Royal Tomb of the Yi King in Yancang, ancient Wusa territory in Weining, there are 50–60 skyward-facing tombs. However, those in Yancang are more concentrated and arranged in a more regular pattern.

According to experts, “the Royal Tomb in Yancang is the largest existing skyward-facing tomb and represents a method used by the Yi people for cremation and storing ashes. However, the primary function of the skyward-facing tombs is not for ash storage but for astronomical observation. The Royal Tomb is situated on a mountain, with an isolated peak directly to the south, and only smaller hills compared to the tomb's mountain on the east, west, and north sides. Based on the local latitude, it is roughly estimated that around the summer solstice, when the sun is at its zenith, the shadow of the southern peak is cast precisely onto the opening at the top of the skyward-facing tomb. The area to the north of the tomb is particularly open. On summer evenings, when the Big Dipper points south, it aligns directly above the top of the tomb. The Yi people have traditionally placed great importance on celestial phenomena such as the sun and the Big Dipper. About 500 meters southwest of this tomb is another small tomb (the Son-in-Law Tomb). Looking northeast from the top of this small tomb aligns with the direction where the sun rises above the horizon on the summer solstice in this region. Such an arrangement is not coincidental but governed by certain beliefs or needs.”

In the 1950s, the Royal Tomb of the Yi King and the Son-in-Law Tomb were still intact. However, during the twenty years from the 1960s to the 1970s, amid the agricultural campaigns and the Cultural Revolution, various communes dismantled the stones of the skyward-facing tombs to produce lime, resulting in severe damage to the tombs in Yancang. Crushed stones can still be seen scattered around, but the foundations are still recognizable. There is also a 1–2-meter recess at the top of the earthen mound.

Although the Yi People’s Skyward-Facing Tombs have been damaged, their original appearance remains partially intact, with clearly identifiable foundations. In terms of value, they hold significant historical, philosophical, and scientific meaning. They are part of China’s surviving civilization history, an important component of Chinese national culture, and physical evidence for studying unresolved mysteries in China’s civilization history. It can be confirmed that the skyward-facing tombs are the most compelling physical materials for studying Yi history and a rare historical source for researching the political structure of the ancient Wusa tribe.

In 1985, they were listed as provincial-level key cultural relics protection units by the People’s Government of Guizhou Province.

Location

Yancang Town, Weining Yi, Hui, and Miao Autonomous County, Bijie, Guizhou Province