Honghuayuan Tomb Cluster

Honghuayuan Tomb Cluster

The Honghuayuan Tomb Cluster is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Honghuayuan Tomb Cluster is located on the slopes of Honghuayuan in Nanshan District, Shenzhen. Excavated in 1981, the site yielded one Western Han pit-style vertical tomb, one Eastern Han pit-style vertical tomb, and eight brick-chambered tombs (including protruding-character-shaped, middle-character-shaped, and rectangular tombs). Tomb No. 3, a protruding-character-shaped brick-chambered tomb, contained 27 pottery items including a well, stove, table, jars, cosmetic boxes, bowls, basins, cups, and beans, as well as an incense burner. Among them was a bluish-gray rectangular tomb brick inscribed with the "Nine Returns" multiplication table. The brick was fired at an extremely high temperature, measuring 37 cm in length, 17 cm in width, and 4 cm in thickness. Its surface features diamond-grid patterns, with two-thirds of one side covered in such designs and one-third vertically inscribed with the multiplication table: starting from the right, with half a line left blank, the text reads: "Three times nine is twenty-seven, two times nine is eighteen, four times nine is thirty-six," and the second line reads: "Nine times nine is eighty-one, eight times nine is seventy-two, seven times nine is sixty-three, six times nine is fifty-four, five times nine is forty-five." The characters were carved when the brick was still unfired, with clear and precise strokes.

Four Eastern Jin Dynasty tombs were also excavated, all rectangular pit-style vertical tombs, yielding 25 artifacts including pots, jars, basins, cups, spinning whorls, silver hairpins, and turquoise beads. Among them was a rare three-legged round stone inkstone. Additionally, three Southern Dynasties tombs were excavated.