Tomb of Xu Congyun

Tomb of Xu Congyun

The Tomb of Xu Congyun is a cultural relic protection unit of Shanxi Province.

Tomb of Xu Congyun

Tomb of Xu Congyun (Third Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites)

Era: Liao Dynasty

Location: Xintianbao Village, 7 kilometers southwest of Datong City

This is the joint burial tomb of Xu Congyun, military governor of Datong during the Liao Dynasty, and his wife, dating to the fourth year of the Qianheng era (982 AD) under Emperor Jingzong of Liao. It was excavated in August 1986.

The tomb is a single-chamber brick structure with wooden architectural imitation, facing south and situated to the north. It consists of a passageway, a grand tomb gate tower, a corridor, and the burial chamber. The burial chamber has a circular floor plan with a domed ceiling, standing 5.20 meters high and with a base diameter of 4.92 meters. The top features remnants of an astronomical painting. The surrounding walls of the chamber imitate wooden architecture, with six pillars dividing the space into four sections. Each section has a door in the middle; the southern one is the actual tomb door, while the other three are false doors. The pillar capitals and bracket sets feature relatively well-formed dougong (bracket arms), with the dou on the pillar capital directly placed atop the column without the use of a beam plate. The bracket sets are of the five-purlin style, incorporating bamboo-style ang (brackets) and timber fillers. In the gaps between the pillar capital bracket sets and the intermediate bracket sets, painted inverted-V brackets and small hidden camel humps on the capital beams can be seen. The surrounding walls of the chamber are adorned with colorful murals depicting fourteen figures, including civil officials and maidservants, representing fine examples of Liao Dynasty painting art. Over twenty unearthed artifacts were recovered, including ironware, bronze ware, pottery, and wooden items. Among them are six exquisitely crafted iron pharmaceutical tools, as well as two uniquely shaped groups of painted pottery and gray pottery, plus an epitaph set. The tomb of Xu is a significant discovery among early Liao Dynasty elite official burials and holds great importance for the study of Liao history and ethnic integration.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites of Shanxi Province