Yi People’s Heavenward-Facing Tombs

　　The Yi People’s Heavenward-Facing Tombs are located in Yancang Town, about 20 kilometers northeast of Weining County, distributed around Dafeng Liangzi and Xiaofeng Liangzi. Others have also been found in towns such as Ertang, Longchang, Zhongshui, Yangjie, Dajie, and Chengguan.

　　The heavenward-facing tombs are divided into two types:

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

　　According to local residents, these tombs were used to bury slaves from the households of the royal family at the time. As a result, they differ greatly from the royal tombs. Although their shapes are similar, they occupy less land and are smaller in scale.

　　Type II: Centered on the large tomb on Dafeng Liangzi and the small tomb on Xiaofeng Liangzi in Yancang. These two hills are named after the large and small tombs respectively. The large heavenward tomb is called “Zumu Wuqu” by the Yi people, meaning “Royal Tomb,” and belonged to the leader of the Yi Yiwu Sa tribe. This tomb has a large oval earthen mound. The existing tomb base measures 45 meters north-south and 29 meters east-west. The top of the mound is 27 meters long, 15 meters wide, and 10 meters high. Surrounding it are three tiers of unprocessed rough stone walls—large, medium, and small. On the northern side there are steps. The distances between the stone walls and the mound, and 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, where there is a recessed opening built of rough stones, 1–2 meters in diameter, with an earthen mound piled up with stones pointing toward the stars in the sky.

　　About 500 meters southeast of this tomb is a small tomb, also built with unprocessed rough stones arranged naturally in a roughly circular shape, resembling a single-tiered circular platform. It is commonly known as the “Pu’an Tomb.” The existing tomb base 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 Jiuanba Village, 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 of the Yi King’s Tomb, there are several other heavenward-facing tombs, all featuring an earthen mound on top pointing toward the stars. Among them, five larger ones, along with the Yi King’s Tomb and the Pu’an Tomb, point toward the Big Dipper, aligning with its constellation. Hence, some people also call them “Star-Pointing Tombs.”

　　Centered around the Yi King’s Tomb in the ancient Wusa tribe area of Yancang, Weining, there are about 50 to 60 heavenward-facing tombs within a radius of about 100 kilometers, but those in Yancang are more concentrated and distributed in a relatively orderly fashion.

　　According to relevant experts, “the Yancang Yi King’s Tomb is the largest existing heavenward tomb. It represents a method used by the Yi people for cremation and the placement of ashes. However, the primary function of the heavenward tombs is not to hold ashes but to serve as astronomical observation sites. The Yi King’s Tomb is situated on a mountain, with an isolated peak directly to the south. To the east, west, and north, there are only smaller hills compared to the one where the tomb stands. Based on rough calculations considering the local latitude, around the summer solstice, when the sun is at its zenith, the shadow of the southern peak would be cast precisely onto the opening at the top of the heavenward tomb. The area to the north of the tomb is particularly open. On summer evenings, when the Big Dipper points south, it is positioned right above 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 Bridal Tomb). When looking northeast from the top of this small tomb, the direction aligns with the point where the sun rises above the horizon on the summer solstice in this area. Such arrangements are not coincidental but are governed by certain beliefs or needs.”

　　The Yi King’s Tomb and the Bridal Tomb were still intact in the 1950s. However, during the agricultural campaigns and the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, various communes dismantled the stone structures of the heavenward tombs to produce lime, resulting in severe damage to the Yancang heavenward tombs. Scattered rubble can still be seen there, but the platforms remain identifiable. The tops of the earthen mounds also still feature a 1–2 meter recessed opening.

　　Although the Yi heavenward-facing tombs have been damaged, they retain a certain degree of their original appearance, with clearly distinguishable platforms. In terms of value, they possess profound historical, philosophical, and scientific significance. They are part of the extant history of Chinese civilization, an important component of Chinese national culture, and physical artifacts for studying the unresolved mysteries of Chinese civilization. It can be confirmed that the heavenward tombs are the most compelling physical evidence for studying Yi history and also rare material historical records 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.