Nanyue King Mausoleum

After Yuexiu Park, Drew and I went to the Western Han Museum of the Nanyue King Mausoleum. This museum was really cool for history nuts. Essentially in 1983 they were digging the foundations for an apartment complex, and they discovered this tomb, untouched by robbers. The tomb was for the second king of the Nanyue Dysntasty, Zhao Mo, who lived around 137 BC – 122 BC. Finding an untouched tomb was extremely rare. So, they were able to tell exactly how the king was buried and what he was buried with, at least what had not disintegrated after being buried for over 2000 years! Crazy! 

One of the coolest things about this museum is that you got to walk through the actual tomb! They had cleared out everything to display inside the museum, but it was exciting to realize where you were, in a place built 2000 years ago. The girl in the picture is a friend we picked up at Yuexiu Park before going to the museum. There were not many Westerners walking around, so she, being a brave college student, came up to us, asking if she could walk with us and practice her English! Which was very good by the way. We said, sure! It was actually quite helpful having her accompany us in the museum, because many of the signs were all in Chinese, so she could translate for us! Super nice girl. 

Inside the tomb..... this feels like the Mummy all over again! Beware of 2000 year old ghosts! 

After walking through the tomb, we toured the museum which displayed everything they found in the tomb. The picture below shows the jade suit that the king was buried in. Essentially it was jade squares held together with silk thread. When finding the jade suit 2000 years later, of course the thread was all but gone, while the jade squares lied in a giant pile. Someone spent 5 years fitting the jade squares back together and recreating the suit. 5 years!! The jade suit was worn because they believed it would prevent the body from decaying. Sure. However, that much jade would be priceless now! I also think it's funny that the suit is so large. There is no way the king was that big of a guy. 

There was also lots of clay sculptures of warriors, horses etc. Traditionally, kings in this period were buried with everything they needed in life, including warriors, chefs, musicians, etc. Some kings went over board (think about the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an!) but apparently this king was a bit modest. He was only buried with 3 concubines (Concubine Right, Concubine Left, and Concubine [], literally), 1 chef, 1 musician, 1 master of the palace, and a few warriors. Pretty sure I would not choose to be a king's chef if I knew I'd have to buried along with him when he died..... 

These are clay bells that would be strung up by the handle on a rack. The bells would be hit with a hammer to make music. 

While the king didn't have tons of people buried with him, he did have lots and lots of jade pieces buried with him: necklaces, jars, pins, you name it! 

These ceramic pillows, you heard me-PILLOWS!, weren't from the tomb but were a part of another collection. Apparently my language partner's grandmother used one of these, so they haven't been out of use for that long. Sounds comfortable doesn't it! Let me just rest my tired head on this pillow made of ceramic.....

This was a large mural in the museum, depicting what life would have looked like back then. Love the robes!