Changling Mausoleum, Imperial mausoleum in Shaanxi, China.
The Changling Mausoleum is the joint burial site of Emperor Gaozu of Han and Empress Lü, in Weicheng District east of Xianyang. Its square graveyard, about 1,000 m north to south and 900 m east to west, holds two rammed-earth mounds in truncated pyramid form: the emperor's in the west, roughly 32 m high, and the empress's about 280 m to the southeast. Remains of the north, south and west walls survive.
Liu Bang, founder of the Western Han, died in 195 BC and was buried here with Empress Lü in twin mounds of rammed earth, his about 32 m high. The layout copies Chang'an and the First Qin Emperor's tomb on a smaller scale, and Gaozu's successors built their own tombs near it. The 1970–1976 survey by Shaanxi's antiquities committee recorded many relics.
The name Changling, "Long Mausoleum", links the tomb to Chang'an, the Han capital it was built to replicate. About 50,000 families were settled in the mausoleum city beside the tomb, and the satellite tombs to the east, roughly 7.5 km long, hold some 60 earth mounds, among them those of the chancellor Xiao He, the general Cao Can and Consort Qi.
The site lies north of Sanyi Village in Yaodian Town, Weicheng District, about 20 km north of Xi'an; a bus to Sanyi Village leaves a short walk to the mounds. The emperor's tomb stands in the west of the square graveyard, the empress's about 280 m to the southeast, and stretches of the north, south and west walls remain. The satellite tombs run east for roughly 7.5 km.
In 1965, over 3,000 painted terracotta warriors were unearthed from one of the satellite tombs east of the mausoleum. The burial area also holds about 60 surviving earth mounds of attendant tombs, among them those of the chancellor Xiao He, the general Cao Can and Lady Qi. The site has suffered reported looting episodes, including in 2001 and 2005.
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