Yingpancun tomb complex, Tomb complex of the Taliu Yi people in Liude Lisu and Yi Township, Yongsheng County, China
The Yingpancun tomb complex is a burial ground on a hillside northwest of Yingpan village in Yushui, Liude Township, Yongsheng County, Lijiang, Yunnan. It covers about 304,000 square metres and holds nearly 7,000 stone-covered earthen pit tombs, of which around 2,500 are largely intact. Most tombs have archway-style steles with reliefs of auspicious animals and flowers, measuring 1.5–2 m high and 1.5–4 m wide.
The cemetery was built by the Taliu, a branch of the Yi, from the Ming Wanli era to the Republic of China, with burials most numerous under the Qing Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. A Taliu castle stood east of the tombs until it was destroyed in the wars of the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns. The site was protected in 1998 as part of the Lude Taliu cemetery and castle, and in 2006 became a national key cultural relic.
The Taliu, a branch of the Yi, call themselves "Talusu" and live in the three villages of Shuanghe, Yunshan and Yushui near Taliu Mountain. Their tombs carry archway-style steles with reliefs of auspicious animals and flowers, and the cemetery was most active under the Qing emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong.
The cemetery lies on a hillside northwest of Yingpan village in Yushui, Liude Township, Yongcheng County, about 30.4 hectares in extent. The tombs are scattered across open, uneven ground with stone slabs underfoot, so sturdy shoes are useful. The site is a protected national monument; visitors should check locally before entering and avoid touching the carved steles.
The cemetery's Taliu builders left a castle just east of the graves, home to their settlement until it was destroyed in the fighting of the Xianfeng and Tongzhi reigns of the Qing. The tombs survived while the living town vanished, so visitors today see only the burial ground.
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