Exploring the MOUNTAIN TOMB of Gaozong and Wu

hidden within the rugged peaks of Mount leang lies a tomb shrouded in mystery the final resting place of Emperor gong and the formidable Empress Wu Zen the only woman to rule China openly as Emperor this ancient site untouched for over 1,300 years holds the secrets of one of the most intriguing Imperial families in history What Lies Beneath these sealed Chambers and what do the Treasures of the tong Dynasty reveal about the lives of its rulers we'll look closely at artifacts from Tong Royal tombs and the ancient capital of Chong an in order to bring us closer to the world of Tong Emperors empresses and their Court every piece tells a story of ambition Triumph and intrigue [Music] welcome to Antiquities Explorer your guide to historic places follow us to different countries as we search for ancient artifacts if you too wish to explore the ancient pass through travel we'll help you plan where to go what to see and how best to enjoy what you encounter in this series of the AE you can accompany Tina and me and our Trek through China homeland of the ancient Han B Nao d w Chang and ra come on let's go if you've been keeping up with us you'll know we've started our exploration of the city of Xian China by visiting the Imperial mums of chin shiwang haning D and hanui as well as the chinhan civilization Museum in today's episode we will visit the Imperial melum of GA Zong and the Shian Museum Xian once the capital of China is full of ancient remains that every traveler interested in ancient history must see the Chen molum or chenling as it's called in China is the burial complex of Emperor gong and Empress Wu of the tong Dynasty it is uniquely significant in Chinese history because it contains the only shared Royal tomb the complex occupies a commanding position at top mount Leon about 50 m 85 km Northwest of where the Tang Capital changan once sat Imperial mosum in ancient China evolved through different architectural forms reflecting changes in resources security concerns and Royal preferences as we saw in the previous episode about Chinese pyramids the earliest type of Imperial Tomb was placed beneath a trapezoidal structure made of compacted clay known as a square top this design was common during the chin and Hond dynasties the problem with this practice was that it required immense labor and was often beyond the capacity of ordinary Emperors and these kinds of tombs were vulnerable to lutters by the time of the tong Dynasty a more secure and labor efficient form of melum emerged burial within a mountain with the mountain peak serving as the grave Mound mountains symbolized Imperial Majesty rather well and the High Altitude made it more difficult to access the shift to Mountain mams began with Jing mosum the tomb of Emperor taong located inside mount juong this mosum was carved into the Mountain's interior the idea is attributed to Empress jangsun who on her deathbed is quoted as saying bury me in a mountain to avoid piling up the grave Mound however this concept reflected Emperor taizong's own philosophy he later inscribed a tablet for the empress stating quot a royal person should consider the world their home precious items like gold Jade or vessel are unnecessary in the Tomb instead imitations made of wood or clay suffice deterring thieves and robbers Mount jizong is Grand enough to honor Imperial kin without inviting looting unquote ironically Jing was looted by a warlord following the tong Dynasty's decline but the same cannot be said about chenling its construction used hard mountain rock massive Stone seals and molten lead to prevent entry these measures ensured that chenling remains one of the few untouched Imperial tombs in Chinese history a tick fee for Ching cost 100 C which is about 1365 cents us the takeway get you access to the mountain three minor tombs and the CH museums [Music] 17 attendant tombs for princes princesses and ministers surround the main tomb reflecting the tongue tradition of arranging subordinate burials to accompany the emperor and [Music] Empress the tomb of Princess young Thai discovered in 1960 and excavated in 196 before the tomb is the largest belonging to a woman in the chenling complex and was constructed to the standards of an empress above ground it featured a flattened pyramid Rising 12 M surrounded by walls and adorned with pairs of stone Lions figurines and ornamental columns below ground a long sloping entrance leads to an intricate structure 12 M deep so now we're going down into the tomb of Princess y Tha the tomb of Princess Yong Tha is one of the most notable satellite burials in the complex reflecting both the Splendor and tragedy of Tong Dynasty Court life the underground complex includes a paved passageway six skylights eight small rest Chambers and two main Chambers princess Yong Tha born Lee shinui was the granddaughter of Emperor gaozong and empress wutian and the seventh daughter of future Emperor Jong zong renowned for her beauty and intellect it was said that the plum blossom lost its Brilliance when she stood near it look at the ceiling here married in 700 at the age of 14 to Wu yanji a nephew of empress woo for a time she was shielded from her grandmother's autocratic nature historical accounts differ on her death according to one ancient source she her husband and her brother were caned to death for criticizing Wu Zan's lovers it's a shame that so much has worn off another source claims they were forced to commit suicide for this in cont her tomb's Epitaph suggests she died during childbirth whatever the cause her death in 701 at just 16 was a great tragedy this is amazing look at these frescos here the the paint you can still see some of the color on the walls here uh basically what goes into the tomb paintings is uh this is what the family is giving well wishes to the dead person and here we see depictions of maids of the Court servants of Princess yungai uh and how she will be served continually in the afterlife uh but what's interesting about the uh the maids of this period is uh you can see them holding various things they've got various boxes and candles and uh things like that uh these they're bringing them to the princess you know they're serving her with the various things and U but one of the things you'll notice about the uh servants the women Servants of this period is they give more attention at this time to their appearance makeup clothing things like that during the time of the tong Dynasty uh they say it was a more of an enlightened period as far as women were concerned yes you still got servants here uh but they have more time to take care of themselves and to pursue their own interests they don't look as uh poor and downtrod as the Servants of previous dynasties did after w 's death leenu's father Emperor Jong zong restored her honor in 705 granting her the title of Princess Yong Thai and reentering her in the Chen melum and here you have the coffin uh you can't well actually this is the uh exterior the uh the burial chamber yeah this is the original uh burial chamber I don't know what you call it the Pavilion the the tent the container oh it's called the gu gu which is the outer coffin and you put the wooden coffin inside but yeah there's uh there's still some of the detail that you can see on it I don't know if you can tell but there are design patterns uh here so at one time the uh ceiling was painted like The Starry Heavens uh this is the sun right here what's left of it and over on the other side you have the moon and uh they Shone above the the coffin although the tomb was looted some 1,46 pieces from it have survived many artifacts including the murals are now housed in the shanii history museum with replicas installed in the Tomb but there are also many in the museum here next to the tomb so this is Princess y Tai's uh Epitaph that's how we knew whose it was and this is her Epitaph cover you can see there's a bit of a glare of the glass case unfortunately this is a reproduction of Princess y tha's outer coffin so uh you know we saw some of the a little bit of the detail inside side but this will give you a better idea of what was on it the coffin itself resembles a house engraved with windows with a door and two maid figures standing guard glazed ceramic Military Officers one of the Heavenly Kings okay these are from the tomb of Jong W one of the prince's tombs again as I said before art really sheds a lot of light on Customs clothing hairstyles these murals showcase the exceptional Artistry of the tong Dynasty among the most notable is the meeting guests mural which portrays Tong officials hosting ambassadors from Rome Korea and ethnic groups from Northeast China another famous mural polo match depicts 20 Riders on differently colored horses playing Polo a favorite pastime among Tong Aristocrats Prince Jang haai born Lee Shin was was the Second Son of Emperor gawong and Empress wuen the uncle of Princess Yong crowned Prince in 675 he was tasked with annotating the book of Later Han however Empress wo interpreted his annotations as a veiled criticism likening her to the cruel Empress luu of the Han Dynasty seeking Revenge she accused him of rebellion after weapons were allegedly found in his Mansion as a result he was exiled to bajo in Sichuan province in 680 four years later in 684 he died in Exile following Wan's death his brother ascended the throne in 706 granting Leen a proper funeral and burial alongside his wife in a tomb at chunling another exhibition is dedicated to Wu Zen and her time this painting is not ancient but uh it's showing the enthronement of the empress woo in the year 690 wuan was born into a wealthy family in Sichuan province in 637 at 14 years of age she was selected as a concubine for Emperor taong the second Tong Emperor however after a brief period of favor she was sidelined and endured 12 years of isolation during Emperor taizong's illness Wu developed a romantic relationship with his son the future Emperor gawong who was only four years younger than her following taizong's death woo and other childless concubines were sent to Gan nunnery Emperor gong later brought Wu Zan back to the Palace Empress Wong was already his primary wife but his affection for woo grew rapidly after their reunion over the next N9 years she used cunning strategies to outmaneuver Empress Wang and other Rivals foreland jar I'm assuming that everything here is from the time of Gan is's uh a standing a noble woman ceramic the tong Dynasty Noble women were wellfed it looks like just like the men in 654 at a time when Empress Wang was already falling out of favor with the emperor woo gave birth to a daughter who died under suspicious circumstances woo accused Empress Wong of murdering the baby when resistance arose among the chancellors in 655 woo accused Empress w and her mother of causing it by witchcraft prompting Emperor gawong to remove key supporters of the empress from their positions despite continued opposition from senior ministers gawong ultimately deposed Empress Wang and another consort imprisoning them later that year Wu Zen became Empress both Wong and the other consort were executed shortly afterward on Woo's orders when gaozong was considering releasing them these are all female horse riders Len further solidified her position she persuaded the emperor to dismiss key officials appointed by the previous Emperor thereby consolidating her control over Court politics in 656 she secured the demotion of Lee Jong the existing Crown Prince and replaced him with her eldest son Lee Hong there's some really high quality artifacts here from the tongue period these are horse riding musicians you can see them with their musical instruments Wan's political Acumen and ability to navigate Palace intrigues made her one of the most powerful figures in Tong Dynasty history laying the groundwork for her eventual Ascension as the only female emperor in Chinese history some Tong Dynasty epap you've seen some before and they have handy uh uh photographs or uh Engravings of them here want to read them another exhibition is dedicated to the Silk Road during the tong Dynasty the Silk Road reached its height as a vital Network for trade cultural exchange and diplomacy the Silk Road connected Tang China with Central Asia the Middle East and Beyond facilitating the exchange of goods such as silk porcelain paper spices and tea from China and gold glassware wool and horses from the West these are figurines that uh represent what was going on on the Silk Road people you might see along the way these are who horse riders uh the word who just refers to foreigners in general so there are different kinds but these are the types of people you would see coming from far away to trade changan the tong Capital was a major Hub of international trade and a Cosmopolitan Center where Merchants diplomats and travelers from diverse cultures conver verged multiculturalism is not a new thing folks the tong Dynasty's openness to foreign ideas led to the flourishing of art religion and science Buddhism Zoroastrianism nestorian Christianity and Islam spread along the root enriching Tong culture Artistic Styles from Persia India and Central Asia influenced Tong art their Capital included vibrant communities of foreign Traders and Artisans their presence added to the diversity of tongue Society reflected in food fashion and music gon's rain is often considered a conation of the cultural golden age of the Earl T Dy P literature and arts DED under his rur these who men are made of white porcelain these are paint did ceramic who men and uh here's a woman horse rider and another people coming from all from far and wide to Chong on must have been quite a Melting Pot look at that blazed ceramic tricolored uh person doesn't say who it is and to get around you got to take a bus and it's a very big bus but it's um 40 it was 40 so 20 CNY for each of us the tomb of Prince yid one of the 17 attendant tombs of the Chen melum is the closest to the main tomb museum has been established at the site featuring an underground Palace and four exhibition Halls dedicated to Prince yida the site like his sister was once adorned with stone Lions figures and ornamental columns the tomb's design includes a paved path lined with trees leading to the entrance of the underground complex okay Prince deborn Lee Chong run was the eldest son of the future Emperor Jong zong of Tang and the grandson of Emperor gong and wuen he became a victim of his ambitious grandmother too at just 19 years old he apparently was executed in 701 along with his younger sister and her husband in the Scandal I told you about this is going really deep really deep looks like there's been some repair work here in the walls in 7:05 after his father took the throne he was postumus honored with the title Crown Prince yida and buried in this elaborately constructed tomb some murals here not in as good of condition as with Princess yongtai same sort of setup here as with Princess yungai the Sun the moon uh but look at the uh the blue uh one of those clouds or the blue around the edge isn't that nice what are those waves clouds flowers SE clouds oh okay so I guess these are clouds going around the trim the main chamber houses an outer coffin crafted from 34 intricately carved blue stones and here's the GU which is the outer coffin Made of Stone I don't know if I said it was made of wood before y TI was not made of wood It Was Made of Stone and uh you can see a a little bit of the detail here there might be a reconstructed one in the museum we'll take a look uh overall uh not as well preserved as that of Princess Yong Tai but uh it seems to go deeper into the Earth just noticed this one on the way back you canar see a a wheel a cart some people it's very faded and then here you can see some as well some women Tina says that uh the reason why it's so cold down in the tombs is well at least tradition says it's because there are ghosts down here this wall is covered in murals but they're really faded and it's really dark in here this here is right outside now this is um Down Under This is underground here a bit but this is showing the ground level Tong Dynasty period and the uh Paving that you see here is part of uh the um gate and it shows it demonstrates that you know if there's any question that Prince's tomb was within the actual mosum within the necropolis the Imperial necropolis uh this puts that to idea to rest because it clearly shows that his tomb is inside the perimeter they kind of remind you a bit of Steelers from Greece or Egypt Rome you know they have sort of when you make Steelers there's only so many ways you can make them you know they're slabs right these stones are from northern way period Sway and Tong and some even from a little bit later I am not uh expert enough to be able to date things by how they look or by the writing look at the writing on the Bell look at these absolutely Exquisite look at that that looks Tong to me that looks like tongue [Music] [Music] look at the design on that okay then there's a little museum for princea here too there's the birth of Prince artifacts on Earth from the tomb are displaced in the mid exp house comprising over One S items some of the artifacts from his tomb he did distinguish himself I guess in battle musicians from his tomb and uh some beautiful heavenly King figurines glazed the murals of Prince y's tomb now displayed at the shanii history museum are especially noteworthy these include depictions of parades tame leopards Eagles Unix and Maid servants as well as auspicious symbols like the black dragon and white tiger a standout piece the 9-t High parade of the Crown Prince illustrates a royal procession leaving Chong an with over 200 guards of honor and chariots on Horseback or on foot this mural featuring towers and City walls provides insights into the architecture of the ancient Capital but with all this talk about princes a princess and a queen we've been ignoring the person for whom this mosum complex was made Emperor gong of Tong gong personal name Lee G was the ninth son of Emperor taong he became the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty at the age of 16 ruling from 649 to 683 here we are at the top of Mount leang uh now the ones we've seen earlier these uh Mounds that are the monuments of the tombs of the Emperors of the past we talk about the Han Dynasty Emperors they were just on flat ground we are here at the top of a mountain we have a tomb here a monument on top of Mount leang uh Mount leang has about Three Peaks and here we are at the high point and this is where the emperor gaozong decided to put his tomb and the tomb of his uh wife uh Wu Zan who ends up being the only woman to ever have ruled as an Empress of China uh and normally you they didn't put their wives uh tombs right in the same uh section as theirs they were separated somewhat but these are right together and uh we're going to go up there we're going to check it out the entrance to the tomb was unknown for many years until some farmers were uh looking for some Stone to build with and this is a this mountain is made out of limestone and the unexpectedly came across the entrance to the tomb and that's how uh they found how to get inside now you can walk up here there's a huge path that comes all the way to the tomb 530 steps uh 537 steps you have to climb to get up here but we decided to take the bus we still have to walk a bit though and you can see some statues there on the sides yeah see these statues these are statues of uh important uh ministers and officials and people representative from other countries that came to visit the tong uh wishing uh the emperor well and so we're going to pass through them as we go up construction began on the tomb uh in the year 684 and it continued for 23 years so it took a long time for this thing to be built here at the beginning we have the some of the horse guard a lot of the heads are off and then further on we get some important officials diplomats and so forth forth these statues are called Wang Jong and the reason why they're called Wang Jong is because way back in the time of Emperor chin Xiang a statue of a of a actual person named ran Wang Jong he was a general famous General General jig also known as and he uh defeated the Shang Nu in some battles and so the emperor the first emperor uh put up one a statue of him to guard the Shang young Palace and then and in future times when anyone ever set up a statue like that it was just called a wang Jong in 660 Emperor GA zong began to suffer from debilitating health issues including headaches dizziness seizures and vision loss possibly caused by hypertension or Strokes his condition worsened over time making it difficult for him to manage state affairs he sought assistance from Empress woo by January 665 gaozong delegated nearly all governmental responsibilities to woo from that point she effectively ruled alongside him and they were referred to as the two Saints by the late 660s she was the deao ruler of the tong Court acting in gaozong's name and issuing directives Emperor gaozong died in December 683 leaving power entirely in Wan's hands the red bird Memorial gate leads to the Memorial Garden two Stone Steelers stand outside the gate one the chab Bay highlights the achievements of the emperor since the monument was erected by the empress it probably was written by her but the calligraphy is in the style of his son Emperor Jong zong gaozong achieved several significant accomplishments during his Reign for one he oversaw military campaigns that expanded the tong Empire's territory significantly his forces defeated the Western turkic kaganate in the 650s solidifying tong control over the Taran Basin and the Silk Road trade routes and after after a prolonged effort in Korea Tang forces in Alliance with the Korean Kingdom of Sheila conquered the Goro Kingdom in 668 this Victory effectively ended the Three Kingdoms period in Korea and established Tong influence over the Korean Peninsula uh this is the wordless memorial tablet uh that was erected by Empress Wu Zan over across there we have another Stila that's the one extoling the merits of the emperor uh gong but whereas his had phrases from officials and and important people all over it this one was blank so it was called the wordless memorial tablet but if you look at it today there are there are inscriptions all over it that's because in later times after the song and Jin dynasties uh tourists would come here and they'd inscribe uh little pieces of poetry on it and uh so the legend developed that uh wuan she didn't like compliments from you know the the big wigs of society she liked to hear from the regular people and uh that's why you have it like this it was Empress woo Who oversaw the construction of this mosum gaozong's final wish was to be buried on the Guang Jong plane Wu ensured his request was fulfilled despite opposition from advisers who wanted him buried in luong Wen dispatched geomancers to identify a suitable location on the Guang Jong plane they selected Mount leang leang Shan as they say in Chinese a mountain 3,500 ft 1,69 m above sea level on the plain's Edge Construction involved teams of soldiers and laborers working non-stop for 7 months Emperor gaozong was interred here in 684 the mum design reflects the layout of changan following a traditional north south axis enclosed by inner and outer walls the inner city spans approximately 2.4 million square met and features four Gates aligned with the cardinal directions the entire complex orig house 378 buildings while the above ground structures have not survived many of the stone sculptures remain well preserved notice these statues here there's some on that side there's some on this side altogether there were 64 there's only 61 Still Standing but they represent um officials from various tribes that surrounded the tong Dynasty uh some people think mostly maybe representing the Tibetans uh but they are uh showing their Good Will toward towards the tong Dynasty showing friendship toward the tong Dynasty people from uh outer uh regions and outer tribes uh now you might be wondering why don't they have any heads and uh no one really knows for sure the prevailing theory is that there was an earthquake here that knocked the heads all off it just seems uh so weird that they all would lose their heads in an earthquake uh unless they were not the necks were very very narrow I don't know another possibility is that someone broke all the heads off um in some kind of symbolic gesture but I don't know who that would be the roughly Square Memorial Garden once enclosed the hidden entrance to the underground Palace well I guess it still does we didn't see it but below our feet lies the Tomb of the emperor and Empress the tallest peak of Mount leang stood before us with a walkway going up it it stretches up to an observation point on top of the mountain let me warn you right now that it is longer than you think and not an easy hike just when I thought I made it I see there's more in 690 6 years after gong's death wtien formally declared herself Empress regnant becoming the only woman in Chinese history to hold the title she renamed the dynasty Joe and ruled as Sovereign for 16 years in 705 the shenlong coup forc fored her to abdicate in favor of her son Emperor Jong zong whom she had previously dethroned to secure herself she renounced the title of empress and requested to be buried alongside gaozong as his Queen Jong zong agreed to her terms the melum was finally completed in 707 23 years after it was started well the paved part's about to end remarkably gaozong's resting place is one of the few in Royal tombs in China having evaded looting for over 1,300 years probes and Records suggest the tomb features three interconnected coffin Chambers the emperor's coffin likely occupies the central chamber wen's coffin is probably in one of the other Chambers but we won't know until the tomb is excavated in his last will gaozong requested that his most prized paintings and calligraphy be Ed with him given the fragile nature of Tong Dynasty artwork on silk or paper few if any original examples survive discovering such Treasures within the tomb would be extraordinary however for these artifacts to have endured the burial chamber would need to have been hermetically sealed from environmental and Subterranean factors modern archaeologists would also face the challenge of accessing the chamber without breaking its seal as sudden exposure to air could destroy any preserved materials instantly here we are that just takes us to the top of the mountain basically in the late 1950s wall marua a prominent archaeologist and historian advocated for the excavation of chenling in 1958 a team successfully uncovered the underground passage leading to the sealed burial chamber but they got no farther because gu's reputation was marred by the disastrous excavation of dingling the Ming Dynasty Tomb of the wanly emperor the excavation led to the destruction of many artifacts during the cultural revolution inade preservation methods resulted in significant losses particularly for delicate items while modern archaeological techniques have advanced considerably overconfidence in handling unknown conditions inside chenling still poses its own risks for now the caretakers of chenling appear focused on preserving its above ground structures and environment leaving the secrets of the burial Chambers undisturbed we stay at the hting hotel in Xian and we thought it fit our tastes and our budget so well we ended up staying at hting in a few other cities too it is both comfortable and budget friendly we are interested in getting more information about the tong Dynasty so we visited the Shian Museum located near the historic genfu temple site originally built in 684 during the tong Dynasty as a royal Temple the genfu temple unfortunately was destroyed during the wars that ended the dynasty the small wild goose pagota is all that's left of the original complex the current jfu Temple was Recon constructed during the Ming and Ching dynasties and today forms part of a Scenic District that displays the city's cultural and traditional [Music] charm entrance into the museum is free but you do need to make a reservation a hand of 10 on the M chat account the Shian Museum exhibition space spans over 16,000 square m and houses more than 130,000 cultural artifacts the Museum's permanent exhibition highlights the city's history as the imperial capital of 13 dynasties there's a Buddhist statue from the northern way period about year 526 is dated and here's another from the northern way period these are all found in Shian so these are all local locally made look at this Stone carving also Northern way Dynasty this is a pagota style I'm sorry Pavilion style Pagoda we're looking at pre- Tong artifacts just before the establishment of the tong Dynasty so all of these are Northern whey Dynasty this is dong ERA this is the year 537 Western wayy Dynasty [Music] look at the uh intricate work here absolutely beautiful painted gold leafed statue of uh abalo kabara from the northern Joe Dynasty 6th Century beautiful huh m here's a gorgeous statue of a bodh soda from the suway dynasty this is um late 6 early 7th Century this also is from the sway Dynasty the head's missing and uh hands but it's uh also uh bodhisatwa here's another bodhisatwa from sway Dynasty you probably recognize now one of the Heavenly Kings this is Tong Dynasty here's another Tong Dynasty a coffin shaped reliquary with mythical creatures on it okay now this is interesting it's a Buddha statue made of iron found here at Shan it's from the tong Dynasty here's another Buddha from Tong Dynasty huh oh uh Amitabha amaba Amitabha that is this is cool it's a map of Chong an in the tong Dynasty has all the temples listed at the time uh this is taken from a source called a study of the streets and blocks of two Capitals in Tong Dynasty a lot of temples a lot of temples yeah a lot of temples look at this actual model of the city of changan uh in the tong Dynasty if you get close and see some of the buildings very dark in here that's why you have see a flicker here's the is this the tong Palace this is the palace I think uh of the emperor look at those knockers gilded bronze Tina wanted to find a vegetarian place to eat and it turns out that there was a nearby Buddhist temple that has a vegetarian restaurant inside it so we decided to give it a try uh Ting Ting took me to a vegetarian restaurant and uh uh this is the appetizer it's um peas with blueberry topping uh I don't know what the what they did with the peas but it's very interesting and then this is um an almond osmanthus tofu soft tofu uh here so we'll give it a try from uh ke and uh this is a a plum drink that I'm going to try it's cold yeah this is a vegan Mach Pork yeah Mach pork and mushrooms it's a soup vegetarian dumplings what do you think huh look at that our trip through Central China continues next week as we head further west to explore the Rock Cut caves of two amazing sites mishan gratos created during the fourth and fifth centuries and noncon gratos created between the 7th and 9th centuries we also stop at the tomb of jalang famous General and strategist from in the period of the Three Kingdoms if you want to find out about him stay tuned and be sure to subscribe [Music]