Yinshan Yueguo Mausoleum

Yinshan Yueguo mausoleum cultural tourism area is located in Yinshan, 10 kilometers outside Shaoxing City, in Lanting town. Because it has many similarities with the "Muke tomb" recorded in the yuejueshu in the spring and Autumn period, it is speculated by experts as the tomb of Yue King's chamber. In the spring of 1996, by chance, experts from Zhejiang Provincial Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology and local cultural protection experts stopped by and found a large number of plaster mud, charcoal, coffin wood fragments and obvious traces of tomb robbery.

Yinshan Yueguo Mausoleum

Yinshan Yueguo mausoleum is a national key cultural relic protection unit. It is located on the top of Yinshan Mountain in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province. It is made of rock and faces east. It is a vertical pit tomb with a shape of a nail, which is composed of a passage and a pit. The pit is a rectangular vertical cave, with a length of 46 meters, a width of 14 meters and a depth of 12.4 meters. The four walls are steep and there are no steps.

The tomb of the Yue kingdom in Yinshan is made of large square wood with regular processing, which is in the shape of two slopes. The coffin is placed in the middle room and is a single coffin made of a huge log. The pit bottom is covered with charcoal, the outer coffin is covered with 140 layers of bark, the bark is rammed with charcoal, and the tomb pit is filled with green paste mud.

At the foot of Yinshan Mountain, there are defensive ditches excavated.

archaeological discovery

Yinshan Mausoleum of Yue Kingdom has a large scale and unique shape. The burial custom fully shows the characteristics of the mausoleum system of Yue kingdom. Yinshan Yue mausoleum is the first official excavation and confirmation of Yue mausoleum so far. It is a major discovery of Yue culture archaeology. It is of great significance to deeply understand Yue burial system and promote the study of Yue culture.

Historical records

"Qin palace in the north and Yinshan in the South" -- one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in China in 1998 -- Yinshan Yue Kingdom mausoleum, which has been sleeping underground for 2500 years, has been seen again. At the junction of limucha village, Lanting Town, Shaoxing County, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, and the forest farm of Shaoxing County, there is a special hill, about 300 meters long from east to west, 300 meters wide from south to north, and 24 meters high Yin, commonly known as "Yinshan", is surrounded by rivers and ditches. It is caused by digging when building mounds.

According to historical records, in ancient times, this area was a woodcutting site with dense forests. After Yue was defeated by Wu, many soldiers of Yue cut wood here to pay tribute to Wu. These woodcutters were called "Muke" at that time, so Yinshan was also called "Muke mountain" in the early days.

Relevant experts believe that because the Vietnamese pronunciation of "Muke" and "Mucha" is closer, this is the origin of the name of Mucha village.

Cultural relic value

On the Yinshan Mountain in Mucha village, a Muke tomb, which has been sleeping underground for about 2500 years (according to the scientific determination of carbon 14), is the tomb of the Yue kingdom. After nearly two years of excavation by Zhejiang Provincial Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology and Shaoxing County Institute of cultural relics protection and administration, it has been seen again.

Some experts assert that the age of the huge square trees that built the wooden coffin of Yinshan Yuewang mausoleum is more than 1000 years. It's not hard to imagine that more than 2000 years ago, Shaoxing had a large area of lush virgin forest. In the spring and Autumn Period 2500 years ago, an outstanding king, Gou Jian, was born. He not only built the capital of Shaoxing, but also played a heroic role in the war between Wu and Yue. His story of "lying on one's salary, tasting one's courage, revenging one's hatred" has become a spiritual example of the nation's indignation and striving for strength.

Yinshan mausoleum is rare in the world for its large scale, reasonable structure, unique shape, magnificent momentum and well preserved. The rescue excavation of it reproduces the splendid ancient Yue culture more than 2500 years ago. Domestic cultural relic authorities believe that the value of Yinshan Yue mausoleum is comparable to that of Qin mausoleum. Therefore, it has the reputation of "Qin palace in the north and Yinshan Mountain in the South". These eight words fully summarize the extremely high cultural value of Yinshan Yue King Mausoleum.

Layout structure

According to the yuejueshu, "Muke's tomb is the tomb of Goujian's father.". Muke Otsuka reappeared, and experts from all over the country were shocked. Muke Otsuka has been more than 2500 years away from us. However, it is a miracle that the wooden structure of Otsuka is so well preserved.

The whole mausoleum passes through the long and wide passage and goes down the wooden ladder to the chamber. The chamber is divided into three chambers: the front, the middle and the back. There are steps between the chambers. The chambers are all made of huge rectangular wood, and the sides of each wooden brace are painted.

The bottom is laid horizontally with rectangular wood, and the two sides of the bottom are braced with rectangular wood. The shape of the wooden coffin is triangular. The wood of the wooden coffin is more than 80 cm in diameter, and the top is covered with hardwood. The scale of the tomb is huge, with a length of more than 30 meters, a bottom width of nearly 5 meters, and a height of more than 4 meters.

A large wooden coffin, 6.10 meters long, 1.10 meters wide and 0.40 meters high, is placed in the center of the tomb. The coffin is carved with a single wood. The rectangular wood inside and outside the coffin and in the tomb is painted on three sides. Some parts of the coffin are still painted like mirrors.

The scale

The mausoleum of the kingdom of Yue is not only large in scale, but also scientific and exquisite in filling and antiseptic measures. The first part of the tomb is covered with about 140 layers of bark. The hard bark of more than 20 cm is filled with a layer of charcoal about 1 meter thick. Then, the whole curtain pit is filled with a lot of green clay. According to reports, a layer of 1.65 meters thick charcoal was also laid on the bottom of the tomb. On the top of the tomb, before excavation, there was an oval mound 70 meters long, 35 meters wide and 10 meters high. It is these layers of "barriers" that make this single wooden coffin last about 2500 years and basically remain intact.

The pit of the tomb is more than 20 meters deep, with ramming layers one by one, and the ramming pit is very obvious. From the top of the earth to the bottom of the tomb, it is as high as 30 meters. This structure is the first time found in China. The moat, which can only be used in the tombs of kings and emperors, is also well preserved around Muke tombs. At the four corners of Yinshan, there is still clear water around them. According to archaeologists, it is rare to find such a well preserved moat as Yinshan.

unearthed relic

Although the Muke tombs were stolen and some of the wooden components were damaged, they were well preserved and some of them were painted black and shiny. More than 40 pieces of cultural relics were unearthed from the tomb, such as jade, jade sword, stone tools, lacquerware and bronze ware. Among them are bronze tools for digging rocks and wooden tools for ramming earth. (judging from these two tools, it took at least more than ten years to build a mausoleum of this scale under the condition of very low productivity at that time). All of them are priceless treasures. In particular, the single wooden coffin, which is more than 6 meters long and more than 1 meter in diameter, is carved for the whole tree. It is also like a single wooden boat. It can be said to be a treasure among treasures. Only more than 40 pieces of the above-mentioned relics were found when the tomb room was cleaned up. It's hard to imagine whether Yunchang's remains and funerary objects were looted by previous grave robbers or for other reasons. It is said that the single wooden coffin was the most commonly used burial utensil in the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. But I have never heard of a single coffin as big as the Muke grave.

Historical witness

Experts believe that, in fact, the whole tomb is an extremely precious and valuable cultural relic. It is not only a witness to the 2500 year history of Guyue, but also a crystallization of the wisdom of the Chinese nation!

Address: Lanting Town, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province

Longitude: 120.511503

Latitude: 29.933029

Tel: 0575-84602771

Transportation information: Transportation: take the west line of sightseeing bus at the railway station or the long-distance passenger transport center, and take No.3 bus directly.

Ticket information: 18 RMB

Opening hours: 8:30-17:30

Chinese PinYin : Yin Shan Yue Guo Wang Ling