Western Xia imperial tombs

Xixia mausoleum is located in the eastern foot of Helan, about 30 kilometers west of Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. It is the Royal Mausoleum of Xixia Dynasty. In the 53 square kilometer mausoleum area, there are nine imperial tombs and 253 accompanying tombs. It is one of the largest existing Imperial Mausoleums with the most complete ground sites in China. It is known as "mysterious miracle" and "Oriental pyramid".

Xixia is a feudal dynasty established in the early 11th century with Dangxiang Qiang as the main body. Since 1038, Li Yuanhao claimed the title of emperor in Xingqing prefecture (Yinchuan City) and founded the country, he was exterminated by Mongolia in 1227. He existed for 189 years in history and experienced 10 generations of emperors. Its territory is "the Yellow River in the East, Yumen in the west, Xiaoguan in the south, desert in the north and more than ten thousand li in the local area". At its peak, it covers an area of about 830000 square kilometers, including the vast areas of Ningxia and Gansu, western Inner Mongolia, Northern Shaanxi, Eastern Qinghai, Eastern Xinjiang and southern Mongolia. In the early stage, it shared equally with the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty, and in the middle and late stage, it stood with the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin tripod, which was described as "one of the three parts of the world, occupying the Northwest for 200 years.".

Western Xia imperial tombs

Xixia mausoleum, also known as Xixia mausoleum and Xixia mausoleum, is the mausoleum of Xixia emperors and royal mausoleums. The mausoleum is located in the west of Yinchuan City, Ningxia, with Helan Mountain in the West and Yinchuan Plain in the East. It is between 1130 and 1200 meters above sea level. It is one of the largest existing Imperial Mausoleums with the most complete ground sites in China. It is also the largest existing Xixia cultural site.

The Western Xia mausoleum was built from the beginning of the 11th century to the beginning of the 13th century. Influenced by Buddhist architecture, Xixia mausoleum organically combines Han culture, Buddhist culture and Dangxiang culture, forming a unique form of mausoleum architecture in China. Among the 119 national key scenic spots in China, Xixia mausoleum is the only one composed of a single emperor mausoleum. It inherited the history of Tuoba family in Xianbei from Pingcheng in Northern Wei Dynasty to Xixia in Dangxiang.

The scenic area covers an area of more than 58 square kilometers, and the core scenic area is 20.9 square kilometers. There are 9 imperial tombs and more than 200 accompanying tombs of princes and princes. The scale of the scenic area is grand and the layout is strict. Each imperial mausoleum is a vertical rectangular independent building group sitting in the north and south, with the same scale as the Ming Tombs. Absorbing the advantages of Tang and song mausoleums since the Qin and Han Dynasties, and influenced by Buddhist architecture, it forms a unique form of Chinese mausoleum architecture, so it is called the Oriental pyramid.

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geographical position

Xixia mausoleum is located in the eastern foot of Helan Mountain, 30km west of Yinchuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The mausoleum starts from quanqigou in the north and ends at yinba highway in the south, about 10km long in the north and 10km long in the south. It is adjacent to the West Main Canal in the East and Helan Mountain in the west, about 5km wide in the East and West, covering a total area of about 50km2. The mausoleum area is located in the east of the southern section of the middle section of Helan Mountain, which is a piedmont alluvial fan zone with an altitude of 1150-1220 meters. The surface is covered with gravel and coarse sand, the bearing capacity of the foundation is large, the water retention is poor, and the natural drainage condition is good. The good foundation enables the Xixia mausoleum to successfully survive many major earthquakes in the history of Northwest China. The mausoleum is located in a place where the annual precipitation is less, and the possibility of flash flood is very low, which is conducive to the overall protection of the mausoleum.

At the beginning of the construction, each cemetery had underground mausoleum, tomb, ground buildings and gardens, covering an area of about 100000 square meters, with the same shape and layout.

Historical evolution

In 1038, Li Yuanhao, the leader of Dangxiang nationality, established Xixia. He buried his grandfather Li Jiqian and his father Li Deming in the eastern foot of Helan Mountain, including Li Jiqian in Yuling and Li Deming in Jialing. Since then, during the existence of Xixia Kingdom, except Shenzong Li zunxu, Xianzong Li Dewang and the last leader Li Xi, each emperor recorded the name of the mausoleum, but did not record the specific location of the burial.

In 1227, Xixia was destroyed by Mongolia. At the end of Xixia, Li Qi, the leader of Xixia, surrendered and was killed soon after. The burial place was unknown, and Xixia perished. Since then, Xixia mausoleum was seriously damaged by the Mongolian army. In Hongwu Period of Ming Dynasty, Xixia mausoleum was discovered by Ming government, and there has been a conclusion that it is Xixia mausoleum.

In 1938, the German pilot ULF Dieter Graf chukast compiled his aerial photos in China into the book "flying in China", in which the tomb of Xixia appeared in the photo taken in Yinchuan.

In 1949, after the founding of the people's Republic of China, the local cultural relics administration once considered the Xixia mausoleum a Tang tomb. In 1972, the State Administration of cultural relics of China officially decided to excavate the tomb of the Xixia emperor. The person in charge of the excavation is Wang yeqiu, and the exhibition hall of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is responsible for the main excavation work of the Xixia mausoleum. As of 2014, it has been confirmed that the owner of tomb No. 7 is Li Renxiao of Renzong of Xixia, and the owner of tomb No. 182 is Anhui of Xianwang Wei of Liang Guozheng. The exact evidence of the identity of the other tomb owners is still under excavation.

In 1988, the Xixia mausoleum was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit and a national key scenic spot,

In 2006, it was listed in the national natural and cultural heritage reserve list of China;

In 2011, the application for xixialing National Archaeological Site Park and world cultural heritage was launched;

In July 2011, the State Administration of cultural heritage and the people's Government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region signed the framework agreement on cooperation and strengthening of cultural heritage work in Ningxia. On this basis, the State Administration of cultural heritage further takes the declaration of Xixia Mausoleum as a key support project in 2015.

In November 2011, the Chinese government officially launched the construction project of Xixia mausoleum world cultural heritage and national archaeological site park.

In 2012, Xixia mausoleum was listed in the preparatory list of China's world cultural heritage by the State Administration of cultural relics.

On April 13, 2018, he was shortlisted for the "magic northwest 100 scenes". At the 2018 China Yellow River Tourism Conference, it was rated as "50 scenes of China's Yellow River".

Mausoleum layout

Overall layout

There are nine Imperial Mausoleums in Xixia mausoleums, which are numbered in 1990

Mausoleums No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 5, No. 7 and No. 9 are located on the plain, while mausoleums No. 4, No. 6 and No. 8 are built on the mountain. Each imperial mausoleum faces south in a vertical rectangle, covering an area of more than 100000 square meters. Although there are three types of outer walls in these mausoleums: open, closed and without outer walls, the inner structure is basically the same, which can be divided into four parts: corner platform, que platform, moon city and Mausoleum City. The ratio of length to width of the outer walls or palace cities of these imperial tombs is 1.5:1.7, which is roughly the same as that of Xingqing city in historical records.

Only nine tombs of Xixia are recorded in historical records, while the tombs of Shenzong Li zunxu, Xianzong Li Dewang, and the last Emperor Li Xi are not recorded in historical records. The remaining three tombs may not have been built due to the chaos of war in the late Xixia, or they may have been leveled by a local construction unit in the 1960s. At least 254 accompanying tombs were distributed in the four areas between these mausoleums. In the area of mausoleum No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9 Where the accompanying tombs are concentrated, archaeologists have cleared up the site of a Xixia ancestral temple.

In addition, there are 16 existing stele Pavilion sites in nine Imperial Mausoleums, including three No. 1 and No. 2 mausoleums, two No. 3 mausoleums, one west stele Pavilion in No. 4 mausoleum, three No. 5 mausoleums, two No. 6 mausoleums and two No. 7 mausoleums. Except for the tower, all the buildings on the ground of No. 8 and No. 9 mausoleums were flattened, so the stele Pavilion no longer exists. According to the regulations and layout of other Mausoleums in Xixia mausoleum area, it is estimated that there were at least two stele pavilions in mausoleums No. 8 and No. 9. In the West Pavilion of No.9 mausoleum, four stone statues were unearthed during the construction of a certain unit in the 1970s.

To the east of the northern part of the mausoleum, there is a large-scale mausoleum building site. The square, roads, courtyards, wells and houses in the site are clearly visible. The layout is very standardized and neat, with a total area of nearly 100000 square meters. There are rammed earth walls around. The city is divided into three parts: the front, the middle and the back. There is a grand hall in the middle of the middle and the back. Other buildings are concentrated in the front and the middle of the city, and form a closed courtyard. A large number of brightly colored green glazed tiles, tube tiles, tiles, dripping water, ridge animals, and other decorative components were excavated from the site, such as milky white or bluish white small white porcelain tiles with ice cracks, Niulang tiles with black glaze on the side, and exquisitely carved stone carvings.

Near Lingyi, on the West Bank of the West Main Canal, Haowang canal and the natural hills on the East and west sides, there are a series of Xixia kilns from north to south, stretching for seven or eight kilometers, covering more than ten places. Among them, there are brick kiln and lime kiln for firing square brick, rectangular brick, strip brick, plate and tube tile, tile, dripping water, glazed ornaments and other building materials. According to the researchers, the kiln site was specially built for firing the building materials of Xixia mausoleum.

In addition to these nine mausoleums, there are also independent mausoleums such as Li zunxu, Li Dewang and Li Xi.

Lingyi site

The site of the Western Xia mausoleum is a rectangular building

Chinese PinYin : Xi Xia Wang Ling