Emperor Gao (born Liu Bang) was the life-long rival of and man who defeated the tragic Hegemon King in one of the greatest wars in Chinese history. Before he rose to power, he suffered many defeats both at the hands of the king and Qin Dynasty officials. He was often forced to retreat.
One of his famous escapes occurred in Huang Cang Yu, literally meaning royal hidden hill, now a national park in Suzhou. According to legend he hid in a cave and prayed that Qin soldiers would not find him. He hoped the cave would be hidden better and then a great stone fell from the sky to cover the cave opening; he hoped a spider web would confuse his enemies and a magical spider arose and began to spin. It is a typical legend demonstrating how an emperor arose and was helped by supernatural power.
The 300-meter hill isn't very challenging to climb but it features beautiful scenery and many varieties of trees, some hundreds of years old. It also contains many caves of various sizes, including the one where the future emperor is said to have hidden, as well as springs and small streams that suddenly appear and disappear, constantly bringing pleasant surprises.
The city's museum contains a section on the Grand Canal of China containing mostly excavated porcelain and a section on the Han Dynasty containing stone sculptures unearthed from local tombs.
The long Warring States Period (476-221 BC) was a time of turbulence and the short Qin Dynasty was marked by heavy taxes and draft of workers to build the Great Wall and other projects. The country finally settled down in the Han Dynasty.
The country developed quickly, both economically and culturally, and people began to have the leisure and money to enjoy art and invest in their tombs. It was around that time that people began to regard the after-life as one of luxury and a better life than the earthly existence. Even ordinary families tried to invest in tombs.
Many tombs in the region have been discovered, some with grand stone gates and carved roofs and walls; carved scenes represented vivid stories. In some wall carvings, the lower half features scenes of mundane toil and field work, while the upper half features scenes of a heavenly after-life in which the departed listen to music and play with legendary creatures, such as the phoenix.
Stone sculptures from the Han Dynasty inherited the minimalist aesthetics of the Warring States Period and artists summarized them into a systematic style that defined the basic principles and characteristics of Chinese painting, the city museum's tour guide Wang says.
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