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Large Ancient Tomb to Attract Tourists
A tourist attraction will be built at Yangling, the burial site of Liu Qi, the fourth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.), near the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
The project will cost about one billion yuan and cover an area of 193 hectares, local sources said.
When construction work is completed in five years, visitors will be able to see various cultural sites and relics, as well as an underground museum.
The tomb was unearthed in September 1999. The many pits associated with the emperor's tomb contain large quantities of colored pottery animals as well as terra-cotta warriors and horses.
"This is the largest collection of pottery animals ever unearthed since the founding of the People's Republic of China," said Zhao Dequan, vice governor of Shaanxi.
In recent years, 90 burial pits have been discovered in the 12- square-kilometer rectangular cemetery.
On the eastern side of the cemetery, there are 28 pits containing terra-cotta sheep, dogs, pigs, infantrymen, cavalrymen, chariots and horses.
The 21 pits along both the northern and western sides contain large numbers of articles for daily use, as well as cavalrywomen. In addition, archeologists have discovered 10,000 burial pits in a 3.5-square-kilometer cemetery one kilometer east of Liu Qi's tomb. Over 5,000 cultural relics have been unearthed from 280 pits.
Other excavation include the discovery of China's earliest chessboard and the largest tile made in the Han Dynasty at the ruins of the Sanchu Gate.
Chinese experts describe the current discovery at Yangling as the country's most comprehensive excavation of an imperial tomb built during the Han Dynasty.
Public bidding for designing and construction of the tourist area has already begun.
Local government will give awards to four people with the best design plans for the project.
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