Treasures of Zhongshan Kingdom tombs on display at Minhang museum

In the popular Chinese classic literature "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms," Liu Bei (AD 161-223), Emperor of the Shu Kingdom, frequently claimed that he was a descendant of the king of Zhongshan Kingdom, the King Jing, or Liu Sheng (?-113 BC), who made the royal family of the Zhongshan Kingdom a household name in China.

Till August 25, "The Long-cherished Han Dynasty," an exhibition of selected cultural relics of the Han royal family, especially funeral objects unearthed from tombs of the Zhongshan Kingdom royal family, is on display at Minhang Museum.

The Zhongshan Kingdom of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220) became a fief after the pacification of the "Rebellion of Seven Countries" in roughly today's Dingzhou City in north China's Hebei Province.

The exhibited items include tomb objects with Liu Sheng, the King Huai or Liu Xiu (?-AD 55); and the King Jian, or Liu Yan (AD 39-90).

Clothes and food utensils of generations of the Zhongshan Kingdom kings were tokens of their authorities and power.

Bronzeware making, and gold and silver smithing techniques were in their peak during the Han Dynasty. Some bronzeware was even used by ordinary households.

Among the exhibited items is a bronze pot with delicate and complex patterns of animals and birds decorating its body.

"The patterns are actually a special art character style in ancient China – the Bird Seal Script, a variant of the seal script, with some deformation on characters and some bird decorations on it," said Xu Di, head of the publicity and education department of Minhang Museum.

"The wordings surrounding the pot roughly convey a blessing to encourage people to drink another cup of wine," Xu added.

In Han, people highly regarded elaborate funerals and treated their tombs as afterlife dwellings, a symbol of their identity and wealth. Jade utensils account for the majority of the unearthed funeral objects from that period and the most unique among them is a jade burial suit, or jade casket or case.

A jade burial suit is also nicknamed the Chinese version of a mummy, while its weaving skills were affected by that of armor. So far, a total of 14 jade burial suits of the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 25) have been unearthed in China, all of them belonging to emperors or aristocrats.

A treasured gilded gold and copper thread jade casket belonging to King Liu Yan is on display during this exhibition.

"The jade burial suits in the Han Dynasty usually reveal a tomb owner's rank. In the earlier Western Han Dynasty, both vassal kings and emperors of the dynasty were allowed to use gilded golden colored jade caskets. Later, in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220), vassal kings were only allowed to use gilded silver colored jade cases," Xu explained.

The exhibition features multimedia techniques, such as a multimedia restoration of an army tent unearthed from the tomb of Liu Sheng.

"The Long-cherished Han Dynasty" is the third exhibition on the Han Dynasty held in the Minhang Musuem, following the Mawangdui Han tombs exhibition and the Marquis Haihun tomb exhibition.

"The characters of the exhibitions are even related to each other," Xu said. "Marquis Dai Licang of the Mawangdun Han tombs exhibition was a general of Emperor Liu Bang (256-195 BC), the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. The grandson of Liu Bang was the father of Liu Sheng and Liu Che (156-87 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. And Marquis Haihun was the grandson of Emperor Wu."

They together portrayed a historic landscape of the grand Han Dynasty," Xu added.

Hours: Through August 25, 9:30am- 4:30pm, Tuesdays-Sundays

Venue: Minhang Museum

Address: 1538 Xinzhen Rd

新镇路1538号