Maoling Mausoleum

The Maoling Mausoleum is grand in scale, and it is the biggest mausoleum among the imperial mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty. Around the Maoling Mausoleum scatter the satellite tombs of the emperor's concubines, maids-in-waiting, ministers, and royal relatives. There are still more than 20 tombs extant, including the tombs of Wei Qing, Huo Guang, Huo Qubing, and Jin Ribei. Many cultural relics were found in this area, such as the fancy black jade knocker-holder with patterns of animals, the steel rhinoceros wine vessel with patterns of clouds, and large airbricks and tiles carved with characters, patterns of the red sparrow, dragon, and geometrical design. Now hundreds of the unearthed cultural relics found in the mausoleum are on display in the Maoling Mausoleum Museum.

The Maoling Mausoleum was the tomb of Emperor Wudi in the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD). Emperor Wudi (156-87BC) of the Han Dynasty, named Liu Che, was the son of Emperor Jingdi. During the 54 years of his reign, he greatly expanded the territory. As an emperor with great achievements in Chinese history, he governed the nation smoothly and reinforced his power. In the second year of his reign, Emperor Wudi began to build the Maoling Mausoleum, which took 53 years to finish.

The mausoleum is square and consists of the inner and outer city, with an abounding wall around it. The rampart is 431 meters long from the east to the west and 415m from the south to the north. The wall base is 5.8m wide; the gates are situated in the middle of the four walls. The cover tumulus is 46.5m high, 231m long from the east to the west, and 234m long from the south to the north. According to the historical record, the funeral objects were quite abundant, including gold and silver, birds and beasts, fish and turtles, cattle, horses, tigers, leopards, etc. There were altogether 290 kinds of animals in the mausoleum. Some maids-in-waiting were also put in the mausoleum. Besides, the jade box, jade crutch, and a gold box full of 30 volumes of classics that Emperor Wudi had read were buried together with them. When Emperor Wudi was buried, the funerary objects had already chalked up the space of the coffin chamber, leaving no room for any other stuff.

Travel Tips

The Maoling Mausoleum is not far away from Xianyang, so you can either live in the hotels in Xianyang, such as Rainbow Hotel, Rainbow Hostel, or live in the small hotels run by the local people near the Maoling, where you can get cheap accommodation and taste typical snacks. But you should keep in mind that living in local small hotels will depend on the seasons.

The stone carve in front of the Tomb of Huo Qubing [140-117BC, a very outstanding and brave general in the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24)] is the best one of that time. It is strongly recommended.

You can take the long-distance buses from the passenger's station in the west of the city with the direction of Xingping to the intersection of Maoling Museum, the ticket is 6 yuan. But you should take tricycles for another 5 km, with 3-4 yuan’s charge, then you can get to the museum, the ticket is 28.00 yuan. Return route: There are so many buses from Baoji to Xi’an with charges from 6-8 yuan. You could take anyone to get back to Xi’an Railway Station.