[2025 Baoding Attraction] Travel Guide for Mancheng Han Tomb (Updated Mar)

| Hebei Museum. The predecessor of Hebei Museum was the Hebei Provincial Museum, which was established in 1953 and located in the ancient Lotus Pond in Baoding. It was relocated to Shijiazhuang in 1982, 14 years after Shijiazhuang became the capital of Hebei Province. In 2014, Hebei Museum was officially opened in Shijiazhuang, ending the history of Hebei Provincial Museum using the Provincial Exhibition Hall as its office. The main campus of Hebei Museum is located in the Cultural Square of Shijiazhuang. The north campus, built in 1968, and the newly expanded south campus complement each other. There are also the Jianhua and Yucai campuses, which serve as storage for cultural relics. The total construction area exceeds 60,000 square meters. The museum has a total of 210,000 cultural relics, which is considered rich and abundant in China. In Hebei, there is a saying that "a Han tomb is enough to fill the Hebei Museum." This Han tomb is the tomb of Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan in the Western Han Dynasty, discovered in Mancheng County, Baoding, Hebei in 1968. The gold-threaded jade suit of Liu Sheng, the Changxin Palace Lantern, the Boshan Furnace inlaid with gold, the bronze sheep lamp, and the large bronze tripod with iron feet, all unearthed from the Mancheng Han Tomb, have become representative collections of Hebei Museum.

In the Mancheng Han Tombs, national treasures such as the Boshan Incense Burner inlaid with gold, the Jade Burial Suit sewn with gold thread, the Changxin Palace Lamp, the Bronze Kettle with Coiled Dragon Pattern, and the Vermilion Bird Cup have been unearthed, setting multiple national records. Four gold needles, five silver needles, a "medical basin," as well as small silver funnels, bronze medicine spoons, medicine measures, and bronze surgical knives constitute the best-preserved, earliest, and most complete medical instruments from the Western Han Dynasty unearthed to date. The bronze water clock timer is the earliest ancient astronomical instrument unearthed so far; a composite grinder made of stone mill and large bronze funnel is the largest and earliest composite grain processing tool made of bronze and stone seen in China so far; A glass plate and two glass ear cups are the earliest domestically produced glass containers discovered in archaeology so far... The belt hook, an object used to fasten belts, first appeared in the late Western Zhou Dynasty. The most common styles of belt hooks in the Han Dynasty include beast-face shapes, curved rod shapes, pipa shapes, and irregular hooks. The jade awl was a tool used to untie knots, which later gradually evolved into a waist ornament, first discovered at the Liangzhu cultural site. The jade pendants of the Han Dynasty have been simplified. Jade dancers first appeared in the Warring States period and were popular among noblewomen's ornaments in the Han Dynasty. The thumb ring, a tool worn on the thumb for drawing a bowstring, appeared as late as the late Shang Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, it evolved into a decorative thumb ring pendant. Both men and women could wear it, commonly known as "chicken heart pendant" or "heart-shaped pendant." The incense burner appeared no later than the Warring States period and became popular in the Han Dynasty. The main incense used was mugwort, also known as xun grass or hui grass, and sometimes medicinal materials such as galangal and magnolia were mixed with mugwort for burning. Every August, the emperor would offer sacrifices at the Tai Temple, and the kings and marquises had to contribute gold according to the population of their fiefs to assist in the sacrifices, known as "zhoujin." The "zhoujin law" had strict regulations on the quantity and quality of the gold offered. The five-zhu coin was used for over 700 years from the Han to the Sui Dynasty, making it the longest-used currency in ancient China. According to the Han system, 24 zhu made one liang, with one zhu approximately equal to 0.65 grams. The five-zhu coin began circulating in the fifth year of Emperor Wu of Han's reign (118 BC). Initially, the coins were minted by various local prefectures and kingdoms. In 113 BC, the minting rights were centralized, and the three officials of Shanglin (the Bell Officer, the Copper Officer, and the Skill Officer under the Water Balance Commandery of the Western Han) were exclusively responsible for minting, known as "three-official coins."

Mancheng Han Tombs, also known as the Tomb of King Jing of Zhongshan, are located in Mancheng District, Baoding City, Hebei Province, about 30 kilometers from the center of Baoding City. They are the tombs of Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan during the Western Han Dynasty, and his wife Dou Wan. Discovered in the 1960s during the excavation of a tunnel, the tombs revealed the burial structure and system of the princely kings of the Western Han period, and also featured ingeniously designed anti-theft and drainage systems. Liu Sheng was a son of Emperor Jing of Han, the half-brother of Emperor Wu of Han, and the first King of Zhongshan, living during the heyday of the Han Dynasty. The luxurious and extravagant burial goods, which are well-preserved, reflect the highly developed material culture of the time and represent the pinnacle of Han Dynasty handicrafts and artistry. Among them, the jade burial suit sewn with gold thread, the Changxin Palace lantern, and the gilded bronze Boshan incense burner are precious cultural relics that are all housed in the Hebei Provincial Museum. No wonder there is a saying that the Mancheng Han Tombs have contributed to half of the Hebei Provincial Museum's collection.