Zhuran Cemetery

Zhu Ran Cemetery, located in Yushan Township, south of the urban area, is the tomb of Zhu Ran, a general of the Three Kingdoms Soochow. Excavated in June 1984, many precious cultural relics were unearthed, and some lacquer wares filled the gap in the art history of the Three Kingdoms, and was listed as one of the top ten archaeological discoveries in China in the 1980s. There is a museum of cultural relics in the cemetery. The exhibition hall is an antique building in the style of the Han Dynasty. The museum is based on the tomb body, simple and dignified. The middle part of the hall in the museum is a tomb, and a coffin is placed in the cave. There are cultural relics unearthed from the tomb, pictures of Zhu Ran's tomb research, and Chinese and foreign documents. During the visit, tourists can appreciate the social style of the Three Kingdoms period more than 1700 years ago. The tomb passage is located in the south of the tomb pit and is stepped, with a total of 26 steps and a slope of 19 degrees. The tomb passage is 9.10 meters long, and the soil color is the same as that of the seal. The tomb pit is under the sealing soil, the upper mouth is 35 cm deep from the ground, and the shape of the tomb pit is irregular. The bottom of the pit is slightly smaller than the mouth of the pit, and it is 3.60 meters deep from the upper mouth of the tomb. The walls of the tomb are not smooth, and the pits are filled with gray-white soil. The tomb is located in the middle of the tomb pit and is built with bricks. Measured from the outside, the total length is 8.70 meters and the width is 3.54 meters. The floor tiles inside are paved with herringbone patterns, and the walls are laid in the "three-shun-one-ding" method. The "four-corner coupon entry" dome is lowered, and the altar is built with two layers of bricks on the left and right sides. A lacquered wooden coffin was placed in the room as a burial for his wife and concubines. The passage between the front and rear chambers is located on the left, and the shape and method of building are the same as the corridor. In the back room is a lacquered wooden coffin slightly larger than the front room, which is the burial utensil of the tomb owner Zhu Ran. The inner and outer surfaces of the wooden coffin are covered with a layer of linen, which is painted greasy. Black lacquer is used on the outside of the coffin, and red lacquer is used inside. More than 140 burial objects were unearthed in Zhu Ran's tomb, including lacquered wood, porcelain, pottery, and bronze, among which lacquered wood accounted for about 57 percent. Many lacquerware are painted with stories of characters and patterns of flora and fauna.