Page 452 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

their bronze vessels, abandoned Chang'an, and set up a new capital further east, in Luoyang.
In the Tang dynasty, when Luoyang was again the alternative capital, the event that precipitated
the burial of hoards of precious objects was the rebellion of An Lushan in 755 CE, which
brought to a close the prosperous reign of Xuanzong, Emperor Ming (r. 712-756), who himself
had to flee to Sichuan, far to the west.
The Hejiacun hoard, consisting of 270 items of gold and silver, packed into two large pot-
tery jars and one silver jar and deposited in a pit, was found on land that in the Tang dynasty,
5
according to Wei Shu, had been the residence of Li Shouli, Prince of Bin in the Xinghua ward,
just to the west of the center of Chang'an and three blocks south of the imperial city. Li Shouli
6
was the second son of Li Xian, Prince Zhanghuai, the sixth son of Emperor Gaozong. Prince
Zhanghuai's own residence in the Anding ward, in the northwestern part of Chang'an, close to
the palace, became the Qianfusi (Monastery of a Thousand Felicities) in 673, but it brought
little good fortune to its owner who, suspected by Empress Wu of plotting to usurp the throne,
was exiled to Sichuan, where he was forced to commit suicide in 684. His three sons were
thrown into prison for more than ten years. Decades later, Li Shouli could forecast the weather
from the aches in his back from the regular beatings he had suffered. In 706, following the
death of Empress Wu, Prince Zhanghuai's remains were brought back to Chang'an by his father,
and reburied in a large tomb with splendid murals of hunting and polo playing, which was exca-
vated in 1972. Li Shouli's claims to the succession were thought to be stronger than those of the
heir apparent, but he and others were appointed to "high ceremonial offices with no real power
7
at court." His household numbered more than sixty persons, none of them of any distinction;
he himself was dissolute, and seemed not to be concerned about his debts, saying to his critics,
"Was there ever an emperor's brother who was not given a funeral?" 8 Prophetic words perhaps,
since the splendid gold and silver vessels now associated with his name come not from his

tomb, which has not been found, but from a hoard. RW

1 Chen 1992, includes good maps of Tang Chang'an (152) 5 Wei 1935.
and the Guanzhong plain (4-5). 6 Liu Xu 1975, 2831-2832,
2 Wei 1935 7 Twitchett 1979, 372.
3 Wang Gongwu, editor's note to Wei 1935 8 Liu Xu 1975, 2833.
4 Chen 1992, map at pages 4-5.

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