Page 490 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

The great cosmopolitan city of Xi'an was peopled as well by the foreign traders who sup-
plied the demands of the elite, missionaries from a variety of faiths, mercenaries (who made up
much of the imperial guard), those responsible for the care of the imperial stables, innumerable
envoys coming to pay their respects, and vast numbers of entertainers of every imaginable type.

The contents of two tombs excavated in Xi'an reveal much about the hereditary aristocracy
in this city during the late seventh and early eighth century CE. The earlier of the two was a

double tomb excavated in August 1991 in Xinzhuxiang, in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an. It was
built between 689 and 690 for Yu Yin, an official who served both in the Tang dynasty and
during the reign of Wu Zetian. He died in 689 when he was about 49 and was interred in the
tomb in 690. His wife, the princess Jinxiang, died in 722 and was interred in the tomb in 724^
The tomb contains the epitaphs of both its occupants. From them we know that Yu Yin
came from a line of important military figures, served in the military as a judicial adjutant
and was given an honorary military title at his death. He was a resident of Luoyang, the capital
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during the Zhou interregnum, and the second of the great Tang cities. The fact that he was
buried in Xi'an reveals how powerful the attraction of that city had become to the aristocracy.
Indeed, the suburbs of the Tang capital where the wealthy lived are termed the "five tomb
towns" in contemporary poetry. 3
The epitaph for Jinxiang states that she was the third daughter of Li Yuanying, who was
given the title Tengwang (King of Teng, a largely honorary title). Her paternal grandfather was
Li Yuan — Tang Gaozu, the founder of the Tang dynasty. It is noteworthy that Jinxiang was
given the rank of xianzhu, district princess, rather than gongzhu, imperial princess, even though
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she was a direct descendent of Tang Gaozu. Most excavated tombs of Tang princesses of the
imperial line are single, making this double burial an anomaly that may reflect her lower

rank. The interval between the death and burial of the husband and that of the wife is also
unusually long. 5
Through stylistic and typographic analysis, as well as other criteria, Chinese experts have
sought to distinguish the objects placed in the tomb when it was constructed in 690 from
those placed in the tomb at the time of the burial of the princess in 724. They have concluded
that the basic structure of the tomb, the tomb paintings, and a small number of the objects
were created in or before 690; a stone outer coffin and many of the funerary ceramics date to
the time of the princess' burial. Many of the objects interred with Yu Yin were apparently re-
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placed during the princess' burial with others more suited for her higher status. Ten of these
objects — two groups ofmingqi (funerary figurines) — are illustrated here (cats. 170-171).
Given the period and the princess' distinguished lineage, the fact that all but a few of the
pottery funeral objects are painted, rather than glazed, is unusual. By the end of the seventh

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