The Tomb of the King of Nanyue

The Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum is situated on the Jiefang North Road of Guangzhou, on the Xianggang Hill which is to the west of Yuexiu Park. The tomb is so far the largest color-painting stone tomb of Southern China. The Tomb was buried 20 meters below the Xianggang Hill and there are seven chambers. It was discovered in June 1983 and has been considered as one of the five top archaeological discoveries of China during these years.

The whole museum occupies an area of 14,000 square meters, with the tomb as the center. The three-floor building to the east of the tomb is the Comprehensive Exhibition Building and the two-floor Main Exhibition Building lies in the north. These three constructions are connected as a whole by corridors. There are altogether 10 exhibition halls which cover an area of over 4,800 square meters. It is a nice place for visitor to learn the history of Guangzhou and it has been selected as one of the 80 world famous museums.

The tomb is actually the tomb of Zhao Mo, who was the grandson of the founding father of Nanyue Kingdom-Zhao Tuo. The Nanyue Kingdom (203BC-111BC) was a vassal state established in southern China area during the Western Han Dynasty. In 214 BC when the Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified the whole nation he set up three counties in Southern China, namely the Guilin County, Xiang County and Nanhai County. And current Guangzhou was the capital city of that region. After the downfall of the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC), Zhao Tuo, the governor of Nanhai County launched a battle and annexed the other two counties. Thus he founded the Nanyue Kingdom. After lasting for five generations of emperors, the kingdom was defeated by the powerful troops led by Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty.