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Historically China is well known for things like the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City, Chinese Kung Fu, its colorful culture and of course its superb china ware and silk, but not very well known for its Pyramids.

China has a large number of pyramids, possibly over a 100. Most of them are located in a 70-mile area around the city of Xi'an. This has mostly been unknown by the outside world, even by a large number of Chinese people because these so-called Chinese pyramids are actually trapezoidal burial mounds of ancient Chinese emperors and their shapes far different from the pyramids in Egypt.

These ancient royal tombs look like pyramids in satellite images but more like huge artificial earth hills in reality.

Maoling Mausoleum Pyramid
Christ Maier believed that this particular Chinese pyramid mound in the photo is the Maoling Mausoleum (茂陵) of Emperor Wu of Western Han Dynasty in Wulingyuan of Xianyang City mentioned above.

Emperor Wu of Han (汉武帝, 156-87 BC) is regarded as one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history due to his leadership and achievements. The well-known Silk Road was developed at his reign after he sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions to connect China with those countries there.

Highlights of Maoling Mausoleum or Mao Mausoleum:

The largest in scale of all royal tombs of Western Han Dynasty with over 400 proven burial pits.
Its construction took the longest time of all Western Han Dynasty imperial tombs, which started on the second year Emperor Wu ascended the throne and lasted for 53 years.
Cost the most among all royal Western Han tombs, which is said to be one third of annually total national taxes of the time.
The only one with well-preserved large Western Han stone carvings.

Maoling Mausoleum Museum (or Maoling Museum)
In 1956 the Maoling Cultural Relics Office was set up and upgraded to the Maoling Mausoleum Museum in 1979. With over 4,100 cultural objects, Maoling Museum currently has two rooms for artifacts exhibition, one hall telling the story of Emperor Wu, and six bungalows showing stone carvings.

If you plan to tour Xi’an on a leisure schedule, it’s worth taking half day to explore Maoling scenic spot comprising of earthern pyramids, pagodas, gardens, as well as Maoling Museum to discover early stage Chinese culture and retrace the prosperity of Western Han Dynasty during Emperor Wu’s reign from the countless priceless treasures and historical masterpieces of great archeological importance.

Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Pyramid
The oldest and largest pyramid in China is regarded as the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Qin Shi Huang). Qin Shi Huang began construction on his mausoleum in 246 BC shortly after he ascended to the throne at age of 13 and it was still being expanded for 36 years after his death.

Archaeologists concluded that Qin Shi Huang tomb pyramid with 9 layers of earth above ground had an original height of 115 meters, and shrunk to 76 meters due to weathering process. Its vast inverted pyramid underground palace of the same size as the one above ground is the core of the entire architecture. The pyramid itself has never been excavated by now due to limited scientific excavation and protection technologies.

The pyramid tomb of Qin Shi Huang is guarded by the famous life-size Terracotta Army, the Eighth Wonder of the World to protect Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife.

First Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang 秦始皇, 259 - 210 BC) was the founder of the Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 BC) and unified the ancient China for the first time. The construction of the Great Wall of China, one of the greatest miracles in the world was begun during his reign.

The other mounds are imperial burial sites from later eras, mainly the Western and Eastern Han Dynasty (A.A. 24-221). Best estimates are that the newly "discovered" pyramid is at least 2000 years old. Few of the pyramids have ever been explored by western tourists.





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