Tomb of Prince Yide

Prince Yide, named Li Chongrun, was the grandson of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty, and the first son of Emperor Zhong Zong. In the 1st year of the Dazu reign, he and his sister, Princess Yongtai, were killed by Wu Zetian. After Emperor Zhongzong resumed his throne, the tomb of Prince Yide was moved here from Luoyang City in the 2nd year (706) of the Shenlong reign, and he was buried in the Qianling Mausoleum. 

In the graveyard there are still incomplete bounding wall and the tomb, to the south of which are two earthen watchtowers, with stone lions, stone human statues and ornamental columns in pairs in front of them. The underground construction of the tomb consists of the tomb path, 6 passage holes, 7 dooryards, 8 closets, the front and the rear corridors and the front and rear coffin chambers. The graveyard is altogether 100 meters long. The corridor and the coffin chamber are built of bricks. A stone coffin is in the rear chamber, and is carved with refined woman images. 

The frescos are painted in the tomb all over, and the picture of the prince's honor guard with chains of mountains as the background is painted in the east and west sides of the wall beside the tomb path. In the picture, the buildings constructed at the foot of the mountains are splendid in green and golden colors. The grand rampart is besides the building. A honor guard consisted of 196 people is below the rampart, and falls into three parts -- infantry, cavalry and wagons, holding many banners and flags. All these show the brilliant status of Prince Yide. The passage holes are painted with patterns of tamed leopards, eagles, snipes and maids-in-waiting. On the dooryards there are pictures describing excursions in carriages. The picture of astronomical phenomena is painted in the roof of the rear chamber. In total there are 40 frescos. Although the grave had been robbed in early years, there are still 1,000 pieces of unearthed funeral objects, including pottery tomb figures, tri-colored tomb figures, wooden tomb figures, gold-plated trappings and so on. They are arranged according to the bands and honor guards. Furthermore, 11 pieces of marble mourning brochures were discovered, with intaglio inscriptions in regular script. They are the earliest and relatively costly mourning brochures extant.