Ancient Silk Road underground tombs museum opens in Xinjiang

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This photo taken on July 15, 2024 shows an exterior view of the Wei and Jin Dynasties Ancient Tombs Site Museum in Kuqa City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. An underground museum of the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) ancient tombs opened on Monday in Kuqa County, an area that previously belonged to the ancient Qiuci State. The Qiuci State, which commenced in the second century BC and existed for more than 1,000 years, was one of the 36 states in the Western Regions, a term used in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) for areas west of the Yumen Pass, including present Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia. This in-situ museum with an exhibition space of 5,000 square meters was built to protect 15 brick tomb chambers discovered in 2007 during the construction of the Youyi Road underground pass. The discovery was one of China's top ten new archaeological discoveries that year. The tomb complex was built in consistence with the Han Dynasty style brick-chambered tombs found in the central China region and along the Hexi Corridor, stretching over a distance of nearly 1,000 kilometers in northwest China's Gansu Province, which is home to five UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 53 grottoes. The museum makes full use of the original appearance of the tombs, as well as digital exhibition, VR technology and touch screens to offer the audience an immersive experience of the ancient Qiuci. (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

About eight meters underneath a bustling street in Kuqa in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a complex of tombs has lain dormant for more than 1,700 years. Today, however, the tombs, which date back to the ancient Silk Road, have been brought back to life thanks to a unique museum.

The underground museum of the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) ancient tombs opened on Monday in Kuqa County, an area that previously belonged to the ancient Qiuci State.

The Qiuci State, which commenced in the second century BC and existed for more than 1,000 years, was one of the 36 states in the Western Regions, a term used in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) for areas west of the Yumen Pass, including present Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia.

This in-situ museum with an exhibition space of 5,000 square meters was built to protect 15 brick tomb chambers discovered in 2007 during the construction of the Youyi Road underground pass. The discovery was one of China's top ten new archaeological discoveries that year.

The tomb complex was built in consistence with the Han Dynasty style brick-chambered tombs found in the central China region and along the Hexi Corridor, stretching over a distance of nearly 1,000 kilometers in northwest China's Gansu Province, which is home to five UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 53 grottoes.

In the tombs, some of the deceased were buried with coins in their hands or mouths, a burial custom also seen in the central China region.

A large cache of pottery and bone ware and coins unearthed from the tombs are also on display in the museum.

"The museum makes full use of the original appearance of the tombs, as well as digital exhibition, VR technology and touch screens to offer the audience an immersive experience of the ancient Qiuci," said Feng Wei, deputy curator of the museum.

According to the Xinjiang regional institute of cultural relics and archaeology, four excavation rounds were carried out from 2007 to 2023 at the site in Kuqa, which led to the discovery of more than 2,000 relic sites. In addition to the tombs, there are wells, cooking stoves and other relics dating from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) up to the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911).

Dang Zhihao, former deputy director of the institute, said that the archaeological project testified that the ancient Qiuci State and central China region had close relations since at least the Han Dynasty, which is powerful evidence of the integration of the Western Regions into the unified multi-ethnic country.