History
Tombs from the Spring and Autumn Period belonging to the dukes of the Jin state in Houma were discovered in which the body was covered with small jade pieces once interwoven with silk.
When Chimei rebels raided Emperor Gaozu's tomb in the second century CE, they found the bodies of the emperor and empress intact; as such, empress Lü Zhi was posthumously humiliated.
For many years, many archaeologists believed that jade burial suits did not really exist and were only myths or legends. The discovery in 1968 of two complete jade suits in the tombs of Liu Sheng and Dou Wan in Mancheng, Hebei, finally proved their existence. The jade suits of Liu Sheng and Dou Wan consisted of 2,498 plates of solid jade connected with two and a half pounds of gold wires.
In 1973, a jade burial suit belonging to Prince Huai of the Western Han Dynasty was discovered in Dingxian, Hebei. It consisted of 1,203 pieces of jade and 2,580 grams of gold thread.
In 1983, a jade suit was found in the tomb of Zhao Mo, the second king of Southern Yue, in Guangzhou. The red silk thread used to bind the 2,291 jade plates represented Zhao Mo's immersion into local culture. It is exhibited in the local Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King.
It is now believed that jade burial suits were actually relatively common among the wealthiest aristocrats of the Han Dynasty, but that over the years most have been lost due to the activities of grave robbers.
Read more about this topic: Jade Burial Suit
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