A Research Of The Influence Of The Chu Culture On The Tombs Of The Central Anhui Erea In Western Han Dynasty

In the1930s, The tomb of King Chu, which was in Li Sangudui,Zhu Jiajiao town,Shou country Anhui province was stolen and the vessels of the Chu Dynasty are spread among the people. Then people began to be acquainted with the vessels of the Chu culture which leads to the research boom of the Chu culture. The tombs of Li Sangudui which is the first finding of Chu tombs in Anhui province can go back to1930s. This finding draw much attention of the archaeologists. This tom is the largest one with the highest standard and the richest funeral objects of the Chu toms that have ever been found. Four thousand fine cultural relics were unearthed. Which draw attention of the archeologists and historians from China and abroad and lead to the starting of the research of the Chu culture. From the1930s to latest days, the development of the finding and research of the tombs of the Chu culture in Anhui province is sustainable. According to the incomplete statistics, the number of the tombs of the Chu culture that had been unearthed in Anhui province whether it is small or big is approximately500. Two hundred of them can be found on historical statistics and most of them belong to the warring states. This is consistent with the-development of the development of the Chu Dynasty in Anhui province. While the number of unearthed tombs is not in a large standard, most of them have great research and academic value and provide material objects of the study of the Chu culture. With the findings of the tombs of the Chu culture and the researches of the Chu culture, the findings and researches of the tombs of the Han Dynasty in Anhui province started from1950s. The typical tombs of Han dynasty especially Western Han dynasty in Anhui province are mostly in central Anhui etc those areas that Huaihe valley going through. Through comparative study between the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty and the tombs of the Chu culture in Anhui province, it can be concluded that the tombs of the Western Dynasty are affected by the Chu culture in a great point. This report is based on the study of the statistics of the tombs of the Chu culture during the period of the warring states and the tombs of the Han Dynasty in central Anhui province. The tombs of the Chu culture in Anhui fall into two categories:A type and B type according to the standard whether the tombs have road or not. The two types both have three subtypes based on the differences of the structure and the building process of the tombs. In this report the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty fall into four categories:vertical tombs, the stone tomb, the stone and brick tomb and the brick tomb, based on the differences of the building materials and building process.Based on the study of the characteristics of the tombs of the two periods and the comparative study of the unearthed vessels, this report makes a detailed analysis of the influence of the Chu culture on the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty in central Anhui according to the study of the differences of the construction of the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty and the building process of the tombs.I The construction of burials. The building process of the Western Han dynasty tombs is basically the same with the process of Chu dynasty tombsII The vessels. The burials of central Anhui areas of the Western Han Dynasty followed the connected form of the Chu tombs. The researches infer that the disconnected form of grave in the Chu culture was widely used. In the late of Western Han dynasty, the application of disconnected grave was obviously reduced which shows of the decline of disconnected graves.III Burial customs. Those burial customs of Chu culture which includes the worship of the red color, the worship of the east and the worship of supine body with straight limbs are reflected in Western Han tombs in central Anhui areas.IV The influence of the Chu culture on the burial of potteries of the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty in central Anhui. The influence mainly reflected in the shape of pottery and in the combination of the pottery.V The influence of the Chu culture on the funerary objects of lacquer or wood. The influence is mainly embodied in three aspects which includes in manufacturing process, the shape of the vessels, and the patterns. In terms of wooden vessel, the unearthed wooden terracotta warriors mainly inherited from the romanticism of the sculptural art of the Chu culture. Different from the accuracy of the terracotta warriors of the Qin Dynasty, the wooden one was made by knives with a simple process to express the figure of the warriors.Through this research and analysis, in a general sense, it can be concluded that the Chu culture has a deep influence on the forms of tombs, the burial of vessels, the burial customs and the shape and combination of the funerary objects. With the formation of Han culture, these influences declined and finally disappeared after the mid-Western Han Dynasty. However, they played a significant role in the formation of Han culture.