“Special Exhibition of Chu Cultural Relics Unearthed in the Huainan Region” in Huainan City Museum.
Recently, the Huainan City Museum launched the "Special Exhibition of Chu Cultural Relics Unearthed in Huainan Region -- Progress in Wuwangdun Excavation with Images and Partial Artifact Displays." It marks the first public display of select artifacts unearthed from the Wuwangdun site, including the bronze tiger throne with the inscription of "Fuping Jun", chimes, and stone chimes, attracting a large number of local residents and tourists to appreciate the unique charm of Wuwangdun at zero distance. The exhibition, scheduled from May 1st to August 31st, allows citizens and visitors to make online reservations via the Huainan City Museum's official WeChat account or register on-site for admission.
The Wuwangdun Tomb is a scientifically excavated high-level Chu tomb, which boasts the largest scale, highest grade, and most complex structure in China to date. In 2020, it was included as a key project of the "Archaeology China" program, listed in the work priorities by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage for 2024, and announced as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit by the Anhui Provincial Government. Through archaeological investigation and exploration, it has been confirmed that the Wuwangdun Tomb preserves important relics such as the main tomb, satellite tombs, sacrificial pits, and an important chariot pit measuring 148 meters in length. The entire tomb covers an area of over 2,100 mu (approximately 140 hectares). Since 2020, archaeologists have focused on excavating the main tomb, discovering over 300 wooden figurines, sets of bronze ritual vessels, and collecting over 100 sentences of ink inscriptions, nearly a thousand characters, from the coffin lids. The quantity and variety of exquisite lacquered woods are unprecedented.
Wuwangdun Tomb and the ruins of Shouchun City echo each other at a distance, forming a Chu cultural corridor that runs through the western part of Huainan City. Within this corridor, there are a large number of noble tombs and small and medium-sized tombs of the Chu Kingdom during the Warring States period, making it an important area where Chu cultural relics and artifacts are concentrated in Huainan region. Numerous precious Chu artifacts have been unearthed here.
The archaeological excavation of Wuwangdun Tomb has attracted wide attention from all walks of life, and the archaeological excavation is currently underway in an intense and orderly manner. To further help the public understand the profound Chu culture, the Huainan City Museum and the Huainan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology jointly host an exhibition titled "Special Exhibition of Chu Cultural Relics Unearthed in Huainan Region -- Progress in Wuwangdun Excavation with Images and Partial Artifact Displays." under the guidance of the Huainan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism. The exhibition displays the historical culture of the Chu Kingdom and the progress of the excavation of the Wuwangdun Tomb through text, images, and some unearthed artifacts.
The picture shows tourists admiring the chime bells unearthed from the Wuwangdun Tomb. (Photo by Chen Bin)