Maoling 茂陵

About Maoling

Its broad, sloping form is the main landscape feature; the emperor’s chamber is not an underground visitor attraction. The nearby Maoling Museum adds the human and artistic detail through the Huo Qubing tomb and its early stone sculptures. Combining the mound with that museum gives a clearer picture of Han imperial burial than viewing the earthwork alone.

Construction of the tomb began in 139 BC, the second year of Emperor Wu's reign, and took 53 years to complete, finishing at the emperor's death; about one third of the court's annual revenue from taxes and tributes went toward the work. Maoling is the largest in a group of more than twenty tombs, whose smaller mounds belong to former members of Emperor Wu's court, including his favorite concubine Lady Li and the military strategist Huo Qubing (d. 117 BC). Restoration of the site began in 2009, with at least half of the original construction material judged too deteriorated to keep.

The tomb is a trapezoidal tumulus built from rammed earth, with a rectangular base measuring 222 by 217 meters and a height of 47 meters. In 1981 farmers discovered nearby the golden horse of Maoling, the largest gilded horse ever found in China, and in 1985 geophysical exploration found gold deposits in and around the mausoleum's soils, estimated to derive from Proterozoic sedimentary rock. Artifacts recovered from the tomb, now held in the Maoling Museum, include 4,100 cultural objects and 14 historical relics.

What to look for

• Emperor Wu’s trapezoidal rammed-earth mound and the surrounding imperial burial landscape.
• Huo Qubing’s tomb and the large Han-period stone sculpture group at Maoling Museum.

Location & getting there

Getting to Maoling

Use Maoling Museum in Nanwei Town, Xingping, on the eastern side of Emperor Wu’s mausoleum as the practical starting point.

• The museum and the imperial mound are distinct stops; confirm the local connection and access before setting out between them.