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Maoling Mausoleum
. The Mao Mausoleum, the tomb of Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, is located in the Maoling village, Nanwei Town, northeast of Xingping County, 40 kilometers northwest of Xi??an. The existing site of bucket-shaped Mao Mausoleum is 46.5 meters high. The bottom base of the tomb is 240 meters in length. The cemetery was square, with the side length of about 420 meters. So far three earth gaps in the east, west and north still exist. There are several other tombs around the mausoleum, namely the tombs of Ms. Li, Wei Qing, Huo Qubing, Huo Guang, Jin Richan, etc. It is said that Emperor Wu??s jade burial suit, jade case, jade stick, etc. were all buried in the grave. The Mao Mausoleum is the largest imperial mausoleums in the Han Dynasty with the longest construction period and most abundant burial objects. It is dubbed as ??China??s pyramid??.It is the largest of all Han tombs and was found to contain the largest number of relics. Nearby there are over 20 accompanying tombs. In 1978, a museum was established. It exhibits the stone Nine of the twelve tombs of the Western Han [206 BC- AD 9] emperors are situated on the Xianyang Plain to the north of the Wei River . They form the lower arc of the gigantic cone-like fan bounded by a string of eighteen imperial tombs of the Tang dynasty [618-907] with the city of Xi'an as its vertex. The largest of these Han tombs, Mao Ling , is the burial site of emperor Wudi (156-87 BC) whose achievements included great military successes against the Huns, the main threat to China from the north, reforms to revitalize the economy and the educational system, as well as efforts to promote significant advance in Chinese literature. Under Wudi's reign, the Western Han dynasty reached its peak of prosperity. Since that time, the main ethnical group in China has adopted the dynasty's name "Han" . The construction of the Mao Tomb began one year after the inauguration of Wudi and lasted 53 years till his death. It had consumed one third of the tax income of the country. Shaped like a inverted cup, the tomb is surrounded by a group of lesser (but still gigantic) tombs. Two famous ones are the burial sites of generals Huo Qubing (140-117 BC) and Wei Qing (?-106 BC), who had won decisive battles against the Huns to neutralize their military capability. The more brilliant of the two generals, Huo died at a young age of 23. Deeply remorsed at Huo's death, emperor Wudi ordered to have the general buried by the side of his mausoleum being under construction. But the tomb closest to the Wudi's Mao Tomb belongs to Lady Li , the emperor's favorite concubine who well understood that the key to winning his lasting devotion was to always appear mysterious in front of him. In recommending her to Wudi, her brother Li Yannian wrote a timeless poem in which he claimed that her beauty could stun not only the capital but also the entire nation:
Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Emperor Wudi ascended the throne at 16 and was in power for 54 years. He was always mentioned with Emperor Qin Shihuang who established the autocratic state of centralized power to consolidate control over the feudal society. In 112 B.C., he revoked the titles of 106 feudal lords. He understood the malpractice of the aristocracy and established the Imperial College to train qualified officials and talents to strengthen feudal centralization. Meanwhile he also advocated state control over the fields of finance and commerce. For example, he announced that only the coins minted by the central government could be in circulation; metallurgy and salt processing were also forbidden among the people. Businesses run by the government enjoyed exclusive privileges and the government imposed heavy property tax on industrialists and businessmen to enhance the income of the court. The Western Han dynasty became unprecedentedly rich and powerful, centralization strengthened, and its feudal economy flourished. Emperor Han Wudi also launched battles against the barbarian invaders on the northern border. In 138 B.C., he appointed Zhang Qian as Chinese ambassador- extraordinary, to journey westward into Central Asia. Zhang opened the historic Silk Road and established the first cross-cultural exchanges between East and West. Emperor Han Wudi was not only a statesman but also had great cultural talent. "Yuefu" - an official conservatory was set up to collect folk songs and ballads and most of the folk songs in the Han period came from that period. Yuefu poems had a great influence on later periods. Emperor Han Wudi accepted Dong Zhongru's proposal of "rejecting the other schools of thought and respecting only Confucianism" which ended the period of "contention among one hundred schools of thought". Afterwards, Confucian thought gradually became an orthodox theory and had a far-reaching influence on Chinese philosophy.
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sculptures of Western Han Dynasty, such as galloping horses, resting oxen and tigers.
The Museum of Mao Tomb, built on the site of Huo Qubing's tomb, offers a very impressive collection of stone sculptures and carvings excavated from the surrounding tombs. The original ground structure built for the Mao Tomb was burned down by rebels at the end of Western Han dynasty. Numerous pieces of treasures were also looted. 
