Jade burial suit

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A jade burial suit (Chinese: 金縷玉衣; pinyin: jīn lǚ yù yī; literally "gold-threaded jade suit") is a ceremonial suit made of pieces of jade in which some nobles in Han Dynasty China were buried. The Chinese believed that jade had magical properties and would prevent the decay of the body.

[edit] Structure of a jade burial suit

Jade burial suit at the Museum of Chinese History, Beijing

Jade burial suit at the Museum of the Tomb of the King of Southern Yue in Western Han Dynasty, in Guangzhou

Of the jade suits that have been found, the pieces of jade are mostly square in shape and threaded together with gold wire; a gold mask covers the face.

According to the Book of Later Han, the type of wire used was dependent on the station of the person buried. The jade burial suits of emperors used gold thread; princes, princesses, dukes, and marquises, silver thread; sons or daughters of those given silver thread, copper thread; and lesser aristocrats, silk thread, with all others being forbidden to be buried in jade burial suits.

Composed entirely of jade and gold, a jade burial suit was extremely expensive to create, and only wealthy aristocrats could afford to be buried in them.

[edit] History

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 Man-ch'eng, Hebei, finally proved their existence. The jade suits of Liu Sheng and Dou Wan consisted of 2498 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 [1].

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 jade plates represented Zhao Mo's immersion into Nam Viet culture. It is exhibited in the local Museum of the Tomb of the King of Southern Yue in Western Han Dynasty. [2].

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.