Dou Wan

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A Western Han lamp with an adjustable sliding shutter, dated 173 BC, found in the tomb of Dou Wan.

The Lady Dou Wan (Chinese: ; pinyin: Dòu Wǎn) was the wife of Liu Sheng, a Chinese prince of the Han Dynasty.

Her tomb was discovered in 1968 in Mancheng county. Her body was encased in a jade burial suit. Hers and her husband's were the first jade burial suits to be discovered by archaeologists. These burial suits were made to protect the people from the flesh-soul. The common belief of this period was that every human being owned two souls: a flesh-soul and a breath-soul. The breath-soul escapes after the death of a person, but the flesh-soul remains in the body for a period of about a year. The flesh soul was supposed to be very malignant, so the wealthy were plated in jade suits to prevent it from escaping the body.

Inside a back chamber of the grave, a house-like construction was found, built to imitate the outside world. Amongst the inventory there was also a number of sexual tools.

External links

Media related to Tomb of Dou Wan at Wikimedia Commons

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