Many ancient suspended coffins have been discovered halfway up mountain cliffs in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The suspended coffins were usually placed on wooden poles wedged in the cliffs or both in the natural and artificial grottoes.

Suspended coffins of the Bo people

Experts determined that these coffins have a long history. The earliest coffin dates back to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties (17th century-256BC), and the latest are from the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911). The coffins, suspended on precipitous cliffs, demonstrate the technical skills of the people of the time. Such coffins were considered a unique funeral and sacrificial burial rite of the ancient Bo people, who mysteriously disappeared, ending the unconventional practice. Successive cultures recognized the Bo tradition from the hanging coffins and the paintings left behind on the cliffs like faint echoes.

The Bo was a minority group living along the borders of present-day Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. They gave birth to a brilliant culture there dating back some 3,000 years.Bo ancestors helped the Western Zhou (11th century-771BC) overthrow the ruling Yin at the end of the Shang Dynasty (17th-11th century BC).

The Bo people differed from other ethnic groups due to their burial customs. Typically hewn from durable hardwood logs, their suspended coffins remained unpainted. The most recent suspended coffins were made about 400 years ago in the mid and late periods of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), while many of the earliest ones date back 1,000 years to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). To date, the earliest suspended coffin was the one discovered in the Three Gorges area, dating back some 2,500 years to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC).

Shaped like a boat or rectangle, most coffins were carved out of a single piece of wood. Local people say the coffin location varies according to differences in the social status of the deceased. The higher the coffin, the more honorable the deceased. Most of the suspended coffins contained respectable seniors or brave soldiers. It is said that suspending the coffins in that manner protected the corpses from prowling beasts, and the souls of the deceased would be blessed for eternity.

Suspended coffins were unknown for centuries until 1958 when a farmer found some bronze swords, black lacquer and wood combs in a cave, and the secret of the coffins was unveiled. But the exact method used to secure the coffins in the precipices remains a mystery.

As a symbol of South China's ancient culture, the suspended coffins have always intrigued ethnologists and archeologists. The special burial custom, which can be found in the southern and southeastern parts of China, also spans across some Pacific archipelagos, such as Oceania. The phenomenon actually brought about a new research subject forging cultural and ethnological connections among various nations in Southeast Asia and the West Pacific.