Traditionally, constructing imperial tombs was one of the most important projects for Chinese emperors; and the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD) were no exception.

Nine of the 11 Western Han emperors built their mausoleums -- Xianyangyuan -- on the northern bank of the Wei River, overlooking the capital Chang’an (today’s Xi’an in Shaanxi Province) on the south bank.

When appreciating those grandiose tombs, one can’t easily dismiss a slew of lingering questions. For instance, what were the criteria of site selection and the sequential arrangement of these imperial tombs?

 Inheriting practice from predecessors

In imperial funerary customs the Han adopted key elements of their predecessors to maintain historical continuity. All of the Western Han mausoleums were located not far from Chang’an.

Here are evidences concerning the unbroken historical succession. Excavation shows that most of the Shang (16-11th century BC) and Qin (221-206BC) mausoleums were situated near their respective capitals, with the Shang tombs in Anyang (in today’s central China’s Henan Province) and the Qin tombs in Xianyang (north of today’s Xi’an in Shaaxi Province).

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