As a vital communication line, Xianyangyang was a stronghold in preventing aggression from the northern nomadic rivals. Therefore, immigrating residents in Xianyang and the rebellious nobles to Xianyangyuan was a politically wise policy. On one hand, the central government in Chang’an could fully control the immigrated nobles to keep away social riots, and on the other hand, a densely populated community in Xianyangyuan could more easily fend off invaders from the north.

Saving expenditure

During the Western Han Dynasty, the Imperial Court spent as much as one-third of the state revenue on constructing imperial tombs. Such work was painstaking and time-consuming.

Yangling, the burial place of Jingdi, the fourth emperor (157-141BC) of the Western Han, and his wife, was completed within 28 years and covered an area of 12 square kilometers.

But compared with the 53-year-consuming and even more financially taxing Maoling where the fifth emperor Wudi (reign 141-87BC) and his wife were entombed, Yangling was a fairly modest mausoleum.

The astonishingly huge expenditure was not confined to just building mausoleums. Various kinds of imperial funerary and ritual practices were also money draining. Therefore, it could save much to have Xianyangyuan as the final choice, due to its convenient transportation and cheap and abundant labor.

Personal likes

What’s still confusing is why two of the 11 Western Han tombs were situated separately somewhere else, though they were also near Chang’an. Baling was built in Bailuyuan to the east of Chang’an, and Duling in Dugongyuan to the south of the capital.

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