Prince Yide, named Li Chongrun, was
the grandson of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty, and
the first son of Emperor Zhong Zong. In the 1st year of the Dazu
reign, he and his sister, Princess Yongtai, were killed by Wu Zetian. After
Emperor Zhongzong resumed his throne, the tomb of Prince Yide was moved here
from Luoyang City in the 2nd year (706) of the Shenlong reign, and he
was buried in the Qianling Mausoleum.
In the graveyard there are still incomplete
bounding wall and the tomb, to the south of which are two earthen watchtowers,
with stone lions, stone human statues and ornamental columns in pairs in front
of them. The underground construction of the tomb consists of the tomb path, 6
passage holes, 7 dooryards, 8 closets, the front and the rear corridors and the
front and rear coffin chambers. The graveyard is altogether 100 meters long. The
corridor and the coffin chamber are built of bricks. A stone coffin is in the
rear chamber, and is carved with refined woman images.
The
frescos are painted in the tomb all over, and the picture of the prince's honor
guard with chains of mountains as the background is painted in the east and west
sides of the wall beside the tomb path. In the picture, the buildings
constructed at the foot of the mountains are splendid in green and golden
colors. The grand rampart is besides the building. A honor guard consisted of
196 people is below the rampart, and falls into three parts -- infantry, cavalry
and wagons, holding many banners and flags. All these show the brilliant status
of Prince Yide. The passage holes are painted with patterns of tamed leopards,
eagles, snipes and maids-in-waiting. On the dooryards there are pictures
describing excursions in carriages. The picture of astronomical phenomena is
painted in the roof of the rear chamber. In total there are 40 frescos. Although
the grave had been robbed in early years, there are still 1,000 pieces of
unearthed funeral objects, including pottery tomb figures, tri-colored tomb
figures, wooden tomb figures, gold-plated trappings and so on. They are arranged
according to the bands and honor guards. Furthermore, 11 pieces of marble
mourning brochures were discovered, with intaglio inscriptions in regular
script. They are the earliest and relatively costly mourning brochures
extant.