[Man-ch’eng]. District in Hebei province, China, where very large rock-cut tombs of the Han prince Liu Sheng (¿113 bc) and his wife Dou Wan were discovered in 1968. The tombs, each of several chambers, were underground palaces: they openly imitate features of buildings above ground, and many of their sumptuous furnishings were luxury articles used by Liu Sheng and Dou Wan in life. The most remarkable object from Dou Wan’s tomb is an inscribed gilt-bronze lamp in the form of a kneeling servant girl. Liu Sheng’s tomb contained swords and other iron weapons and also a uniquely fine boshanlu censer. Both tombs were provided with large stores of food and wine and escorts of chariots and horses. The bodies of Liu Sheng and Dou Wan were dressed in shrouds made of jade plaques sewn together with gold thread, the first of some dozen jade shrouds thus far recovered from Han tombs.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied