XINJIANG Uygur Autonomous Region’s first underground tomb museum is scheduled to open in July so visitors can get closer to the Kucha kingdom, an ancient kingdom that witnessed the frequent cultural exchanges that took place along the ancient Silk Road.
The museum is dedicated to the Kucha Youyi Road site that is located in Kucha County in Xinjiang’s Aksu Prefecture.
Wang Sikang, an archaeologist specializing in ancient Chinese architecture, said that the Kucha Youyi Road ruins, an ancient tomb cluster that existed alongside the Jin Dynasty (266-420) and Sixteen Kingdoms Period (304-439), is the only tomb site discovered in Xinjiang made from brick. It possesses the “characteristics of Han tombs widely seen in the Central Plains.”
“It is a model site in Xinjiang showing how the Central Plains’ cultural and social customs had a great impact on the Kucha people,” Wang noted.
Revealed by the Kucha Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism, the museum covers a total area of 9,719 square meters and will have exhibition halls, as well as halls for cultural creative shows. It will be a dynamic cultural space that has an “unusual” underground level that reveals a total of 15 tombs to the public.
This incorporated “underground” configuration has never been seen in a Xinjiang museum before.
Ma Lili, director of the Kucha Museum of Kucha County, said that along with the remains of the tomb, the underground level hosts other exhibitions such as “funeral customs and rites,” “Kucha history during the Wei (220-265) and Jin” and also “crafts, trade and technology.”
The Kucha kingdom was one of the most notable kingdoms in ancient China’s western region. Historian Tao Zhongjun said the kingdom was the “throat” of the ancient Silk Road.
In 2007, the site was listed as one of the 10 notable archaeological discoveries in China. Cultural sociologist Chu Xin said the “archaeological spot and museum combination” is a better approach to preserving history while “enlarging its public educational significance.”
“Local archaeological spots like this are plentiful across the country, and on-site museums like this safely preserve relics’ cultural authenticity,” Chu said.
(Global Times) | 