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China: Detail of guardian spirits with weapons from the painted lacquer coffin of Marquis Yi of Zeng, Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, Suizhou, Hubei, Warring States Period, c. 433 BCE

China: Detail of guardian spirits with weapons from the painted lacquer coffin of Marquis Yi of Zeng, Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, Suizhou, Hubei, Warring States Period, c. 433 BCE

The Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (Chinese: Zeng Hou Yi) is an important archaeological site in Suizhou, Hubei, China, dated sometime after 433 BCE. The tomb contained the remains of Marquis Yi of Zeng, and is one of a handful of ancient Chinese royal tombs to have been discovered intact and then excavated using modern archaeological methods.

Zeng was a minor state subordinate to its powerful neighbor, Chu. The tomb was made around 433 BCE, near the start of the Warring States period. The tomb comes from the end of the thousand-year-long period of the burial of large sets of Chinese ritual bronzes in elite tombs, and is also unusual in containing large numbers of musical instruments, including the great set of bells for which it is most famous.

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