The tomb of a king and the ancestor's hall of the Chen

In my desperate attempt to become a tourist in this not-so-touristic city of Canton, we picked two places that was highly recommended in Trip Advisor.

The first being the tomb of a Nanyue King, the Emperor Zhao Mo. Actually this tomb is probably even older than the great tomb of Shi Huang Ti because Nanyue Kings are of Han dynasty that was later took over by the Manchu dynasty. 

So they found the tomb in 1983 and then decided to build a museum / mausoleum around it. It wasn't a very big tomb but 10,434 relics were unearthed from this tomb!

Brief description about the tomb at the entrance to the site

My son all excited to explored the King's Tomb

The knocker on the door to the tomb estimated about 2,000 years old.

One of the chamber inside the tomb. The relics has been cleared.

The relics has now been moved to this museum.

Jade Burial Suit of King Zhao Mo (reigned 133BC - 122BC)

Jade garments are known normally to be connected with gold, silver or cooper. This jade suit of the king is sewn with silk which makes it one of a kind in the world.

This is the diagram of the bodies found in the tomb when it was excavated. 14 sacrificial victims are buried alive with the king. Guards, cook, and of course the concubines.

Next we head to the ancestral hall of the Chen family. For those who are not familiar with the Chinese custom, ancestral halls are very common in China where the people with the same family name (surname) are being given a 'space' for ancestor worship by its descendant as introduced by Confucius.

What makes this ancestral home so unique is because of its size. The Chen clan has managed to raise the money to build this 15,000 square metres comprises of halls, rooms and beautiful courtyards.

Another notably unique features of this ancestral home is the extensive lime sculptures on all the ridges of the entire complex. It is so detailed and intricate. 

OK, I will save you to agony of going through picture of gloomy halls and room of this ancestral home but you gotta see this. It is a wood carving sedan for god that apparently being paraded on streets during certain festival to show how great the Chen clan is.

Since this ancestral home is so huge, it now also houses the Guangdong Museum of Folk arts and crafts. I am captivated by 2 types of art.

 This is the art of embroidery. 

The art of etched glass. Somewhat like the stained glass of the west.

OK, seriously, only visit if you have nothing better to do in Canton. Otherwise, just go shopping.


Location : Guangzhou, China
Next, Xiangjiang Safari Park