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Mausoleum of Princess Jeonghyo

Mausoleum of Princess Jeonghyo
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese 貞孝公主墓
Simplified Chinese 贞孝公主墓
Korean name
Hangul 정효공주묘
Hanja 貞孝公主墓

The Mausoleum of Princess Jeonghyo (known as Zhenxiao in Chinese) was made in 793 by the people of the early Balhae kingdom, and is a part of the Ancient Tombs at Longtou Mountain in Jilin, China. The Mausoleum contains, among other things, the first complete discovered and detailed murals done by Balhae artists, and hence provides valuable insights to historians.

The mausoleum was marked by a rectangular pagoda, of which only the base remains. The burial chamber is underground, beneath the remains of the pagoda, and was excavated in October 1980. The 10.5-metre-high chamber is rectangular: 5.0 × 2.6-m, and is covered with blue-green bricks. The mounds of earth lined with stones demonstrate the continuance of Goguryeo-style tomb but the formal cloth shows Tang style, which implies that Balhae actively accepted the culture of Tang.

The burial chamber contains a 1.05-metre tall, 0.58-metre width × 0.26-m depth mugui-shaped (土圭) complete and unbroken granite epitaph, on which 728 Chinese characters, in the Regular Script style, are inscribed in 18 horizontal lines. The epitaph is of a typical combined written form, which contained both the chronological writings of the Princess' whole life and the remembrance writings which displayed the praise and remembrance for the Princess. The Balhae scholar - author of this epitaph was highly learned in the traditional Chinese literature and written masterpieces, reflected in the use of sentences which included poetic lines that were modeled upon some of the poets of the early Tang dynasty.

The chamber is surrounded by four murals on each wall, depicting thirteen people in action, such as warriors (3), chamber attendants, musicians, and maids, wearing red, blue, yellow, purple, and brown robes. The murals displayed the image of the Balhae people in its completeness for the first time.

The epitaph explains that Princess Jeonghyo (정효공주, 貞孝公主) is the fourth daughter of King Mun, the third ruler of Balhae. Princess Jeonghyo was also the younger sister of Princess Jeonghye (정혜공주, 貞惠公主). The epitah shows that Balhae called the ruler of itself as an emperor equivalent to that of China.


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