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Secondary sourceArtifact1988

Site of King's Tomb, Nanyue King Museum

1988

The underground tomb of Nanyue King Zhao Mo in Guangzhou, illustrating Han dynasty relations with peripheral kingdoms founded under Gaozu.

Shows how Gaozu's arrangement with Nanyue's founder Zhao Tuo shaped relations with peripheral kingdoms.

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Front facade of a red-brick museum building with a tall arched glass window at the center, a circular golden ornament above the entrance, and relief carvings on the brick walls. Stone stairs lead up to a plaza with trees on both sides, and cars and pedestrians are on the street.
Exterior of the Site of King's Tomb of Nanyue King Museum, Guangzhou, China.

About this source

What it is

This is the museum and underground mausoleum holding the tomb of Zhao Mo, king of Nanyue, discovered in Guangzhou in 1983 and opened to the public as a museum in 1988. The tomb contains over 1,000 burial artifacts and wall murals.

Why it matters

Zhao Tuo, founder of the Nanyue kingdom, submitted to Emperor Gaozu of Han through the envoy Lu Jia, making Nanyue a vassal state. This tomb, belonging to a later Nanyue ruler, shows how Gaozu's diplomacy with distant kingdoms shaped the political map of early China and the spread of Han culture into the south.

Look closer

  • What does the mixture of Chinese, steppe, and foreign objects in the tomb tell you about trade and contact?
  • Why might a local king want to be treated as an emperor at home but a vassal king abroad?
  • What does the museum building itself (shown in the photo) tell you about how modern China presents this history?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Liu Bang (Gaozu of Han) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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