Warring States Tombs Uncovered in China

I found this article  very disturbing.  First, it doesn't say how these tombs were discovered.  From the photograph, it looks like the tomb or tombs are built out of timbers forming mausoleums that were above ground - not underneath it!  Second, what is the old man doing STANDING INSIDE THE TOMB?  I mean - this cannot be a professional archaeological dig because no archaeologist would EVER do that (except, maybe, Zahi Hawass) when it's clear as glass that there are still artifacts inside the tomb!  There are methods for working an excavation and this sure doesn't look like any method at all to me!  This looks to me like tomb robbery, not tomb excavation - and one of the thieves has got his picture in the local newspaper.  Geez!

Leather panels stitched together to form body armor.

The grave goods are impressive - that "armor" -- stitched together panels of leather - absolutely breathtaking and the large brass bowl the old man in the photograph is stealing would be worth a fortune on the antiquities market - and it looks to be in perfect condition. 

I wish I could see the bronze mirror.  I would like to know what other inscriptions or drawings were on its "back."  But only the intriguing clue "mountain" -- could this possibly be a reference to the great sacred mountain where resides the Mother Goddess Xi Wangmu (who in her archaic form was part woman, part tiger)?

Precious Relics Found in Ancient Tombs
Pub Date: 11-04-14 16:45 Source: www.cnanhui.org
More treasures were found in two ancient tombs dated back to China's Warring States (475-221BC) in Lu'an, Anhui Province, as a well-preserved sword with exquisite workmanship, and a complete suit of leather-made armour were unearthed in the southern tomb, which suggest that the tomb master was probably a military officer with prominent status then.

If other clues, such as seal or epigraph are excavated in the tomb, combing with history records that are able to prove the master's identity can be found, the discovery of this ancient tomb is expected to be listed into national annual archaeological finds.

In the meantime, clearing work in the other tomb, a smaller one, which was believed to belong to the tomb master's wife, was done, with 120 articles of relics, including copper wares, painting wares and pottery wares.

Among which, a bronze mirror , decorated with designs similar to the Chinese character of "ɽ"(mountain) on the back, was deemed as a much-treasured relic.

Total 54 articles of relics were unearthed in the southern tomb yesterday.

(By Zha Xuan)

Could this be Xi Wang Mu - Queen Mother of the West?

Xi Wang Mu (Hsi Wang Mu) is the Queen Mother of the West, the Chinese Daoist goddess of immortality. Many legends have been written about Xi Wang Mu; in some, she hands out beautiful ripe peaches to worthy mortals who, when they eat the fruit, attain the gift of everlasting life. In some legends, Xi Wang Mu started out her life as a mortal woman who achieved everlasting life by mastering a series of tests; in still older legends, Xi Wang Mu was a goddess or the instrument of the primary Chinese mother goddess who inflicted terror and vengence on men, a fearsome creature who is part woman, part tiger. Xi Wang Mu shares many characteristics with other goddesses during the ancient times, including the Egyptian goddesses Isis and Hathor, the Assyrian goddess Astarte (Ashtoroth or Ashtoreth) and the Babylonian goddess Inanna.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties in particular (220 BCE - 206 BCE and 206 BCE - 220 CE), the Goddess Xi Wang Mu became closely identified with the board game liubo (literally "six sticks"). Liubo was first mentioned in events in the Shang dynasty (1600-1028 BCE), some six to twelve centuries after the invention of Weiqi ("Go"), but it died out from popular by the 5th century CE.

Some authors have suggested that liubo was an ancestor of Xiangqi - Chinese Chess; others see no connection, and others still say the evidence is insufficient to say either way.

When I saw this photograph, I was reminded of certain depictions of Xi Wang Mu, one of her titles of whom is "Queen of the Heavens." Here is the story of the photograph:

July 3, 2007
Metaphysical China: Buddha/Mary calling?

Some odd news from the nation's favourite English paper today:

A human-shaped shadow in the middle of a rainbow halo appears on Zushan Mountain after a heavy rainfall in Qinhuangdao, North China's Heibei Province, July 1, 2007. The vision, which many tourists believed to be the Buddha, stayed for more than an hour. Meanwhile, it seems a revered shrine in Henan that has attracted 40,000 pilgrims annually on news of Marian apparitions may be torn down for "illegal religious activity". Hmm.

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There is a scientific explanation for the phenomenon called "brocken spectre." But I think I prefer my explanation - it's a manifestation of the Goddess...