The Sacred Way and Stone Statues(神道与石像 Shendao yu Shixiang)

In the front part of imperial necropolises there is usually a “sacred way” or “divine road” for the spirits of the royal dead—in which the ancients believed----to walk on. This road is often lined with stone statues of men and animals as important decorations of the grounds.

The traditional name for the giant-sized statues of men, popularly called “stone men”, is strictly wengzhong. It is said that a Herculean giant by the name of Ruan Wengzhong lived in the Qin Dynasty(221-206B.C.)and in fighting the Huns.

After he died, Emperor Qin Shi Huang, to commemorate him, had a bronze statue carved in his likeness and erected at his palace in Xianyang. It is also said that, when Huns came to Xianyang and saw the statue, they thought Wengzhong was still alive. After that, all bronze men(and then stone statues) standing guard at palaces and imperial tombs came to be known as Wengzhong.

As for the stone animals, they have their origin in the following historical event:

Huo Qubing(140-117 B.C.)was a young military genius in the period of the Western Han. Distinguished in archery and horsemanship, he became an imperial attendant at age 17 and was several times sent on expeditions under his uncle Wei Qing, a famous commander, to fight the marauding Huns. He was given a command himself at 19 and twice led government forces to what as present-day Gansu and dealt telling blows to the Huns. He died at the age of 23 only.

Emperor Wudi built for his beloved young general a magnificent tomb at Maoling and, to perpetuate the fame of his exploits in the northwest, had the mausoleum grounds landscaped like the QilianMountains where the battles had been fought.

And as the mountain range is marked by rugged rocks that resemble wild beasts, so Huo's tumulus was strewn with grotesque rocks; furthermore, masons building the tomb sculptured many stone statues of animals-----leaping and squatting horses, resting tigers kneeling elephants, piglets and fish, bears and other wild beasts preying on sheep… Of the sculptures, the most renowned is on showing a Hun under the hoof of a galloping horse, a work of aptly summing up the achievements of the young general in his meteoric career.