China News Service, Zhengzhou, November 2 (Wang Jianing) Zhengzhou University reported on the 2nd that at the "Song Tombs and Song Culture" International Academic Symposium hosted by Zhengzhou University and the Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Tomb Archeology Professional Committee of the Chinese Archaeological Society, many archaeological experts believed that the Northern Song Dynasty Imperial Tombs (hereinafter referred to as the "Song Tombs") are of great significance to understanding the national form of the Song Dynasty and the civilizational characteristics of Chinese civilization.
The Song Tomb is located in Gongyi, Henan. It is the largest and best-preserved imperial tomb group of the Song Dynasty in China. On October 28, the National Gallery of Australia returned to China two lost cultural relics, the head of the military attache statue in Yongyu Mausoleum and the head of the civilian statue in Yongchang Mausoleum, the imperial mausoleum of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Mei Zhigang, chief engineer of the Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, said that the Song Tomb is the culmination of the Northern Song Dynasty’s political system, political concepts, funeral customs and architectural art. The pattern of “mountain and mausoleum integrated, mausoleum and city facing each other” not only inherits the regulations of the imperial mausoleums of the Han and Tang Dynasties, but also sets a new paradigm for the two Song dynasties. Together with Kaifeng City, it constitutes a complete spatial sample for understanding the state form and social life of the Song Dynasty.
"The Song Mausoleum fully embodies the cultural characteristics of continuity and diversity of Chinese civilization." According to Han Hanhe, chief professor of archeology at Zhengzhou University, the Song Dynasty was the peak of the development of ancient Chinese culture. The stone carvings of the imperial mausoleums are not only a mirror image of the etiquette system and external exchanges of the Zhao and Song Dynasties, but also a model of the combination of realism and freehand brushwork in the sculpture art of the Song Dynasty. In particular, the Song Tombs inherit the mausoleums of the Han and Tang Dynasties and are the first tombs of the Ming and Qing emperors. They are a prominent reflection of the continuity of Chinese civilization.
Over thousands of years, the Song Mausoleum has been eroded by wars and weathered by time, but there are still 1,027 stone statues standing in the wheat fields, and the stone statues representing the emperor's travel ceremonial guard are scattered across large areas of farmland and dozens of villages.
In recent years, Henan has carried out a series of protection and research work around Song Tomb. Since 2024, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has carried out a comprehensive archaeological survey and exploration of the Imperial Tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty. It has now clarified the location of the Xian Palace, the architectural shape of the Lower Palace and the distribution of the pier and column network.
During the meeting, many experts attending the meeting conducted in-depth discussions on the systematic protection and revitalization of Song Tombs in the new era.
"Taking a variety of factors into account, the final choice for the protection of Song Tomb is not to cover, not repair, or move." Zhu Xingli, director of the Gongyi Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau, said that the stone statue standing here is a natural manifestation of history and culture. After covering it with glass, high temperatures and no ventilation will accelerate its decay.
He emphasized that on the basis of "protection first, strengthening management, exploring value, effective utilization, and making cultural relics come alive", Gongyi will create "one mausoleum, one scene and one feature" to make Song Tombs beautiful in all seasons and strengthen revitalization and utilization.
Yang Mengya, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Zhengzhou University, said that in recent years, the Archeology Discipline Innovation Center of Zhengzhou University has built databases such as the "Digital Conservation and Virtual Reconstruction Display Cloud Platform for Imperial Tombs of the Northern Song Dynasty" and the "Mausoleum Archaeological Research Data Management System" in the study of Song Tombs, allowing the thousand-year-old stone statues and mausoleum patterns to be permanently preserved and finely restored in digital space.
Han Guohe believes that the research on the protection of Song Tombs has a long way to go. He recommends that we adhere to empirical archeology, deepen value interpretation, do a good job in systematic protection and utilization, coordinate site protection, urban and rural development and cultural tourism integration, and give full play to the role of a bridge for exchanges and mutual learning between Song Tombs civilizations.
