Ming royal tombs in Shanxi shed light on clan system

Archaeologists in North China's Shanxi province have uncovered a family cemetery belonging to a sixth-generation descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang, founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), providing valuable insight into the royal clan system of that era.

The Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology announced that the cemetery, belonging to Zhu Yinxun and his descendants, was discovered in Qinjiazhuang village, Changzhi city in Shanxi. To facilitate a major provincial construction project, a joint archaeological team excavated seven brick-chambered Ming tombs at the site last year.

Although all the tombs had been looted in the past, nine exquisite stone epitaphs were recovered from five of them, which proved key to identifying the occupants.

According to the epitaphs, the cemetery is the family burial ground of Zhu Yinxun, a descendant of Zhu Mo, who was the 21st son of Zhu Yuanzhang. The five identified tombs belong to Zhu Yinxun and his wife, his second son and wife, his fourth son and wife, one of his grandsons and wife, and another grandson. Archaeologists speculate that the two tombs without epitaphs likely belong to his eldest son and another grandson.