Tomb of Yu Hong
The Tomb of Yu Hong () is the grave of Yu Hong and his wife, dating back to 592 AD (Sui dynasty). The tomb was discovered by some locals in 1999 in Wangguo village in Jinyuan district of the city of Taiyuan, it was subsequently excavated officially in July of the same year. This tomb is so far the only archaeological find in the Central Plains region that reflects Central Asian (Western Regions) culture. Tomb occupant. The man buried in the tomb went by Yu Hong (; 533–592 AD), with Mopan () as his courtesy name, who was a  Central Asian, probably of Persian or Sogdian origin, and practiced Zoroastrianism. He had settled in Early Middle Period China during the Northern Qi, Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties. The epitaph found in the tomb records that he was a noble of the city of () in the mysterious Yu country (), assumably for which he is named, because the two characters and are homophones. According to the epitaph, Yu Hong started his career in service of the nomadic tribe at the time, known as Ruru. At the age of 13, he was posted as an emissary to Persia by the Khagan of  Ruru, as well as Parthia, Tuyuhun and Yuezhi. Later he went on a mission to the Northern Qi, Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties. He served as (, lit. “acting director of the office of Zoroastrian affairs”, or “Sogdian affairs”) during the Northern Zhou period. The term () comes from the Sogdian , means a “caravan leader”. He had later served as a provincial governor in the Sui dynasty government, a chieftain of the Central Asian people who had settled in China during that period. Yu Hong died at the age of 59 in 592 AD. His wife survived her husband by six years , she was buried in the same grave in 598 AD. A study on ancient DNA reveals that Yu Hong belonged to the haplogroup U5, one of the oldest western Eurasian-specific haplogroups, while his wife can be classified as haplogroup G, the type prevalent in East Asia. Tomb. It is a single-chamber tomb of brick structure, composed of the tomb passageway, foyer, entrance and chamber. The entrance is almost entirely destroyed except for the lower part. Five octagonal marble pillars were found in the chamber, about 132 centimetres in height, two of which are intact, three are broken. Each  one has a pillar foundation in the shape of an upturned lotus. A marble sarcophagus located in the centre of the chamber. Apart from the marble pillars and sarcophagus, the tomb has yielded human figurines in stone, horse figurines in pottery, white porcelain bowls, two epitaph covers and stones, et cetera, amounting to more than 80 pieces. The central part of the epitaph cover for Yu Hong is taken up by nine characters in relief in seal script, it reads “Epitaph of Master Yu of the Great Sui, formerly unequalled in Honour” (). Sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is made up of white  marble, it assumes the appearance of a temple with the hip-and-gable roof. It is composed of three parts: the rectangular platform, walls in the middle section and the roof. The sarcophagus rested on a support platform, at each side of the platform there are two stone supports in the form of a lion's head. The entire sarcophagus stands in 2.17 metres in height. It is covered with bas-reliefs and painted stone panels, comprising 54 scenes, featuring motifs of Central Asian or Persian origin, such as the costumes, vessels, musical instruments and dances. They depict banqueting, dancing , hunting, among others. As can be seen in the reliefs Yu Hong hunting with nomads on horses, camels, but also hunting on an Indian elephant. In addition, numerous Zoroastrian symbols are clearly displayed: the holy fire on a lotus, guarded by two priests half-bird, half-human wearing the traditional padam (a piece of cloth in front of them and also including a portrayal of Mithra wearing a Sasanian crown, which decorated with the typical symbol of a solar disc resting on crescent moon. The figures in these reliefs all have deep-set eyes and beak nose. The nine main  bas-reliefs are the large-size pieces (panels) carved in marble and originally painted in gold (gilded), red and brown pigments, on the exterior of the front right and left walls, and on the interior of the right, rear and left walls. They can be divided into two groups: the first group consists of four pieces, which may depict some scenes from Yu Hong's daily life; the rest may represent his afterlife in paradise. Each panel is divided into a larger upper part and a smaller lower part. These paintings are on the rear side of the sarcophagus platform