Millennium-old tomb restored in China's Shanxi

An ancient tomb with rare murals dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) has been restored in North China's Shanxi province, according to the Taiyuan Northern Qi Dynasty Mural Museum.

The tomb was discovered in an elementary school in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi, in 2019 and later moved to the museum for protection and restoration.

According to the epitaph, the tomb owner Guo Xing was a mid-ranking military officer in the Tang Dynasty. The roof, walls, coffin bed, corridors and the doors of the tomb were all decorated with exquisite murals.

Defects in the murals such as fissures, hollows and blemishes have been fixed, and the tomb will open to the public in the future, said the museum.

Interestingly, various figures in the mural paintings appear to be making "V" signs with their middle and index fingers.

The exquisite murals of the tomb reveal the noble status of the tomb owner and attest to its historical, artistic and scientific value, said Feng Gang, a researcher at the Taiyuan Institute of Cultural Relics Protection.