Xi Han wuling

In all, nine Western Han imperial tombs are spread from west to east across the Wuling plain north of Xianyang, on the north side of the Wei River. The group extends east to Gaoling county, borders Jingyang county to the north and reaches the north bank of the Wei River to the south, a distance of 45 km from east to west. The five tombs named above are, however, the ones commonly referred to together.

Beside each of the five imperial tombs a tomb town grew up: Changling, Anling, Yangling, Maoling and Pingling. They were created by the Han government moving powerful families to the area around the imperial tombs in the Guanzhong region in order to strengthen its rule, and they became a group of satellite cities of Chang’an. A passage quoted from the Book of Han speaks of the leading men of the provinces and commanderies and the wealthy traders of the five great cities being moved, in repeated selections, to fill the tomb towns. Some of the tomb towns were very large, reaching tens of thousands of households.

The phrase “young men of the Five Mausolea” (五陵年少) later became a byword for dashing young men of chivalrous character.