Empress Dowager Bian

Death and burial: less forceful language

← Previous revision Revision as of 22:59, 17 April 2026 Line 38: Line 38: The ''Annals of Emperor Ming'' of the ''[[Records of the Three Kingdoms]]'' state that the Grand Empress Dowager Bian died on 9 July 230.{{efn|name=death date}} The ''Records'' goes on to say that she was buried with honours due an empress dowager alongside her husband Cao Cao in the [[Cao Cao Mausoleum|Gaoling]] (literally "high mausoleum") sometime between 28 July and 26 August 230. The ''Annals of Emperor Ming'' of the ''[[Records of the Three Kingdoms]]'' state that the Grand Empress Dowager Bian died on 9 July 230.{{efn|name=death date}} The ''Records'' goes on to say that she was buried with honours due an empress dowager alongside her husband Cao Cao in the [[Cao Cao Mausoleum|Gaoling]] (literally "high mausoleum") sometime between 28 July and 26 August 230.

Cao Cao's mausoleum, long considered lost, was discovered in 2008 with the three skeletons inside, one male and two female. The women were determined to be aged in their twenties and fifties respectively, which is discordant with the ''Records'' that put her age at 69 or 70 when Lady Bian died. This discrepancy has been one of the points used by skeptics to cast doubt on the identification of the mausoluem as Cao Cao's. Subsequent research discounted the possibility that Lady Bian was interred in same tomb as Cao Cao as well as the neighbouring Xigaoxue No. 1 tomb in the same complex, though the possibility of her being interred in a heretofore undiscovered tomb in the same complex still remains.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhou |first=Ligang |title=Hun gui Ye xi : Cao Cao Gaoling yan jiu |publisher=[[China Science Publishing]] |year=2024 |isbn=7030782240 |location=Beijing |language=zh-hans |script-title=zh:魂归邺西 : 曹操高陵研究|pp=146-9}}</ref> Cao Cao's mausoleum, long considered lost, was discovered in 2008 with the three skeletons inside, one male and two female. The women were determined to be aged in their twenties and fifties respectively, which is discordant with the ''Records'' that put her age at 69 or 70 when Lady Bian died. This discrepancy has been one of the points used by skeptics to cast doubt on the identification of the mausoluem as Cao Cao's. Subsequent research have diminished the possibility that Lady Bian was interred in same tomb as Cao Cao as well as the neighbouring Xigaoxue No. 1 tomb in the same complex, though the possibility of her being interred in a heretofore undiscovered tomb in the same complex still remains.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhou |first=Ligang |title=Hun gui Ye xi : Cao Cao Gaoling yan jiu |publisher=[[China Science Publishing]] |year=2024 |isbn=7030782240 |location=Beijing |language=zh-hans |script-title=zh:魂归邺西 : 曹操高陵研究|pp=146-9}}</ref>

==See also== ==See also==