Secret of Qin Shi Huang’s Tomb: Filled with mercury but not to prevent theft

Information about the use of mercury to create rivers and seas inside the tomb of Qin Shi Huang can be found in the book ‘History of Sima Qian’. So what does this amount of mercury do?
Tomb of Qin Shi Huang is located at the foot of the northern mountain of Lishan, 30km northeast of Xi’an citadel, Shaanxi province. Among the ancient tombs, this is definitely the most luxurious place and is known as the fairy place on earth.

Qin Shi Huang is always looking for the way to immortality for his life, but unfortunately still can’t find a way. So he decided to build a magnificent palace underground and that is also the tomb after his death. One of the mysteries surrounding the tomb of Qin Shi Huang discovered by scientists is the extremely large amount of mercury inside. Many conjectures say that the amount of mercury in the underground palace can be up to several tons, even hundreds of tons, which is why grave thieves cannot enter. Many questions arise, what is the real function of this mercury? Is it for anti-theft as inferred? According to research on the history before the time of Qin Shi Huang, scientists did not find mercury to have much effect, and only detected a small amount of mercury in the type of mummification. The original hypothesis was that mercury could act as an anti-corrosion agent. But when discovered in the underground palace, a relatively closed insulation layer is formed due to the function of mercury. Many other opinions say that Qin Shi Huang used mercury to prevent theft. However, when returning to the history of the time when Qin Shi Huang unified China, people’s understanding of the uses and harms of mercury was not known. It wasn’t until the Han Dynasty that people began to know that mercury contained toxic substances. The river of mercury inside the tomb. The final conclusion was reached, the reason why Qin Shi Huang used a large amount of mercury in his tomb to prevent his body from rotting due to its anti-corrosion function. With the large amount of mercury in the tomb, his coffin was left in the riverbed for a long time while still remaining remarkably intact. Maybe Qin Shi Huang still holds the hope that one day in the future, he will wake up. This is even more important than theft prevention. How deep is the tomb? The most recent survey of archaeologists has shown that the underground tomb of Qin Shi Huang is 260m long from east to west and 160m wide from north to south. The total area is 41,600 m2. This is the largest mausoleum in the Qin and Han dynasties, its size is equivalent to 5 international football fields. Later archaeologists used a drill and proved that this tomb was designed vertically. Sima Thien once said, the length of this tomb is longer than 3 rivers combined. According to the book “Rites of the Han Dynasty”, the end of this tomb is immeasurable. That proves that the tomb has reached the deepest possible depth with the level of science and technology at that time. But how deep the tomb really is, no one has the exact answer. The Mystery of the Terracotta Warrior According to unofficial records, Xiang Yu – the king of the Zhou state, who overthrew the Qin empire, ended up perishing at the hands of the “Terquered Army”. He was eliminated by five cavalrymen on the banks of the Wujiang River. They were Qin soldiers from the Guanzhong region and were used as prototypes for Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Cavalry. Does the tomb have “9 floors of hell”? Looking down from above, you can clearly see, the pyramid is square, so the Americans call it “dwarf pyramid”. Paradoxically, the inverted pyramidal shape of the mound seems to coincide with the saying “9 floors of hell” and this is completely unique in the world. Qin Shi Huang is a freak, this mystery can only seem to be revealed by archaeological discoveries. How many entrances does the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang have? According to “History of Sima Qian”, a great history book written by Sima Qian: When the emperor died, he was taken to the tomb. After that, the main door was closed and the outer gate was also completely closed. All the craftsmen were buried with the emperor. “This proves that the tomb has three gates: the outer gate, the central gate and a secret gate. It is believed that the middle gate was locked automatically to prevent any intrusion from the inside or outside. And the three doors are placed in a straight line.”