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The Library

THE CHINESE PYRAMIDS


Victor Segalen

1923-1924

trans. Jason Colavito
2013



NOTE
Ancient astronaut writers Hartwig Hausdorf and the late Philip Coppens each claimed to have been the first to popularize the existence of pyramids in China. Hausdorf, for example, claimed in The Chinese Roswell (1994; trans. 1998) that such pyramids were mere "rumors" before he investigated them, while Coppens claimed that he "broke the story of the existence of Chinese pyramids" in 1995, despite citing the very report you are about to read. The following archaeological report was composed by the French ethnologist and archaeologist VICTOR SEGALEN (1878-1919) in 1917 following his expeditions to China (1909-1914, 1917). Published in his posthumous Mission archéologique en Chine (1923-1924), and widely cited thereafter, this description of the pyramid mound-tomb of China's first emperor demonstrates clearly that the Chinese pyramids were not the discovery of ancient astronaut writers.

Segalen's book has never been translated into English. For this translation, I have not reproduced the numerous footnotes, which may be read in the original French here. Note that I have clarified that Segalen's mention of "extraterrestrial life" was intended to refer to the afterlife, not beings from another planet. Finally, I am not a professional translator, so be sure to consult the original French before citing any material herein.


ARCHAEOLOGICAL MISSION IN CHINA, 1923-1924

The Imperial Mounds of the Wei Valley

The Tomb of Shi Huangdi

In the history of China, Shi Huangdi [Qin Shi Huang] plays a dominant role. He is the sole legitimate ruler of the dynasty he founded, and his death precipitated a brief convulsion. And yet this dynasty, more than any other, has set its seal upon later centuries. The name of Shi Huangdi, which he awarded himself, means “Sovereign Emperor.” His actions, his buildings, his travels, his desires, his every move imprint themselves upon the texts that describe them with a powerful grandeur. Thus his tomb is the most famous among all.

However, as we approached the place at the village of Sin-fong where an old man had marked for us its location, we feared a disappointment, too often justified in China: we expected any pile of dirt to be labeled with a modern stele, a ruined kiosk bearing the expected name. There was no kiosk or stele, but there was no need for them. Because, when one comes across the funeral mound, one suddenly sees it occupying on the ground the same sovereign place as Shih Huang-ti in the written histories. This tumulus, the oldest among those identified with certainty, and which does not seem disturbed, is also the largest, whose form indicates the need for further research and expresses the greatest beauty.

It is located 3 km and a half east of the sub-prefecture of Lin-t’ung, in the prefecture of Xi’an. A long climb leads from the Wei valley at the base of Mt. Li, rising in parallel to it. The slope, low to the foot of the mound, decreases still behind it, forming an expansive plateau. Up on the mountain, there is a rippling of the land rather than genuine relief, but this broad movement assaults the naked fields, enough to raise the work above the plain, while keeping it clear of the sharpness of the mountainous landscape. It covers almost the entire southern half of the horizon. A rock spur, which has its counterpart on the left, abuts the walls to the right of Lin-t’ung. Between the two bounding advances, the Li-chan describes an arc that aligns the pyramid to its rocky underpinning, the regular foothills buttressing the mountain’s mass. Just behind the tomb in the south, the peak rises as a swollen patch on the shoulder of two matched cones. This central unit is symmetrical, and the roofline extends eastward and westward. It was bold before the great order of mountains to prepare an earthwork with no pedestal other than the ground.

The emperor nevertheless demanded this of his architects. In the 26th year of his reign, when the sovereignty he had established now extended to the barbarian countries as well, he had fixed for his tomb this place where it arises in a conquered valley like a seal at the bottom of a decree. He himself, no doubt, decreed the plans for the tomb, and we know that he hastened their execution with reinforcements consisting of myriads of workers. For the first time we have with this tomb the opportunity to judge a major figure in Chinese history with something other than literary essays. And this work only adds to the historic greatness: The surrounding mighty mountain is forced into a subordinate role. It is only a framework, an open screen, scenery.

A poet of the Qing dynasty described the tumulus as "three superimposed hills." Sitting on the natural, long base, probably also reworked to a large extent, the earthwork first rises along the sides of a square of six hundred meters, hollow strips bordering the first projection, the base of the mound, built on a concentric square of three hundred and fifty meters. Above, the land rises in a vigorous concave corrugation, connected to a mid-height flat horizontal shoulder on which the hill rises to a truncated apex. Climbing the sides, we see that the model is more complex: In order, no doubt, to arrange a form less distorted when viewed obliquely, the mound is swollen from the base in the middle of each side, while above that a projection to the north and south opposes a reentry to the east and west.

These opposite curvatures are a reason to eliminate the assumption of a complete distortion of the mound by compaction and rainfall, which has perhaps acted with consistency, but could not act with this diverse symmetry if the original solid had been a simple quadrangular pyramid base. Fine powder of loess is one of the architect’s most desired materials to keep the desired shape.

At forty-eight meters above the base, at about sixty above the previous limit of earthworks, the mound has a volume of half a million cubic meters. As the builder had first to dig to establish the substructure of the tomb, the volume of earth moved was much more considerable. A crucial passage of Sima Qian (we borrow the translation to Professor Chavannes) tells us about the content and construction of the tumulus:

“From the beginning of his reign, Shi Huangdi had dug and remodeled Li Mountain. And when he had gathered in his hands the whole of the empire, he had sent to him seven hundred thousand workers; they dug into the ground until the water flowed from the third layer of springs, and they poured bronze for a sarcophagus. Replicas of palaces, scenic towers, and the hundred administrators, marvelous utensils, jewels, and art objects; all were transported to fill (the sepulcher) and were buried. Artisans were ordered to craft automatic bows and arrows so if someone wanted to make a hole and enter (into the grave), he would have been suddenly shot. Mercury was used to create imitations of the hundred rivers, the Yellow River, the Yangtze, and the vast seas, and machines made it so they seemed to flow from one to another. Above were all the signs of the heavens; below the whole geographical layout of the earth. Torches were manufactured with blubber, calculated not to extinguish for a long time. Er-Shi [the second emperor] said, ‘It would be unfitting to have those of the women in the former emperor’s harem who bore no sons sent away.’ He ordered that all of the women accompany the former emperor in death, and those who were put to death were numerous. When the coffin had been lowered, someone said that the workers and artisans who built the machines and hidden treasures knew everything that was there, and the great value of what was buried might be disclosed. So when the funeral was completed, the gate leading to the central burial was hidden and blocked and the door to the outside entrance was closed, shutting in all those who were employed as laborers or artisans so they could not come out. Trees and bushes were planted so that (the grave) had the appearance of a mountain.”

It is difficult to distinguish in this way if the description of the provisions inside the tomb of Shi Huangdi is wrong and what can be considered traditional and ritual. In the facilities and decoration, there is no presumption of extraterrestrial life [i.e. an afterlife], so there is reason to believe that the Chinese even before the Han period, placed in tombs representations of one’s earthly, human life. The existence of a corridor seems to imply that the underground palace occupied only part of the area covered by the reported land. But nothing indicates there was, as in the Han tombs of Shantung, a funerary shrine, that is to say, a temple outside but near the mound and connected by an underground passageway to the vault. It is likely instead that the provision was different because after the emperor’s death in 210 B.C., his son made sacrifices at the ancestral Ki temple, which was on the south bank of the Wei in the enclosure walls of the capital, to the west of the confluence of the Pa-shui. This temple was also connected to the mound by one of the “suspended paths” that Shih-huang had established across the plain.

South and east of the mound, at the point where the major axes intersect the outer boundary of the excavation, we noticed bumps of high ground five to six meters above the surrounding soil. They cannot be accidental, as we reported there are similarly placed mounds around the Chou mound and we denote still more of these types of mounds around the Han mound. We see the remains of the bases of pillars as part of a funeral road pointing normally to the mound’s faces. We do not know if the main entrance to the tomb was in the south, as is generally the case, or the north or west sides, which were reached from Hsien-yang. In any case, the plan of the pyramid is exactly oriented along the cardinal directions.

The successor to Shih Huang-ti (by usurpation), Er-Shi, who had a dismal reign of two years, was buried “as a private citizen” in a corner of the park, having been put to death by the eunuch who orchestrated the treason through which he had come to the throne. It is therefore not surprising that we were unable to find his grave, although, according to tradition, Emperor Han Wu Di had one built on the advice of the philosopher Sima Xiangru. As to that of his successor, Ziying [San Shi], slaughtered by Xiang Yu after surrendering to the rebel coalition, it is unlikely to be occupied by his puny body.

This Xiang Yu, a rude and violent man of war, sacked the Qin palaces and violated the tomb of Shih Huang-ti. It is difficult to assess the importance of this profanation. Did he merely break in to insult the imperial remains, or did he destroy all the contents of the tomb? It seems he did not order a complete subversion, which would have left traces of sagging on the outside. Similarly, the bandit Huang Chao, who is said to have again violated the tomb at the end of the Tang dynasty, had to enter through the access corridor that he had succeeded in identifying, and to be content to lay hands only on easily transportable valuables.



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      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
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