The mausoleum of the Prince Liang Zhuangwang梁庄王 is located at GroupⅡ of the Dahong大洪 Village in the Changtan长滩 Twonship, Zhongxiang钟祥City, Hubei湖北Province(E112043’441”, N31005’402”). It is about 70m above the sea level, 16.5km southeast to the urban district of the Zhongxiang City and about 6km west to the Dakou大口 National Forest Park. The mausoleum was constructed at the southern side of a small mound on the east-west orienting Longshanpo龙山坡hill, which is part of the dragon is embraced by a big dragon. The mausoleum occupies the head of the small dragon, facing a wide plain and an east-west orienting stream (now an irrigation ditch) to its south.

       The Zhongxiang City where the mausoleum is located is a beautiful city in the middle Han汉River valley in the north of the Jianghan江汉Plain. It is between the Dahong Mountains to the east and the Han River to the west. According to the archaeological data, the Neolithic residents came to Zhongxiang more than 6000 ago. Record in ancient texts demonstrates that the Fangcheng方城 walled-city might have been established during the Yao Shun 尧舜period. In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. Fangcheng had been an important city of the Chu楚State. During the long historic period, the Zhongxiang area had been under the administration of the Nanjun南郡Prefecture in the Qin秦，the Ying郢 County in the Western Han汉, the Jingling竞陵Prefecture in the Eastern Han, the Yamenshu牙门戍Fort in the Wu吴 State of the Three Kingdoms, the Shichengshu石城戍 in the Western Jin晋，the Changshou长寿 County in the Liu刘 and Song宋 Dynasties, the Ying郢 Prefecture in the Tang唐 and Song宋，the Anlu安陆Prefecture in the Yuan元 and Ming明, the Chengtianfu承天府 Prefecture after the 10th year of the Jiajing嘉靖 reign of the Ming, the Zhongxiang County in the Qing清. The Zhongxiang County was promoted to Zhongxiang City in 1992.

       Zhongxiang had been the territory of the Ying, Liang, Xing兴and Yue岳prince-states of the Ming. It is the hometown of the Shizong世宗Emperor Zhu Houcong朱厚熜（1507 to 1566AD） of the Ming Dynasty, who was the second son of the Prince Xianwang兴献王Zhu Youyuan 朱祐杬and the young male cousin of the Wuzong武宗 Emperor Zhu Houzhao朱厚照.Since Wuzong Emperor had no son when he died in the 16th year of the Zhengde正德reign(1521AD), Zhu Houcong ascended the throne and had been the emperor of the Ming Empire for 45 years. He honored his father “ Xian献Emperor” and his mother “Xian Queen” and enlarged his father’s tomb into a emperor mausoleum. In the 10th year of the Jiajing reign, the emperor promoted his hometown as the Chengtianfu Prefecture——one of the three Prefectures whose names have the character tian天（sky）. The other two are the Yingtianfu应天府(Nanjing南京) and the Shuntianfu顺天府（Beijing北京）where the two capitals of the empire were located.

       Liang is the second prince-state in Zhongxiang after the Ying. The Prince Liang Zhuangwang is the last prince of the state. According to the law of the Ming Empire, mausoleum of a prince must be established within the territory of his prince-state. Mausoleum of Liang Zhuangwang originally had the inner and outer yards, the underground palace and architectures on the ground. However , all the architectures had been destroyed. Only the northern foundation of the inner and outer yards still can be recognized. A flood ditch runs southward through the eastern part of the inner yard and joins a small stream(now an irriation ditch) outside the outer yard. Ming style bricks and tiles can be found all over the mausoleum precinct. Fortunately , the underground palace of the mausoleum is relatively well-preserved.

       The Mausoleum of Liang Zhuangwang is now a major cultural heritage under the protection of the Jingmen荆门City. The Xianling显陵Mausoleum of Jiajing Emperor’s father which entered the list of World Cultural Heritages is just located18km to its northwest. Between the two mausoleums, are the mausoleums of the Ying Jingwang郢靖王，Yue Huaiwang岳怀王，Princess Changning常宁 and Princess Shanhua善化. The mausoleums of the Prefecture-Princess Xinning新宁 and Ningyuan宁远 and the Niangniangfen娘娘坟 tomb ( a major cultural heritage of the Zhongxiang City) are to the east of the Liang Zhuangwang Mausoleum.

       The Liang Zhuangwang Mausoleum had been looted twice during 2000. After that, the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, with the permission of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the cooperation of the Jingmen City Museum and the Zhongxiang City Museum, conducted a scientific excavation from April 12th to May 2nd in 2001.

       The outer yard of the mausoleum is 200m in in remaining length from south to north, 250m wide from east to west and 180 to 185 degree on the compass. The inner yard is 75m in remaining length from south to north, 55m wide from east to west and 160 degree on the compass. The brick中-shaped underground palace is145 degree on the compass with a mound above and a sloping passage at its southern end.
       The mound is conic-shaped, 9m in height and 25m in bottom diameter. The entrance of the passage was found 18 to 38cm under the ground. The sloping passage is 10.6m long from south to north, 4.3m wide from east to west and 7m deep from the ground. A 5.5m high brick arc gateway and a brick wall for sealing the chamber was found at the northern end of the passage. Filling earth in the passage consists of five layers. A 1.17m high wall set with two tombstones( for Liang Zhuangwang and his wife) was found at the northern end of the Layer3.

       During the excavation, we dug two test trenches respectively at the eastern wall of the outer yard and the northern wall of the inner yard. The observation on the sections of the trenches indicates that the outer yard wall has an earth body and a stone surface, while the inner yard wall has a stone body and a brick surface. The remained outeryard wall is 0.7m high and 1.2m wide at its foundation. Stones for paving the earth wall-body are natural nountain stones 13to33cm in length. Foundation ditch of the inner yard wall is 1.35m wide at the bottom and 1.4m wide at the mouth. The foundation is 1m in width. Stones for constructing the stone body are also natural mountain stones5 to 26cm long. Cray bricks for paving the stone body are 32cm long, 16cm wide and 8cm thick.

       The brick main chamber, which is 15.4m long, 7.88m wide and 5.3m high, consists of a horizontal front room and a vertical back room. Both rooms have a gateway and a door with two leaves. The chamber wall was constructed with six layers of bricks. The floor was also paved by one layer of bricks.

       The door of the front room might originally consist of a stone threshold, two iron mortar-shaped plinths for setting gate posts, two stone door leaves and a zilaishi自来石holding-stone inside the door to prevent somebody open the door from outside. However, the western door leaf and the holding-stone had lost when we found the door. Only a decayed wooden plank and a rectangular pit (24cm long, 20cm wide and 17cm deep) for setting the holding-stone were found inside the door. The door of the back room consists of a stone threshold, two iron mortar-shaped plinths for setting gate posts and two wooden door leaves painted with lacquer. The wooden door leaves had been decayed.

       Within the back room, were found two rectangular coffin-beds standing side by side, two symmetrical lamp-stands and three niches. The bigger coffin-bed in the middle of the room, which is 3.55m long, 1.8m wide and 0.45m high, might belong to Prince Liang Zhuangwang. It is in fact an intentionally left primary stone paved with stone bricks. The smaller coffin-bed to the west, which is 3.17m long, 1.44m wide and 0.35m high, might belong to the Prince’s wife. It has an yellowish brown earth body and gray brick sides. The two brick lamp-stands, both are 0.72m long, 0.72m wide and 0.6m high were put at the southeast and southwest corners of the room. The three arc-roof rectangular niches, all are 1.12m long, 0.86m wide and 1.2m high were found at the eastern, western and northern wall of the room.

       According to the inscriptions on the tombstones, the mausoleum had been constructed for Prince Liang Zhuangwang and his step-wife whose family name is Wei魏. Prince Liang Zhuangwang, whose name is Zhu Zhanzi朱瞻自，was the ninth son of the Renzong仁宗Emperor. He was born in the ninth year of the Yongle永乐reign(1411AD) and died at his thirty in the sixth year of the Zhengtong正统reign(1441AD). After death, he got the posthumous title Zhuang庄. Ten years later, his wife died at her 38 in the second year of the Jingtai景泰reign(1451AD) and was buried in the same mausoleum with him. Since Liang Zhuangwang’s coffin-bed is in middle of the back room, it seems that the mausoleum was originally constructed only for himself. The lost of a door leaf and the holding-stone of the front door, and the simple coffin-bed for his wife indicates that the underground reunion of this couple was unexpected.

       As the richest Ming prince mausoleum ever discovered, Liang Zhuangwang mausoleum contains 5349 gold, silver, jade, porcelain, ceramic, bronze, iron, lead, tin and lacquer objects, including ornaments, hats, hat ornaments, belts and ritual apparatus. These finely made objects cost about 16,000g gold(purit65% to 97%), 13,800g silver(purity 83% to 99.99%), 14,600g jade and 700 jewels. The gold objects and gold objects inlaid with jade represent the highest standard of gold manufacture of the Ming Empire. Thirteen gold objects have inscriptions recording the dates(such as the Yongle, Hongxi宏熙，Xuande宣德 and Zhengtong reign) of their production. The gold ingot with the inscription “ Yongle Shiqinian( 永乐十七年，the 17th year of the Yongle reign) and “Xiyang dengchu maidao” (西洋等处买到bought from the Western Ocean) is an important evidence for the famous navigation of Zheng He郑和. The gold figurines of Buddhist spirits and ritual instruments demonstrate the strong influence of Lamaism to the Ming royal family. The hats and ornaments are important for the research on the cloth systrm of Ming male and female nobles. The large quantity of jade objects indicate the importance of jade for elite. Jewels found in the mausoleum, including ruby, sapphire and emerald, might have been imported from the Southeast Asia.

       Excavation of the Prince Liang Zhuangwang Mausoleum is another important event for the archaeology of the Ming Dynasty after the excavation of the Dingling 定陵Mausoleum.

       This book consists of two volumes. Volume I contains five chapters, ten attached tables, eight appendixes and a lot of figures. Volume I is a collection of color plates.