This is the first book to systematically study the Hepu Han Tombs. Covering an area of about 68 square kilometers, the Hepu Han Tombs is one of the largest-scale and best-preserved ancient tombs in China. In 2001, the remains of 1,056 grave mounds could be seen on the earth surface and it was estimated that almost 10,000 tombs still survived underground. In the last 60 years, over 1,200 tombs have been excavated at Hepu, with approximately 20,000 artefacts unearthed which include pottery, bronze, iron, gold and silver ware, jade, lacquer, glass and bead ornaments. Especially to deserve to be mentioned, a large amount of artefacts can be related to the Maritime Silk Road. From the 2nd century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D., the Hepu Port served as the eastern starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, opening up trade and cultural exchange with countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and the Mediterranean world, which resulted in a vast maritime trade network between China and the West. And these artefacts provide important evidence about this route, which also confirm the records of Chinese official history books. Therefore, the Hepu Han Tombs is of great significance to the study of ancient Chinese history and cultural exchanges between China and the West.

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Zhaoming Xiong is Professor of Guangxi Minzu University and Doctor of History, Special Allowance Expert of the State Council. The research direction is Qin and Han archaeology and cultural exchanges between China and the West. Since 2002, he has continued to carry out archaeological excavations and subject research related to the remains of Hepu Port in the Han Dynasty and published about 50 related papers and excavation reports at home and abroad, published 9 books independently or as First Author. Xia Fu is Associate Researcher of Guangxi Minzu University and Doctor of History. The research field is archaeology in historical period. She has been engaged in the excavation and research of Hepu Han tomb and city site for many years and published more than 10 related papers and excavation reports in journals such as "Journal of Archaeology" and "Archaeology" and participated in the writing of 3 books.