Zhaojun Tomb
National Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit; The Traditional Burial Mound Of Wang Zhaojun, The Han Palace Lady Who Married The Xiongnu Ruler Huhanye In 33 BC · Hohhot, Inner Mongolia
A grass mound thirty-odd metres high on the plain south of Hohhot, said to hold Wang Zhaojun, and one of the few Chinese monuments to a woman who is remembered for preventing a war rather than for being a casualty of one. In 33 BC she was a palace lady at the Han court, unrecognised and unpromoted, when the Xiongnu ruler Huhanye came to Chang'an seeking a Han bride to seal peace on the northern frontier. The standard story is that she volunteered. She went north, married Huhanye, married his successor after his death as Xiongnu custom required, and the frontier stayed quiet for roughly sixty years. Chinese literature has not left her alone since - she is one of the Four Beauties, the subject of a thousand poems, plays and paintings, and the tomb has been a pilgrimage site for a very long time. It is called the Green Mound because the grass on it is said to stay green when the rest of the plain has gone brown, which is the kind of detail that survives because it is better than the truth.
Zhaojun Road, Yuquan District, Hohhot, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
Generally open daily, roughly 8:00-18:00 in summer and 8:30-17:00 in winter, with last entry about an hour before closing. The Zhaojun Museum is included in the ticket. Real-name booking with ID is expected. THE MOUND STEPS ICE OVER IN WINTER and the summit is fully exposed to steppe wind. Spring dust and sandstorms can reduce visibility across the plain sharply.