Dou Wan

Who is Dou Wan?

Lady Dou Wan was the wife of Liu Sheng, Prince of Zhongshan, of the Western Han dynasty of Chinese history.

Her tomb was discovered in 1968 in Mancheng County, Hebei. Her body was encased in a jade burial suit. Hers and her husband's were the first jade burial suits to be discovered by archaeologists. These burial suits were made to protect the people from the flesh-soul. The common belief of this period was that every human being owned two souls: a flesh-soul and a breath-soul. The breath-soul escapes after the death of a person, but the flesh-soul remains in the body for a period of about a year. The flesh soul was supposed to be very malignant, so the wealthy were plated in jade suits to prevent it from escaping the body.

Inside a back chamber of the grave, a house-like construction was found, built to imitate the outside world. Amongst the inventory there was also a number of sexual tools.