The past 12 months have been a banner year in Chinese archaeology and palaeontology. From finding a potential ancient human relative to an "alien civilisation", some of the most exciting scientific breakthroughs in 2021 involved China. They helped us learn more about our world long before humans roamed the Earth and told us fascinating stories about where we came from..
For nearly a thousand years, Chinese people believed an ancient emperor was buried in a mountain outside Xian, the city in northwest China that was once the centre of political power across multiple empires. It turned out the tomb lied several kilometres away in the valley. Emperor Wen was the fifth ruler of the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD) and was originally.
Chinese sources have confirmed that the true and final resting place of Emperor Wen of Han was not far from a site pilgrims mistakenly visited for centuries.