From life to immortality.(Current and coming.)

The preparations for a Chinese nobleman's or ruler's passage into the afterlife were complicated during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 9), before the introduction of Buddhism into China. It was then thought that the deceased split into two souls. One of these, called the hun-soul was thought to travel to the immortal realm, while the other, the po-soul, stayed in the tomb. The tomb, therefore, was an elaborate affair, for it had to be appointed with celestial images that would guide the hun-soul to immortality and worldly goods to be used by the po-soul. Indeed, the tombs were often so well equipped that they included entire chariots buried with live horses. Recent archaeological digs in the Shandong province of China, where a few tombs have been discovered, have shed much light on beliefs and burial practices during this early period.

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An exhibition comprised of more than fifty objects, including chariot ornaments, a jade face cover (illustrated at right), bronze ritual vessels, and ceramic sculptures, is on view through June 4 at the China Institute Gallery in New York City. It is entitled Providing for the Afterlife: "Brilliant Artifacts" from Shandong. None of the objects in the show have been displayed in the United States before. Several terracotta figures were excavated as recently as 2002. They are among hundreds of figures representing infantry, cavalry, and other figures who were symbolic military escorts for the departed. The tomb in which they were found measures more than ten thousand ...