The Tomb of Princess Yong Tai is one of the 17 satellite tomb of Qianling Mausoluem.The name of Princess Yong Tai was Li Xianhui.She was the seventh daughter of Tang Zhong Zong (Li Xiang) and the grand daughter of Tang Emperor Gao Zong and his wife Empress Wu Zetian.In 701A.D,Princess Yong Tai died in Luoyang,Henan Province.She was only 17 years old then.According to the epitaph,Li Xianhui died during childbirth.The historical records,though,say that she was beatn to death,because she talked about the scandalous affairs between Wu Zetian and her male prostitutes Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Zongchang.
After rising to the throne,Emperor Zhong Zong posthumously conferred the title of Princess Yong Tai upon his daughter,who had died a tragic death.and in 705A.D.,he ordered the remains of his daughter and her husband to be buried together in the southeast of Qianling Tomb.
The path to Princess Yong Tai's tomb is lined with a pair of stone lions,two pair of stone figures,and a
pair of obelisks(ornamental stone columns).The excavation of the tomb was carried out between 1960 and 1962.It is the largest of the Tang tombs excavated since 1949.The tomb os pyramid-shaped,87.5 meters long and 3.9 meters widw.The buria; chamber is 16.7 meters deep.The tomb consists of a main passage,five doorways,six skylights,a corrdor,eight small niches,an antechamber and a burial chamber.The burial chamber represents the house where she lived before her death.The wall on both sides of the tomb passage are covered with mural of the Blue Dragon,the White Tigar ,and warriors in uniforms,with gild swords in their belts.In the eight small niched on both side of the skylights there are a multitude of tri-colored glazed pottery figurings,pottery and porcelain wares,and some other burial objects.In the course of the excavation,a hole once dug by grave robbers was discovered near the sixth skylight.Near the opening ,a skeleton was found,with an iron axe and gold and jade ornaments.A handful of grave robbers once entered the tomb,and passed gold,iade and other treasures out of the hole.In order to hace a greater share of the stolen goods,those who has already come out of the tomb ruthlessly knifed the last man while he was still in the tomb.It might have happened during the Five Dynasties of early in the Song Dynasty.Although once robbed,the tomb of Princess Yong Tai still held more than 1,000 valuable cultural artifacts.These treasures were murals,pottery and wooden figurines,tri-colored glazed pottery figurines,gold vessels,jade articles,and copper wares.The tri-colored glazed pottery figurines,which are beatutifully shaped and have peculiar decorative design in many bright colors,demonstrate the high artistic level of the Tang ceramic industry.Inside the tomb,the walls are covered with rich and varied murals.The tomb passage,the doorways,the paved path leading to the tomb teo chambers and their
cellings,are all decorated with murals.The antechamber represents the drawing-room.The mural mainly depict elegantly-dressed ladies in waiting.With different articles in their hands they carry themsevves with grace and wear different expressions from one another.Some seem to be speaking in whisper,some noding approvingly and others looking around.They look as if they are on the way to serve Princess YongTai .On the ceiling of the buial chamber there are painted firmaments and celestial bodies.In the east ,there is the rooster with three legs,symbolizing the sun.In the west there is Jade Hare representing the room.In between runs the Milky way,dotted with stars,each of which has its set position in the celestial body.This mural greatlyu reflects the highly developed astronomy at that time. 
