Chinese Civilization: Funerary Jade Armor

Published on September 13, 2011 by Times Video · No Comments

A Jade burial suit (Chinese: 玉衣; pinyin: yù yī; literally “jade suit”) is a ceremonial suit made of pieces of jade in which royal members in Han Dynasty China were buried.

A jade burial suit was extremely expensive to create, and only wealthy aristocrats could afford to be buried in them. Additionally, the process of manufacturing a suit was labor intensive and is estimated to have required several years to complete a single suit.