Before the Tang dynasty, people buried real objects in graves for
the dead to use in the afterlife, but they were eventually replaced
with papers models. It was tradition to bury a body because the
Chinese people believed that the body possessed three souls: one
remained in the grave, another on their tablet, and the last would
go into the afterlife. It was during the Tang dynasty that "spirit
money" was burned at the funerals for use in the afterlife.
The wealthy families dressed the deceased in silk
clothes before placing them in a decorated coffin, which was put
into two additional ornate coffins. The underground tombs were then
carefully decorated with pictures of daily life.
Fenshui
Deciding upon the place of constructing a tomb was
a very important decision for it was thought that good burial places
brought luck to the descendants of the family. The Chinese used
fenshui to search for a lucky spot with the aid of a specialist
who used a special compass to find that particular spot. A white
tiger and a green dragon symbolizing the west and autumn and the
east and spring, respectively, represented the harmonic relationship
between the yin and yang in the site. These specialists had to find
the spot where the dragon was on the left and the tiger on the right;
the grave was to be put in the middle where the energy of spring
was balanced with that of autumn. This protected the family from
harm.
Aboveground,
tombs had a characteristic hill called "ling." In imperial funerals
the deceased was brought along a spirit road, "shendao," to the
"ling." This road was marked by stone sculptures of animals or officials
that gave the imperial burial grounds a sense of honor and sacredness.
Instead of building artificial hills, Tang emperors
put their tombs in the sides of mountains or hills - far more impressive
than man-made hills that previous emperors used. The battle horses
found at Emperor Taizong's tomb or the noble lions at that of Emperor
Gaozong's tomb depict the popularity of massive tomb sculptures
during the Tang dynasty.
for
the dead to use in the afterlife, but they were eventually replaced
with papers models. It was tradition to bury a body because the
Chinese people believed that the body possessed three souls: one
remained in the grave, another on their tablet, and the last would
go into the afterlife. It was during the Tang dynasty that "spirit
money" was burned at the funerals for use in the afterlife. 
Aboveground,
tombs had a characteristic hill called "ling." In imperial funerals
the deceased was brought along a spirit road, "shendao," to the
"ling." This road was marked by stone sculptures of animals or officials
that gave the imperial burial grounds a sense of honor and sacredness.