Archaeologists in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality have unearthed more than 20 pieces of brick reliefs from a tomb of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD).

Lin Bizhong, a noted archaeologist with the Chongqing Municipal Archaeological Team, said this was the first time that bricks with molded designs had been unearthed in Chongqing.

Previously, such tomb bricks had been excavated from Sichuan Province, southwest China, and have been included as relics under state key protection.

Lin acknowledged that the brick-and-stone-structured tomb, from which brick reliefs were unearthed, had been robbed, so they did not find anything valuable in the tomb besides the bricks.

Designs on the bricks include horse-drawn carriages accompanied by honor guards, the image of Fuxi, or the sun god in ancient China, and images of high-nosed and hollow-eyed people, who might be from varied ethnic groups or foreigners.

According to experts, designs of horse-drawn carriages with honor guards indicated that the tomb owner was of high social status, bricks with the image of Fuxi were important materials for studying religion and culture at that time, and the images of foreigners reflected cultural exchanges between the East and West in Eastern Han dynasty.

Moreover, archaeologists also found traces of red color on these bricks and held that might be traces of color painting.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2004)