Researchers say a looted tomb near Xian’s main runway belongs to the adoptive grandmother of the country’s first emperor
2-MIN READ2-MINShi HuangPublished: 10:30pm, 19 Sep 2026An airport is an unlikely place to search for national origins but researchers say they have uncovered the tomb of the woman behind the man who unified China – next to a major city runway.
“I believe the most likely identity of the tomb owner is Empress Dowager Huayang,” Zhao Hanqing, from the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, said in a paper published in the Chinese journal Archaeology and Cultural Relics in July.
