Scholars suspect scam over Cao Cao's tomb
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Months after Anyang County in central China's Henan Province declared it had found the tomb of the famous third-century warlord Cao Cao, 23 Chinese scholars accused the county of faking evidences in order to cash in tourism boom.
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Stong carving found in the ancient tomb. |
They said the Anyang county government had worked out a sophisticated scheme to grab national attention and exploited the discovery to sell tickets to the tomb -- the center-piece of its tourism development plan.
The scholars held a forum to challenge the authenticity of Cao Cao's tomb, said Ni Fangliu, the forum organizer. There were many loopholes in the evidences provided so far, Ni added.
Stone tablets tagged to eight weapons were most dubious. Their inscription, "For use by King of Weiwu (Cao Cao)" had been used as the main proof that the tomb belonged to Cao Cao. But the scholars found the grammar of the sentence too modern and the existence of these tablets unbelievable.
"These tablets are more like museum discriptions. Cao Cao would not want these in his tomb," said one scholar. "Not to mention that he was not called King of Weiwu until many years after his death."
