On the cliffs of Sichuan hang coffins from hundreds of years ago, and no one can say for sure how they were put there

In Gongxian County, Yibin, Sichuan, there is a mountain whose cliffs rise tens of meters, steep as if cut by a knife. Halfway up the mountain, in rows of small caves, lie coffin after coffin—some protruding slightly, others suspended entirely on wooden pegs driven into the cliff face. From a distance, they look like they are hanging on a wall.

These are hanging coffins. Locals say they were left behind by an extinct ethnic group called the Bo people. In the first year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, that is, 1573, the imperial court mustered a large army to attack the ethnic minorities in this region, fighting until the local mountain villages were overrun. From then on, this ethnic group disappeared from the historical records. Scholars disagree on whether these people were the Bo, but the hanging coffins remain, standing for hundreds of years without falling.

How were these coffins placed up there? To this day, there is no answer that satisfies everyone.

Some say wooden pegs were driven into the cliff face one by one to form steps, climbed layer by layer. Some say ropes were used to lower the coffins from the top of the cliff. Some say the river water was much higher back then, so boats carried the coffins to the foot of the cliff, then a dirt ramp was piled up against the cliff face to push them up, after which the ramp was dismantled.

Others say it relates to their beliefs: the higher the coffin is placed, the easier the soul of the deceased ascends to heaven, and the more prosperous the descendants will be.

Hanging coffins are not only found in Sichuan. Wuyi Mountain in Fujian also has boat-shaped coffins placed in cliff caves, dating back even further—over three thousand years according to testing. They have also been discovered in Jiangxi, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

In recent years, the scenic area has added railings to some of the hanging coffins, keeping tourists from getting close.

Standing at the foot of the cliff looking up, those coffins have been bleached white by wind and rain.

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