Unearthed: A grandma's grief

The hairpin, made of gold plates, pearls and colorful gemstones, was badly deformed, its structure distorted by time. Through ultraviolet imaging and scanning electron microscopy, researchers were able to reconstruct its intricate design and understand the techniques behind it.

The restored accessory assumes a vibrant scene: a moth flying over a blooming flower. "It looks vivid and real. Its magnificent look makes the hairpin truly one of a kind," Qi says.

"It could be called nao'e (bustling moth), a type of hairpin that women wore on festivals and other significant occasions."

Glassware found in the tomb offers another layer of insight. Qi says that among the 24 vessels are examples of both Chinese lead-barium glass and Western soda-lime glass. "Their coexistence suggests not only technological diversity but also cultural exchange, likely facilitated through networks such as the Silk Road. Techniques and materials traveled alongside goods, shaping local production in ways that are still being studied today."

Regular communication between the East and West back then left traces on two objects on display: a silver coin of the Sasanian Empire, cast between 457 and 483, was discovered at Li's grave, in a copper bowl with silver nail guards; while a Byzantine gold coin was buried in another aristocratic Sui tomb, dated 600, located in Xianyang, Shaanxi.

Despite the richness of her burial, Li Jingxun herself was never granted the title of princess. The tomb's opulence and location reflect not rank but affection. She was the only child of Yang Lihua's daughter, and the object of deep personal devotion.

The exhibition also shows artifacts from the graves of the people Li was related to through bloodlines, both close and distant, as well as other high-ranking members of Sui.

Family trees are illustrated on the wall to reveal a complicated network of the four well-connected houses Li was born into, which also fought for power, secretly and openly — one may call it a Sui version of Game of Thrones.

Yang Lihua used to be an empress of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581) while her father Yang Jian served as a prominent minister at the court. Northern Zhou was the last of the Northern Dynasties.

Yang Jian later forced the ruling Yuwen family to abdicate and seized the throne himself to found Sui. Lihua saw her status altered to a princess.

This may explain why Lihua buried her granddaughter at the Wanshan Monastery. The institution was built as a shelter for the concubines of the overthrown Northern Zhou to live out the rest of their lives as Buddhist nuns.

Before her death, Lihua entrusted the future of her daughter, the mother of Li Jingxun, and her husband Li Min who also came from an influential family, to Yang Guang (Emperor Yang of Sui). That trust proved misplaced. In 615, he ordered the execution of Li Jingxun's father on suspicion of rebellion. Months later, her mother was forced to take her own life.

The family's fate underscores a stark truth of imperial politics: proximity to power offered no guarantee of safety. Kinship could turn fragile, even fatal, in times of suspicion and control, particularly given that Lihua and Emperor Yang were of the same mother, Dugu Qieluo, from the celebrated Dugu family. Qieluo's father, Dugu Xin, was also a high-ranking Northern Zhou minister and general.

Besides Qieluo, he had a second daughter who also married into the Yuwen family as an empress.

His third daughter gave birth to Li Yuan, from a different Li family, who was the founder and first emperor of Tang.

Zhao, the curator, says what began as a private act of mourning has become a lasting archive of a world in transition.