5,000 years riding high on the hog

Two thousand years ago, privileged Chinese, such as aristocrats or superrich businesspeople, could expect a lot upon their deaths.

Their remains would most likely be encased in jade armor sewn with golden thread. Their heads would be set to rest on gilt bronze pillows inlaid with jade disks. The deceased, who were likely surrounded with luxury in life, would possess two objects - flat jade cicadas in their mouths and columnar jade pigs near their hands.

"The cicadas and the pigs were de rigueur for a man honored with a proper burial, since they represented the two crucial elements anyone would have wished for," says Liu Yunhua, a researcher with the Hebei Provincial Museum in Shijiazhuang.