Endless rows of wheat, showing the first green of early spring spread across the dark yellow loess in the suburbs of Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Beneath this farmland lies one of the greatest mysteries of Chinese architecture, dating back to the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC).

The Qin, the first but the shortest dynasty in Chinese history, has left behind a rich legacy: for instance, the Great Wall and the mausoleum of its first emperor, protected for over 2,000 years by the thousands of terracotta warriors excavated only in the 1970s and 1980s.

These two wonders of human endeavour have been accompanied with stories of another legendary creation the Epang Palace, which was believed to be the largest and most luxurious palace in the country's history.

Historical documents and works of literature have repeatedly described its magnificence: It covered such an immense area that the weather in different parts of the palace varied; It housed so many beauties in its harem that some never had a chance to meet the Qin emperor in 36 years; and the royal family lived in such luxury that jewels and jades were scattered in the palace passageways like pebbles on a beach.

Since the fall of the Qin Dynasty, the Epang Palace has become a metaphor for the extravagance of state administrators that has led so many rulers to their doom.

Documents say the palace itself was burned to the ground during the peasant uprising that overthrew the Qin dynasty.

However, recent archaeological finds have raised a shocking question: did the palace ever exist, or are both it and the fire a 2,200-year-old lie.

Surprise finds

The archaeological research on the historical site of the palace, which started in the autumn of 2002, was launched by the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), in co-operation with the Xi'an Municipal Archaeological Research Institute, following the granting of official approval from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

The research team is led by Li Yufang, an archaeologist with the CASS institute.

The major part of the site today is a terrace more than 1,200 metres long and 400 metres wide in the area of Jujia and Zhaojia villages in suburban Xi'an, according to Liu Qingzhu, director of the institute, the project consultant.

"Local farmers have been planting wheat and building their houses and tombs on the site," Liu said.

"Researchers on the site became concerned in the last few years, as the farmers were building new houses of two or three floors," he said. "They dug deep into the ground for the foundations of their buildings, and used the soil to make bricks.

"All these activities posed a threat to the preservation of the site," he added.

During the first phase of the research, which is expected to last five years, archaeologists will try to determine the area of the site and decide the location of its most important parts.

"We have drilled into the site that we believe was the base of the palace, to determine where walls and corridors were and how tall the houses could have been," Liu explained. "The palace could be restored according to its base even though it disappeared three millenniums ago."

Up to now archaeologists have drilled in an area of 200,000 square metres, covering two thirds of the terrace, with five holes bored in each square metre.

The more than one million holes form a net that is part of the attempt to unravel the mysteries of the palace and its history.

The classic Shi Ji (Record of History), written by Sima Qian (ca 145-86 BC), said that Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, forced 700,000 residents to construct the Epang Palace in 212 BC.

Construction was suspended two years later, when the emperor died and the labourers were forced to build his mausoleum.

Construction of the palace was started again in 209 BC at the order of his successor.

The young emperor then put to jail his two prime ministers and one general, who dared to speak for the poverty-stricken people and to object to the construction of the great palace.

The young emperor killed himself in 207 BC, when Xiang Yu (232-202 BC), leader of the peasants' uprising against him, broke into his capital, Xianyang, in today's Shaanxi Province.

Xiang Yu's men carried out massacres in the city and burned the palaces in Xianyang. The fires burned for three months, according to Sima Qian.

Chinese scholars interested in and familiar with the history have believed ever since that the Epang Palace was also burned in the fire, along with the capital.

The fire and the grandeur of the palace were described in numerous works of literature, among which the most famous was "Ode to Epang Palace," by Du Mu (AD 803-852).

However, the archaeologists' drilling has revealed no traces of the fire, announced the research team.

"Xiang Yu never had the Epang Palace burned," said Li Yufang, the team leader.

"Everywhere in Xianyang, the Qin capital, we found burned red soil and traces of ashes during our excavation of the Xianyang Palace, but we've found nothing of the kind at the site of the Epang Palace," Li Yufang told Beijing-based Guangming Daily.

What's more, their archaeological digs to date suggest that the Epang palace might have never been completed.

"During trial excavations we found tiles of the Qin Dynasty but not a single piece of eaves tile, which was the most common part of buildings of the period," Li said.

Li said she and her colleagues also unearthed relics and other items left by people living in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), but that they have found little so far that is related to the area's social life going back to the Qin Dynasty.

"If there were any big buildings in the Qin Dynasty, some vestige of them should have remained," she said.

Li's announcements have shocked not only archaeologists and historians, but also the public.

"I really don't want to accept the finds, though they may be scientific," said a netizen during an online discussion of Sina.com.

"The impressive grandeur of the Epang Palace and the deadly beauty of its vanishing in flames are a nostalgic and aesthetic part of history. Things will be much more boring without it," said the surfer.

Suspicious existence

Heated discussions have taken place among researchers, as some support Li and others say the conclusions were reached in too much of a hurry.

"Shi Ji only says Xiang Yu had the palaces in Xianyang burned. We have believed in the razing of the Epang Palace mostly because of literary works and misunderstandings," said Wang Hui, a professor with Shaanxi Normal University.

However, Zhang Chuanxi, vice-president of the China Qin and Han History Research Society, said the Epang Palace should have existed.

"Sima Qian described the Epang Palace only 100 years after the Qin Dynasty. He got the details of even more ancient structures right, so how can he have been wrong about such an important event," he said.

Li, the team leader, said she "understands how people feel about the finds."

She said her team will go on working on the terrace and make trial excavations on several sites this year.

(China Daily 03/05/2004 page13)