The museum is actually centered around a tomb of the Nanyue King, who was the second generation of the King of Nanyue Kingdom in the early West Han Dynasty. He was also the grandson of General Zhao Tuo of the Qin dynasty who unified areas south of the five mountain ridges.
The tomb enjoys a history of over 2,000 years and was first discovered in 1983. Over 1,000 pieces or sets of relics and 15 buried-alive dead bodies have been unearthed. This tomb is the earliest, largest, and richest ancient tomb of the early Han dynasty that has been found in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas. It is also the only all-stone tomb with early colored murals. The unearthed cultural relics include bronze instruments, 36 large cooking vessels, 36 bronze mirrors, 3 gold coins, and 240 jade wares.
It is supposed that the King wore clothes with jade pieces sewn together. Other interesting finds include a blue colored flat grass slab, a set of printing copper molds, and African ivory.
The tomb stands on Xianggang Hill beside Jiefang Road.
