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Since the recent storing up of river waterflow through the 3 Gorges Dam, the upper channel of the Yangzi River have become totally flooded, along with its 2000 yr old ancient pathways. And in the Bingshu Baojian Gorge, the hanging caskets of Yangzi high up on the cliff surface, once inacessible to men were finally within reach now as the water level had risen to such a great height. These caskets, considered ancient mysteries, were opened and several mysterious relics within were recovered.

According to a mainland news report, as the Yangzi water level was slowly rising, the government sent out archaeology experts to the cliff where the hanging caskets were located to remove them. The experts said that they took such a long time to shift these soon to be submerged caskets because in the past, the caskets were too high above the river. The locals in the surrounding area knew that these caskets were priceless, but none had been able to climb up so high to reach them. Before the water level rose to what it is now, the hanging caskets were at least 100 meters above the river; but now, that distance has been reduced to just 4 meters! Thus the saying goes: "Without the Dam storing up water, One can never get to the hanging caskets".

In accordance with local customs, the archaeologists kneeled before the caskets, burning joss sticks and Hades money as offerings to the spirits, then they kowtowed 3 times, letting off fire crackers before finally opening up the caskets. Within the first casket they found cultural relics in good order, 3 pieces each in the front, middle & back. In the second casket they found a precious sword, slightly over a meter long and with some unindentified inscriptions on it. There were also a few arrows with copper heads and wooden tails.

Local legends have long related that during the 3 Kingdoms Era, Zhuge Liang before his demise had his much coveted mystic sword and books of warfare placed in 2 separate caskets and hidden on a cliff which nobody can ever scale. Taking into account what they have heard, the archaeologists suspect that the precious sword that they have found is none other than the Sword of Kong Ming. This would of course require more research and examination, which is in process even as we speak.

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