State of war over Henan's claim to have found fabled ruler's tomb

A war of words has broken out over a provincial government's claim to have uncovered the tomb of legendary ruler Cao Cao, underscoring the heightened scepticism towards mainland officialdom.

The Henan provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics announced the discovery of Cao Cao's grave in the village of Xigaoxue in Anyang county at a news conference in Beijing last week.

Archaeologists uncovered more than 250 artefacts and three sets of human bones, including those of a male in his sixties thought to be Cao Cao, who died at the age of 66 in 220AD.

If substantiated, the find would be a significant archaeological breakthrough and would shed light on the life of Cao Cao, who was popularised in The Romance of Three Kingdoms as a ruthless villain who took a weak emperor hostage. Cao Cao was able to unite much of northern China to form the Wei state, one of the three warring kingdoms at the time.

Much like the debate over Cao Cao himself, who was portrayed as a tyrant in the book but was also considered a brilliant military leader, the discovery has generated debate among academics.

Online commentators made the comparison with the 'South China tiger' uproar in 2008, in which a photo purporting to have been taken in Shaanxi of a member of the critically endangered big-cat subspecies was endorsed by provincial authorities but was later found to have been faked.