The builders were carrying out excavation works when they came across the man’s body, dressed in fine fabrics and laid to rest with his favorite fan.
The man, believed to be an ancestor of the Wang family, is estimated to have died sometime during the Ming (1368 to 1644 AD) or Qing (1644 to 1912) dynasties.
Judging by the corpse’s attire, as well as the limestone and fine wood used to build his coffin, it is believed he was a noble or at least came from a wealthy background, officials from China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage said.
The builders were stunned when they discovered the centuries-old coffin containing the body.
Despite spending what could have been hundreds of years underground, the body was surprisingly well-preserved, they added.
The corpse has since been carried out of the site and will be studied before it further decays in the open.
The body was discovered during excavation works in Zhizhu Village, which is in Jiangan Township in Anhua County, in China’s central Hunan Province.
Construction at the work site has since been halted, and the cultural heritage administration may even ask the firm to suspend works indefinitely.
If that happens, they would receive substantial compensation from the government.
So far, officials have not revealed whether they have discovered any of the man’s living descendants, despite being able to identify his family name and the precise location where he was buried.