The Fuxi double arch tunnel was constructed through a faulted rock mass of metasandstones overlain by slope debris. The paper describes the geological setting, highlighting the poor quality of the ...ground in the portal area. Following the construction of the exploratory tunnels, the concentrated overburden stress beneath the pillars caused severe deformation and cracking in the tunnel and in the slope above. An integrated analysis was carried out, taking into account the change in stress related to the excavation of the tunnels, the asymmetric pressures and the nature of the fractured overburden. This indicated that control of the tunnel vault deformation was a key step to controlling the deformation of the whole portal area. As a consequence, some additional support was provided to the central pillar prior to the construction of the main tunnels and the secondary lining was installed at an early stage.
This chapter examines the role of mother-creator Nüwa in Wu Zhao's assemblage of female political ancestors. In Han mortuary iconography, Nüwa is often paired with a male divinity, her ...brother-husband Fuxi. Nüwa and Fuxi were worshipped as primordial creators, guardian spirits and “tutelary genii of the dead.” Nüwa's signature serves as a symbol of social organization, marking her not only as a creator goddess, but also as “a goddess of proportion and measurement,” vital to both architecture and hydro-engineering. This chapter considers Wu Zhao's efforts to resuscitate Nüwa, how she discovered a valuable political immediacy in this shadowy creator and mender of the heavens, and how she gained leverage and legitimacy by connecting herself to this mythic avatar. With the help of Wu Zhao's propagandists, Nüwa reemerged as a significant cultic figure who played an important role in helping legitimate and magnify the imperial authority of China's first and only female emperor.