The tomb was discovered by some locals in 1999 in Wangguo village in Jinyuan district of the city of Taiyuan, it was subsequently excavated officially in July of the same year.

[2] The man buried in the tomb went by Yu Hong (Chinese: 虞弘; pinyin: Yú Hóng; Wade–Giles: Yü2 Hung2; 533–592 AD), with Mopan (莫潘) as his courtesy name, who was a Central Asian, probably of Persian or Sogdian origin, and practiced Zoroastrianism.

The epitaph found in the tomb records that he was a noble of the city of Yü-ho-lin / Yuhelin (尉紇驎) in the mysterious Yu country (魚國), assumably for which he is named,[3] because the two characters 虞 and 魚 are homophones.

According to the epitaph, Yu Hong started his career in service of the nomadic tribe at the time, known as Ruru.

He had later served as a provincial governor in the Sui dynasty government, a chieftain of the Central Asian people who had settled in China during that period.

It is covered with bas-reliefs and painted stone panels, comprising 54 scenes, featuring motifs of Central Asian or Persian origin, such as the costumes, vessels, musical instruments and dances.

In addition, numerous Zoroastrian symbols are clearly displayed: the holy fire on a lotus, guarded by two priests half-bird, half-human wearing the traditional padam (a piece of cloth in front of them and also including a portrayal of Mithra wearing a Sasanian crown, which decorated with the typical symbol of a solar disc resting on crescent moon.