Hanging coffins are coffins which have been placed on cliffs. They are practiced by various cultures in China, Indonesia, and the Philippines. China Hanging coffins in China are known in Mandarin as xuanguan () which also means "hanging coffin". They are an ancient funeral custom of some ethnic minorities. The most famous hanging coffins are those which were made by the Bo people (now extinct) of Sichuan and Yunnan. Coffins of various shapes were mostly carved from one whole piece of wood. Hanging coffins either lie on beams projecting outward from vertical faces such as mountains, are placed in caves in the face of cliffs, or sit on natural rock projections on mountain faces. The Bo people were one of the non-Han peoples native to southern China prior to Qin-Han conquests southward. The sparse descriptions of them in Chinese records describe them as being a prosperous farming culture who were also accomplished horsemen. They became victims of genocide by the Ming Dynasty in 1573 AD and are effectively extinct. Their language, rituals, and behaviors are unknown to archaeologists. There is a possibility, however, that the Ku people of Qiubei in southern Yunnan are surviving descendants of the Bo. Some of the Ku people also practice hanging coffins. People with the surname "He" in Yunnan are also believed locally to be descendants of the Bo. The reasons for the hanging coffins of the Bo people are unknown, because no Bo people are left. But it may simply be to prevent the dead from being disturbed. This is implied by Marco Polo's brief observation of the Bo rituals, saying that "when deceased [they] had their bodies put in a box and taken to the mountains to be put in caves, or hung out where others can not reach." Aside from the hanging coffins of the Bo, there are also several other hanging coffin sites found throughout China from differing time periods. They are also similarly mysterious, with the peoples responsible for them now either extinct or Sinicized. The following is a list of hanging coffin sites in China: Fujian Wuyi Mountains Hubei Zigui County Jiangxi Longhushan (龍虎山), 20 km southwest of Yingtan City (Guyue people) Sichuan Gongxian County of Yibin, southwest Sichuan (Bo people) Qutang Gorge, one of the Three Gorges Guangxi Hongshui River cliffs of Donglan County, with hanging coffins built by the Buyang people Yunnan Hanging tombs of the Bo