The Ming Tombs are located at the
south foot of Tianshou Mountain in Changping County of Beijing City.
The Ming Dynasty was founded in 1368, after
Emperor Taizu (Zhu Yuanzhang) overthrew the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). In the
17th year (1644) of the Chongzhen reign, the Ming Dynasty was
overthrown by the peasant uprising led by Li Zhicheng. The Ming Dynasty lasted
for 277 years with altogether 16 emperors. Emperor Taizu had reigned for 31
years, and after his death he was buried at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain in
Nanjing. The second emperor was Emperor Jianwen named Zhu Yunwen, who stayed for
4 years on the throne. The king Yan named Zhu Di dispatched troops to the south,
and attacked Nanjing. Nanjing was caught on fire, and nobody knew where Emperor
Jianwen went. Someone said he burnt himself, and others said he became a monk.
It is still an unsettled case in the history of the Ming Dynasty; Emperor
Jingtai (Zhu Qiyu) was murdered during the Yingzong restoration of the dethroned
monarch. At first, he was buried in Jinshan Mountain in the west suburb of
Beijing, and his tomb was later enlarged and moved into the mausoleum called The
Mausoleum of Emperor Jingtai. The other 13 emperors were all buried here, and
the tombs of them are given one unified name Ming Tombs. The mausoleums take up
over 40 square kilometers, with the Chaozong River winding eastward around it
and the Dragon and Tiger Mountain confronting each other. The scenery is
beautiful and grand.
The Changling Mausoleum for the
3rd emperor Zhu Di in the Ming Dynasty is in the center of the Ming
Tombs, to the east of which are the Jingling, the Yongling and the Deling
mausoleums, and to the west are 6 mausoleums including the Xianling, the
Qingling, the Yuling, the Tailing, the Kangling mausoleums. There are three
mausoleums, namely the Dingling Mausoleum, the Zhaoling Mausoleum and the
Daoling Mausoleum to the southwest. Each mausoleum has a sacred path, a memorial
archway and stone statues. The whole layout of the mausoleum consists of two
parts: the sacred path and the grave.
The stone memorial archway is the starting
point of the sacred path, built in the 19th year (1540) of the
Jiajing reign, and was built of white marbles. It has 5 bays, with 6 columns and
11 floors. It is 28.86 meters in width, and 14 meters in height. Patterns of
beasts decorate the stones that support columns. The big palace gate, the
stele pavilion and the dragon and phoenix gate in turn stand in the north of the
archway. On the two sides of this group of constructions are huge stone
carvings, including 24 stone beasts and 12 stone human figures, creating a
kingly atmosphere for the sacred path. Except some difference in area and the
complexity and simplicity of the construction, the layout and the system are
generally the same. The plane of the mausoleum is rectangular, with the
mausoleum gate, stele pavilions, the Ling'en Gate, the Soul Tower and the
Treasure City along the central axis.
The Ming Tombs are famous for the Changling
Mausoleum with grand ground constructions, and the Dingling Mausoleum with its
underground palace unearthed. The diameter of the Treasure City in the Changling
Mausoleum is 340 meters. On the top of the Dingling there is battlement taking
the shape of a brick castle. Inside the city, there is a huge earthen heap,
under which is the underground palace. The Ling'en Palace is the most
spectacular, and it is located in the three-layer stone platform circled by
white marble guardrails. The stone platform is about 3 meters in height; its
area is 1,956 square meters. It has 9 bays in the front and 5 bays in depth with
yellow tiles, red walls, and double eaves; and 32 spun gold nanmu columns, among
which the largest one has a diameter of 1.17 meters, and 14.3 meters in height;
the girder, mast, purling, and rafters are all built of nanmu.
The
Dingling Mausoleum was the joint tomb of the 13th emperor Shenzong
Zhu Yijun and his two empresses. In 1956, approved by Premier Zhou Enlai, it had
been excavated and archaeologically studied, unveiling the enigma of the
underground palace. The total area of the underground palace is 1,195 square
meters. It consists of front, middle, rear, left and right palaces. The arch
gate of each chamber is finely carved, and decorated with braveness. Among them,
the rear palace is the tallest, with 30 meters in length, 9 meters in width and
9.5 meters in height, and its ground is paved with burnished flower speckle
stones. The coffins of Emperor Shenzong and his two empresses are put in the
center of the coffin bed together with a red painted wooden case full of funeral
objects The rare cultural relics unearthed in the tomb including gold crown,
phoenix coronet, and china and silk, which are rare and invaluable in the world,
and now on display in the showroom of the Dingling Mausoleum.