Location: 30 mi (45 km) Northwest of Bejing Map
Subway: Xizhi Men then take Bus 845
Tel. (010) 8976 1554
Open: 8am- 5pm daily
The Ming dynasty tombs are a group of historic mausoleums built by
the emperors of the Ming dynasty of China. The first Ming emperor's
burials is located near ancient Chinese capital Nanjing. However,
the majority of the Ming tombs were built in a group near Beijing.
They are collectively known as the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming
Dynasty.
Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty are located 30
mi (45 km) Northwest of Bejing in China. The site was chosen by
Emperor Yongle (1402- 24) of the Ming Dynasty (1368- 1644) in the
Tianshou Mountain using principles of feng shui. Apparently he used
the same logic when he moved his capital from Nanjing to modern
Chinese capital of Beijing. Here he constructed a mausoleum and
thirteen subsequent emperors of his family were buried here. After
the death of a last emperor of this dynasty Chongzhen, who committed
suicide by hanging in 25th of April 1644, the Ming Dynasty ended.
The Royal cemetery of the Ming dynasty was ransacked and badly
damaged by the troops of Li Zicheng who briefly established his Shun
Dynasty. However real challenges came during Cultural Revolution in
1966. At the time of this dramatic social change only one of the
tombs was properly excavated. The burial belonged to Emperor
Dingling and his wife. Chinese government established a museum in
honor of the emperor with all his possessions displayed here.
However Chinese Red Guard stormed the museum, destroyed many of the
historic artifacts and even "executed" the bodies of the medieval
rulers. Much of what you see today is a mere replica of the things
that were destroyed by the vandals.
There are three tombs that can be visited: the Chang Ling tomb, which
is the largest, the Ding Ling tomb, located in the basement of a palace
and the Zhao Ling tomb. Excavations on the site were suspended in 1989
even though archaeological research studies continued over time with a
view to the possible opening of other tombs.
The Tombs of the
Thirteen Emperors are located on the southern slope of Mount Taishou
(originally Mount Huangtu). It is believed that this was the original
seat of ancient Beijing, and the numerous monuments located there would
testify to this. After the construction of the Imperial Palace
(Forbidden City) in 1420, the Yongle Emperor himself selected the site
for his burial and arranged for the creation of a special mausoleum.
Since that time, thirteen emperors have been buried at the site, which
in the Ming era was absolutely inaccessible to the people.
The
tombs of the first two Ming emperors are located near Nanjing (which was
the capital at the time of their reign). The Jingtai Emperor was not
buried here, but west of Beijing, as the Tianshun Emperor denied his
burial here. The Chongzhen Emperor was the last to be buried in the Ming
Tombs: he hanged himself in April 1644. In the same month, rebel Li
Zicheng's army sacked the site and set it on fire before the advance and
conquest of Beijing .
The necropolis was chosen based on the principles of Feng Shui
geomancy according to which evil spirits from the north were to be
diverted to a specific arc-shaped area at the foot of the Jundu
Mountains north of Beijing. This area of forty square kilometers was
identified in an uncontaminated valley, bordered by mountains, rich in
water and dark earth.
The site is surrounded by a wall and
crossed by a seven-kilometre-long avenue known as the Sacred Way or Way
of the Spirits (神道S, ShéndàoP), punctuated by twelve pairs of statues
with animal figures and twelve statues of Ming personalities, which
leads to the complex, one of the best-preserved examples of 15th-century
Chinese art and architecture. The main entrance - known as the Great Red
Door - is divided into three red-painted arched entrances.
Ding Ling (Chinese: 定陵; pinyin: Dìng Lìng; literally "Tomb of
Tranquility"), is the tomb of Emperor Wanli and the only one to have
been excavated in the basement of a palace since the founding of the
People's Republic of China. The works to bring it back to light began in
1956 after a group of scholars led by Guo Moruo and Wu Han had begun the
excavation of the Chang Ling, the tomb of the Yongle emperor, the
largest and oldest of the tombs of the Ming dynasty called also Tomb of
Longevity. Despite the approval of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, the
project to unearth this tomb was rejected due to a veto placed by
archaeologists for the sacredness of the figure of the emperor who was
buried there.
Thus it was decided to restore the Ding Ling, the
third largest among the Ming tombs, the restoration of which was
completed in 1957. Two years later a museum was established there. The
excavation revealed an intact tomb, with thousands of silk, textile,
wood and porcelain items that belonged to Emperor Wanli, Empress
Xiaoduan and concubine Xiaojing.
The lack of technology and
resources to protect the finds from the excavation proved to be an
obstacle to the recovery project, so much so that the large quantity of
silk and other fabrics was set aside for a long time in a storeroom
exposed to water and wind. Most of the artifacts have deteriorated so
much that the museum is forced to exhibit copies.
With the advent
of the Cultural Revolution promoted by Mao Zedong in 1966, the
restoration works at the site were blocked for the next ten years. Wu
Han, a major proponent of the project, became the first major target of
the Cultural Revolution: prosecuted and denounced, he died in prison in
1969. The Red Guards devastated the museum by setting fire to the site
and destroying nearly every exhibit.
It was only starting from
1979, with the death of Mao and the end of the Cultural Revolution, that
archaeological activity was able to resume its course. The outcome of
this research and recovery work on the Ding Ling excavation prompted the
new government of the People's Republic of China to resume excavations,
albeit with moderation and purely for protection and conservation
purposes, as in the case of the Qianling Mausoleum. The original plan to
use Ding Ling Tomb as a test site for a possible resumption of
excavations at Chang Ling Tomb appears to have been shelved for good.
In the front part of the imperial necropolis is the so-called Via
Sacra, i.e. the road leading to Heaven, along which the Emperor (The Son
of Heaven) would have descended to earth, and along which he would then
return to Heaven.
The thirty-six statues located along the Via
Sacra - an allegory of the road to paradise - also called the Street of
stone figures, were made in 1435 in white Beijing marble. Their meaning
was symbolically to protect the eternal sleep of emperors
The
twenty-four representing animal figures are symmetrically aligned in
double pairs, two standing and two at rest. At the end of the street
there are twelve standing statues of generals with sabers, mandarins and
ministers.
Lions - symbol of dignity and power and guards the imperial tombs
Unicorns - sign of justice against evil spirits
Camels and elephants
- symbol of the vastness of the emperor's territory
Horses - or
animals useful for imperial transport
The Qilin instead represents
the spiritual defender to protect the imperial tombs.