Ming Tombs,Dingling Museum, Changling Museum, 13 Ming Dynasty Tombs, Beijing Travel, China Travel

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Ming Tombs
Must Sees Great Wall Tian'anmen Square Forbidden City Summer Palace Temple of Heaven Ming Tombs Yonghegong Lamasery Old Hutongs in Beijing Optional Attractions Ancient Observatory Peking Man Site Jingshan Park Beihai Park Beijing Zoo Located at the southern foot of the Tianshou Mountain in Changping District in the north western suburban areas of Beijing, the Ming Tombs cover an area of 40 square kilometers with 13 Ming emperors buried here. Ever since 1409 when Emperor Zhu Di started building his tom here till the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644, the construction of the imperial tombs had been going on ceaselessly, lasting a period over 200 years. There are 16 emperors in the Ming Dynasty as known to many people. With the exception of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty who was buried in the Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing, Zhu Yunwen, who disappeared and Zhu Qiyu, who was buried at Jinshan Hill in the western suburbs of Beijing, all other 13 Ming emperors were buried in this tomb area, hence the area being called the 13 Ming Tombs. It was originally built only as Changling, the tomb of Emperor Zhu Di and his empress. This is the most magnificent of the tombs. The succeeding twelve emperors had their tombs built around Changling. Currently there are two tombs opened to the public, namely Changling and Dingling. Changling is the first Ming tomb built in this area, so the axle line of Changling naturally became the axle line of the whole Ming Tombs. The Stone Tablet House, along with the various tombs come together overall as a structurally and visually unified architectural accomplishment. Even though the tombs were built in different periods, they were strategically planed and built in different stages. While each tomb has its own distinct adornments, the entire tomb area has a unified layout and style. Buried together with his empress in Changling, Zhu Di was the third emperor in the Ming Dynasty. During the 22 years of his reign, he was, comparatively speaking, an emperor who had made quite some achievements. For instance, in 1421 he decided to move the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. The move itself was in some way an expression of far-sightedness, because it was of great importance to strengthening the national defense and guarding frontier areas. During the period from 1405 to 1424, Zheng He, also known as Eunuch Sanbao, sent by the emperor, had for six times been on board across the sea to over 30 countries in Asia and Africa. It was a diplomatic mission on an ever larger and broader scale in Chinese history. The Hall of Eminent Favor is located within the second compound of Changling, completed in 1416. It is a place for worshipping tablets of the emperor and empress and offering sacrifices to ancestors. The Hall of Eminent Favor in Changling, duplicated the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, is the best-preserved among the ones of the 13 tombs. It is a valuable relic of ancient China's wooden structures. Dingling, the tomb of Stability, is the tomb for Emperor Zhu Yijun. He was buried here together with his two empresses-Xiaoduan and Xiaojing. Zhu Yijun ascended the throne at the age of 10 and died at 58 with a reign span of 48 years. Hence he was the emperor who was in power for the longest time in the Ming Dynasty. The construction of the Dingling tomb started in 1584. It took 6 years to bring the project to finish in 1590, covering an area of 180,000 square meters and costing 8 million taels of silver. The excavation of Dingling began in May 1956, thus bringing to light the mystery of the underground palaces of the Ming Tombs. Built with hard stone-slabs, the underground palace consists of five beamless vaults, namely the front, the middle and the rear as well as the two annexes on the right and the left, with a total floor space of 1,195 square meters. Laid out in the middle vault are three thrones carved out of white marble and the rear hall with the bier holding three coffins for the emperor and his two queens. The archeological findings from the tomb come to a total of over 3,000 pieces.

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