23. Ming Tomb & Jade Factory


Stone Archway at entrance to Ming Tombs

Day 16

After lunch, we went to the Ming Tombs. About 50 km (31 miles) from BeiJing is a cluster of hills behind a small plain. It's here that 13 emperors of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) have been buried. 

Construction of the tombs started in 1409 and ended with the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644. These tombs were built in an area of 40 square kilometres, surrounded by walls totalling 40 kilometres. Each tomb is located at the foot of a separate hill. The connecting road is called the Sacred Way. 

Sacred Way, the road fronting the thirteen tombs

The Sacred Way is lined with 18 pairs of stone human figures and animals. These include four each of three types of officials: civil, military and meritorious, symbolizing those who assisted the emperor in the administration of the state, plus four each of six types of animals: lion, griffin, camel, elephant, unicorn and horse. 

The stone archway at the southern end of the Sacred Way, built in 1540, is 14 metres high and 19 metres wide, and is decorated with designs of clouds, waves and divine animals. Well-proportioned and finely carved, the archway is one of the best preserved specimens of its kind from the Ming Dynasty. It is also the largest ancient stone archway in China. 

Sacred Way, the road fronting the thirteen tombs

BeiJing served as the national capital during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Unlike Ming and Qing rulers who all built massive tombs for themselves, Yuan rulers left no similar burial grounds. BeiJing nomads came from the Mongolian steppe. Mongols, who established the Yuan Dynasty, believed that they had come from earth. In a Mongol funeral, the dead was placed inside a hollowed nanmu tree, which they buried under grassland. The subsequent growth of grass left no traces of the tombs. 

By contrast, during the Ming Dynasty established by Han Chinese coming from an agricultural society in central China, people believed the existence of an after-world, where the dead "lived" a life similar to that of the living. Ming emperors, therefore, had grand mausoleums built for themselves. So did Qing emperors. These are some of the most significant tombs.

YongLing is the tomb for ShiZong, Zhu HouCong (1507-1566). He reigned for 45 years.

Dingling is the tomb of WanLi (AKA Zhu YiJun), 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty from 1573 to 1619 and of his two empresses, Xiao Duan and Xiao Jing. The tomb occupies a total area of 1,195 square meters at the foot of DaYu Mountain. 

Ming Tombs

The Underground Palace at Dingling consists of an antechamber, a central chamber and a rear chamber plus the left and right annexes. Two marble doors are made of single slabs and carved with life-size human figures, flowers and birds. More than 3,000 articles have been unearthed, the most precious being the golden crowns of the emperor and his queen.

ChangLing is the tomb of emperor YongLe (AKA Zhu Di), who reigned 1403-1424, third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and of his empress. Built in 1413, the mausoleum extends over an area of 100,000 square metres. 

Ming Tombs

Emperor XianZong, Zhu JianShen, and his three empresses are entombed within MaoLing. Zhu JianShen (1447-1487) was the first son of Emperor YingZong. He reigned for 22 years. 

We chose not to walk down into the tombs which we were told were some 90 steps down (and 90 more back up). Much of the relics that were found below we saw in the small museum above. Afterward, we rested in the shade, ate popsicles and enjoyed watching all of the other tourists.

Impressive YuanMing Garden

On our way back to the hotel, we made a stop at a jade factory. Naturally, there was a gift shop connected to the factory. If we were intending to buy, bargaining with the clerks was expected. Again we looked, but didn't buy.

Tonight's dinner was in the hotel restaurant. It was intended to be a Western dinner buffet, but only the lettuce salad and asparagus soup had familiar tastes. Could we be getting homesick?

Before dinner, we had checked our finances. Cash was in short supply since we were not able to use our credit card as much as planned. One anticipated expense was for videotapes and group pictures. Our photographer was to come by our room to collect the money after dinner. Before we left for dinner, Bill put the money on the bar, anchored by the ice bucket. 

When we returned later, the money was gone. Bill suspects that our maid came in to turn down the beds and believed it to be her tip. Nice tip! The group pictures and videos, which we had thought were a little pricey, were now twice as much so. But, we certainly would not begrudge our housekeeper an occasional windfall.

Getting through the next two days was going to be tight. With this on our minds, we went to bed. It was to be a restless night. 

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