Thirteen Ming Tombs
Introduction
The Thirteen Ming Tombs is situated at the foot of Heavenly Longevity Mountain, Changping, northwest of Beijing, 50 kilometers far away from Beijing city. The tombs cover 40 square kilometers. There are 13 Ming emperors, 23 empresses, as well as many concubines, princes, princesses and maids from May, 7th year of Yongle (1409) to the last emperor Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty buried in the tomb. It is the best preserved and the most emperors’ tomb group in the world.
The founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, established his capital in the present day Nanjing where he was buried after his death. His tomb is called Xiaoling (Tomb of Filial Piety). The body of the second emperor of the Ming, Zhu Yunwen, is missing. Some said that he died in a fire, while others said that he went to a temple and became a monk. There is no final conclusion yet. The seventh Ming Emperor Zhu Qiyu, was buried as a prince by his elder brother Zhu Qizhen at Jinshankou, a western suburb of Beijing. In the 14th year of Zhengtong (1449), a Mongolian tribe Wa La, invaded the Ming from four directions.
Instigated by eunuch Wang Zhen, Ming Emperor Zhu Qizhen led an army of 500 thousand to fight against the invaders. As a result of an ambush by the Wa La army, Emperor Zhu Qizhen became a captive. The younger brother of Zhu Qizhen, Zhu Qiyu was chosen as the new emperor. In July 1450, Yexian, the chieftain of Wa La sent Zhu Qizhen back to Ming. Ying Zong (Zhu Qizhen) and his entourage proclaimed his re-enthronement. Historically, the incident was called the Seizing Gate Upheaval. The 16 emperors in the Ming Dynasty, 13 emperors buried in the Ming tomb area while the other two buried in other locations and the rest is missing. So it is called “Thirteen Ming Tombs”.
Heavenly Longevity Mountain, the thirteen Ming Tomb located, was chosen and the cemetery was built in accordance with the principle of geomancy. The Heavenly Longevity Mountains are a branch of the Taihang Mountain range. The dragon mountain range comes from Juyong and Jundu winding to the east. Then it makes a turn to the south. The whole tomb area is surrounded by mountains on three sides. on the south side, Tiger Hill and dragon Hill face each other forming a natural gate. Gu Yanwu, a famous scholar in the end of Ming Dynasty and early of Qing Dynasty, had written poem to describe the advantage of this area.
This elegant natural scenery was considered as a geomantic area.
Highlights
The Thirteen Ming Tomb is integrity; each tomb of it is a separated unit. The specification of Tomb is largely identical but with minor differences. Each tomb was built on the front of the hill, and there is 0.5 miles at least and no better than 8 miles. Siling Tomb is on the southwest, and the rest lay besides of the Changling Tomb. This kind of layout is appreciated by foreign experts. As a famous British historian Joseph Lee said: Ming Tomb is a great achievement in Chinese architecture system. Its entire design is a great example of architecture connecting with landscape art. He thought the Thirteen Ming Tomb is the “greatest masterpiece”. His experience is that you can view the entire scenery of valley standing on the upstairs. You can meditate the majestic vision on the organic plane, gathering all the buildings and scenery together.
People’s wisdom is expressed by the skill of architects and builders. British city planner Edmond Bacon gave a higher appraise to the Thirteen Ming Tomb. He thought that Ming Tomb is the great example of “moving” in architecture history. He pointed that the layout of Ming Tomb is magnificent and the entire valley are used to memorialize the past emperors. They descried the well connection of architecture and natural scenery to admire the wisdom of our ancient people.
It is about five hundred years since Ming Tomb established. The Thirteen Ming Tomb is the best preserving ones among the past dynasties imperial tombs. It has a great historical and cultural value by its great architecture, completed system and long history. After the founding of New China, the party and state implemented proper protection of the Ming Tombs and carried out large scale commercialization. In 1957, the government of Beijing claimed that The Thirteen Ming Tomb was the first group of key units of cultural relics’ protection. In 1961, it was claimed as the State-level key units of cultural relics’ protection. In 1982, the State Council Ministries claimed that the scenery from Badaling Great Wall to The Thirteen Ming Tomb is one of the key scenic spots protection area accounted to 44. In 1991, it was considered to be one of the forty greatest scenic spots in China by state Travel and Tourism Administration. In 1992, the selection committee of the world greatest in Beijing Tourism judged it as the best preserving and most emperors’ tombs in the world.
The Thirteen Ming Tomb is a part of Chinese ancient culture, and it forms a tourist attraction with beautiful scenery and deep culture value by means of connection with natural scenery.
Traffic
Drive line:
Drive along Jing-Chang (from Beijing to Changping) expressway to the exit in Changping and take ￥15 in the expressway, pass through Pingxi Pass circular island, and then take 101 national line
Turn right at 34 kilometers and drive about 200 meters. The stone torii of The Thirteen Ming Tombs is on the right of the road, the two side of the road are apple gardens. Keep driving, you can find the Sacred Way. on the T-shaped crossing, drive straight you will find Dingling, Changling and the other Tombs. Or turn right, there is the road of circling lake for reservoir of The Thirteen Ming Tombs.
Then turn left at the 4.7 kilometers, you get to the entry of Mangshan Park. Drive straight, you will get to reservoir of The Thirteen Ming Tombs.
Thirteen Ming Tombs fee and opening hours
Admission Dingling: ￥40 in low season, ￥60 in midseason
Changling: ￥30 in low season, ￥45 in midseason
Zhaoling: ￥20 in low season, ￥30 in midseason
Sacred Way: ￥20 in low season, ￥30 in midseason
Juyong Pass Great Wall: ￥20 in low season, ￥30 in midseason
Yinshantalin: ￥15 in low season, ￥20 in midseason
PS: Low season is from 1st December to 31st march of the next year
Midseason is from 1st April to 31st October
Opening hours: Dingling 8:30-18:00
Changling: 8：30-17:30
Zhaoling: 8：30-17:30
Sacred Way: 8:30-18:00 It will adjust according to the seasons
Tips
The Thirteen Ming Tombs is located at the foot of Heavenly Longevity Mountain, Changping District, and it is the general name of the 13 imperial tombs of Ming Dynasty. The order is Changling at first and Xiaoling, Jingling, Yuling, Maoling, Tailing, Kangling, Yongling, Zhaoling, Dingling, Qingling, Deling and Siling follows.
