Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen

In 1368 A.D., Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the rule of the Yuan Dynasty and established the Ming Dynasty with Nanjing as its capital. In the 19th year of Emperor Chengzu Yongle (1421 A.D.), the capital was moved to Beijing.In the second year after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he issued an edict to build the "ancestral mausoleum" for his grandfather in Sizhou, Jiangsu Province, and the "imperial mausoleum" for his parents in Fengyang, Anhui Province.From Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang to Sizong Chongzhen and the death of Ming Dynasty, there were 16 emperors.Among them, the whereabouts of the second emperor Zhu Yunqi (wenwen) was unknown in the civil war with Chengzu Zhu Di (di) for the emperor, and the seventh emperor Zhu Qiyu was buried in Beijing with royal rites after his death due to the restoration of the previous emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen. Jinshan in the western suburbs, although restored to the emperor's name and expanded, is still smaller than other mausoleums.There are 14 cemeteries built by other emperors.

Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's Xiaoling Mausoleum is located at the southern foot of Zijin Mountain in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing City, and the other 13 imperial tombs are all located at the southern foot of Tianshou Mountain, 10 kilometers northeast of Changping County, Beijing today. They are collectively referred to as the "Ming Tombs" (Figure 12). The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were superstitious about Feng Shui and attached great importance to the selection of the mausoleum site.The Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty was moved to the temple twice, and the site selection of the Ming Tombs took two years before being selected from several alternative mausoleum sites.The mausoleum area is chosen to be in an area with mountains on its back and water on its face, surrounded by mountains and surrounded by streams.Xiaoling Mausoleum is located at the foot of Mount Everest in Dulongfu, Zijin Mountain, with its back against the peaks and facing the plain, with deep springs and deep valleys and lush forests.The Ming Tombs are located at the southern foot of Tianshou Mountain, with towering peaks on the east, west and north sides, and the Wenyu River meandering on the south side, with beautiful mountains and rivers and magnificent scenery.The Ming Tombs are arranged around the Changling Mausoleum, forming a relatively concentrated mausoleum area, which has become a prominent feature of the mausoleum system in the Ming Dynasty.

The tombs of the Ming Dynasty were of different sizes, but their shapes were roughly the same.Zhu Yuanzhang's Xiaoling Mausoleum and Zhu Di's Changling Mausoleum, because one is the ancestral mausoleum and the other is the first mausoleum in Beijing, are both relatively large in scale.The later mausoleums, those built by the emperor himself during his lifetime, were taller and more elaborate; those built by his descendants after his death were smaller and more sloppy.After Sizong Zhu Youjian hanged himself, he was buried in the tomb of Concubine Tian Gui, the smallest.

Near the cemeteries in the Ming Dynasty, there were shrine supervisors in charge of sacrificial offerings and other affairs.There are also guards in each mausoleum to guard the mausoleum with garrisons.Today there is Xiaolingwei Town outside Zhongshan Gate in Nanjing, and there are Changlingwei, Xianlingwei, Jinglingwei and other alleys in Changping County, Beijing.According to Shen Guoyuan's "Cong Xin Lu of Two Dynasties", in the 29th year of Jiajing (1550 A.D.) in Changping Prefecture, "4,000 people set up the Yong'an Camp, and 3,000 people set up the Gonghua Camp. Cut off each pass."It can be seen how strict the defense of the mausoleum was at that time.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the burial system stipulated that one emperor and one empress were buried in each mausoleum, and most of the other concubines were buried in the southeast and southwest of Changling, which were called Dongjing and Xijing.Since the orthodoxy of Yingzong, most of the mausoleums have one emperor and two empresses or one emperor and three empresses, and the system of burying concubines from death has been abolished.After the death of the concubine, most of them were buried in the Jinshan area in the western suburbs of Beijing.This kind of system reflects from one aspect the political autocracy and corruption of the rulers of the Ming Dynasty, and the extravagant life.

The layout and shape of the Ming Tombs and the Ming Tombs are basically the same.The entire cemetery faces south and is divided into two parts, the front and the back.The front part is the gate of the cemetery and Shinto, and the back part is the mausoleum and underground palace.Surrounded by walls built on both sides of the mausoleum gate according to the terrain, gates were set up at each mountain pass, enemy towers were set up, and troops were sent to guard.The buildings of the cemetery have been damaged and are incomplete, but most of the remains remain. According to records, Xiaoling Mausoleum has a circumference of about 22.5 kilometers.The main entrance of the mausoleum area is called Dajinmen, and in front of the gate there are "Xiamafang" and the "Forbidden Treaty Monument" erected by Emperor Chongzhen.The six characters "Officials of various departments get off their horses" are engraved on the square, which means that this is the entrance to the cemetery, and officials of all sizes must get off their horses and walk. The inscription on the "Monument of Prohibition" has hundreds of words, reiterating the strict protection of the Xiaoling Mausoleum.At that time, the peasant uprising had swept across the country, and it could neither protect the Ming Dynasty nor save Xiaoling from being destroyed.From the north of Xiamafang to the hills, the total length is about 2.6 kilometers.The gate tower of Dajinmen has been destroyed, and only three gates remain.Behind the gate is Shinto, which is in an arc shape and half embraces a small mountain, named Meihua Mountain, with a total length of about one kilometer.At the southern end of the Shinto, there is a pavilion of "Shengong Shengde Monument of Xiaoling Mausoleum of Ming Dynasty".The stele is 8.87 meters high and is made of a complete boulder.The inscription on the inscription is in regular script, with a length of more than 2,700 characters. It was written by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, which describes the achievements of Ming Taizu in his life.The Shinto goes northwest, and there are 12 pairs of standing stone elephants on both sides, all of which are standing upright and squatting, among which the elephants and camels are the tallest.Shinto turns north, and there are a pair of Huabiao on both sides.The Huabiao is cylindrical, 6.25 meters high, white as jade in color, and engraved with cloud and dragon patterns around the pillars.Further north are two pairs of military generals and two pairs of civil servants, each with a pair of young beardless men and a pair of old bearded men.Military generals wear armor [Zhou Zhou], hold Jinwu in their hands, and wear swords at their waists; civil servants wear imperial crowns on their heads and hold imperial wats in their hands.These stone carvings are representative works of stone carving art in the early Ming Dynasty.In front of it is the Ling (Ling Ling) star gate, which has collapsed, and now there are only six stone-carved pillar foundations.Passing through Lingxing Gate, around the northern foot of Meihua Mountain, there is Yuhe Bridge.The Shinto twists and turns and uses a mountain as a barrier. This was not seen in the tombs of the previous dynasties, but it was used in the Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty and the Western Tombs of the Qing Dynasty.This method can make the Shinto prolong and give people a mysterious and deep feeling.Going up the gentle slope from Yuhe Bridge to the north, the buildings are arranged along the north-south axis.Climbing up the steps into the mausoleum gate, there is the stone masonry remnant of Lingen Hall.To the north is Fangcheng, with an arched tunnel in the lower part, and the Jianming Building in the upper part, which was destroyed in the early years and has been renovated now.Behind the square city is a circular earthen mound with a diameter of about 400 meters, called Baoding, surrounded by brick walls, called Baocheng.

The Ming Tombs are surrounded by flakes or pebbles to build walls around the mountains, and a pass is built at the mountain pass, with a circumference of about 34 kilometers.The main entrance of the mausoleum area is named Dahongmen, located between two mountains, Mang Mountain in the east and Huyu Mountain in the west, symbolizing green dragons and white tigers, standing on the left and right, guarding the gate of the mausoleum.There is a tall stone archway and a dismounting tablet in front of the gate.The archway is five six-column verandah roofs, about 34 meters wide and 11 meters high, all carved with white marble.The cloud dragon is carved in relief on the feet, and the lying beast is carved in the round on the top.Dahongmen is a single-eave Xieshan-top building, with three coupon holes in the lower part, all of masonry structure, red walls and yellow tiles, very solemn and majestic.

Behind the gate is the Zongshin Road, which leads directly to Changling, about six kilometers long.At the southern end there is a pavilion of "Monuments of Divine Achievements and Virtue of the Changling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty".The stele is 6.5 meters high, and the bottom is a huge tortoise seat.The inscription is more than 3,000 characters long, written by Renzong Zhu Gaochi, describing the life experience of Ming Chengzu.On the back of the stele is engraved the poem "Ai Mingling Mausoleum Thirty Rhymes" by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, and on both sides are records of the restoration of the Ming Mausoleum during Qianlong and Jiaqing.Outside the four corners of the stele pavilion stands a white onyx watch, carved with cloud and dragon patterns.To the north of the stele pavilion, on both sides of the 800-meter-long Shinto, are imitated the standing stone statues of the Xiaoling Mausoleum.There are four lions, xiezhi, camels, elephants, unicorns, and four horses each, all lying on two sides;The stone carvings are all carved from a whole piece of white stone, with vivid images.In the north of Shinto is a three-door archway style Lingxing gate composed of Huabiao stone pillars.Then north across the Qikong Yuhe Bridge on the Wenyu River, you can reach Changling directly.The Shinto that belongs to Changling, since all the tombs will be built on both sides of Changling in the future, and branch roads will be set up to connect with it, and each branch road will no longer have stone elephants, so it is actually shared by all the tombs.This is one of the characteristics of the architecture of the Ming Tombs.

Although the Ming Tombs are a unified mausoleum area, each tomb is built under a hill and forms an independent mausoleum.The architectural form of the cemetery is similar, basically following the shape of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.There are walls around each mausoleum, palace gates are set up on the south, and wordless stone tablets are erected in front of most of the gates.Before her death, Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty left a last word to erect a wordless stele in front of the Qianling Mausoleum, which means that her merits and demerits will be judged by later generations, making it the earliest wordless stele in front of the mausoleum.In the early Ming Dynasty, when erecting a stele for the imperial mausoleum, Wei Su, a scholar in the Imperial Mausoleum, wrote an article. After reading it, Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied, saying: "The inscriptions on the imperial mausoleum are all whitewashed by Confucian scholars, and may not be enough to be a warning for future generations." So he had to write his own article , describing his humble origins and difficult experiences.After that, the inscription written by the emperor became the ancestral system.According to the Ming Dynasty's "Shizong Shilu", the seven tombs of Chang, Xian, Jing, Yu, Mao, Tai, and Kangqian among the Ming Tombs did not start to build pavilions and monuments until the fifteenth year of Jiajing (AD 1536).After it was completed, Yan Song, the Minister of Rites at that time, asked Sejong to write an inscription, but the inscription was left empty.Looking at the history of the Ming Dynasty, only the second generation of Taizu and Chengzu had the merits of starting a business and establishing a career, while there are "sacred achievements and holy virtues" recorded in front of Xiaoling and Changling Shinto.The other emperors have made no achievements, especially after the mid-Ming Dynasty, the political corruption, the emperor's licentiousness, and no achievements can be recorded. It is more deceptive to leave it blank than the inscriptions to cover up his incompetence and corruption.

Inside the palace gate is the Len'en Gate, some have three rooms, some have five rooms.Inside the Len'en Gate is the main building, the Len'en Hall, where the emperor, empress and officials pay homage to the mausoleum.It is seven or nine rooms wide, and the two sides are mostly built with verandahs.At the back of the hall is the archway gate, five stone offerings (one incense burner, two candlesticks, and two vases), and then there is Baocheng.Ming Tower is built in the front of Baocheng, and Xuangong (underground palace) is under Baocheng. Among the cemeteries, Changling is the largest and best preserved.The Changling Lingen Hall is located on a three-story white marble platform.Each floor is surrounded by railings, and the railings are embossed with cloud and dragon patterns.The main hall is nine rooms wide and five rooms deep, with double eaves and hipped roof, with a total area of ​​nearly 2000 square meters, all built of nanmu.There are 32 large pillars with a diameter of more than one meter in the hall, and the four in the middle are single trees, with a height of 14.3 meters.Such a grand nanmu structure is still intact after more than 500 years, which is unique in the country.The Ming Tower is a tall square building with double eaves resting on the top of the mountain. Under the eaves, the name of the mausoleum is inlaid with a list, and a stone tablet is erected in the building, engraved with the emperor's temple name and posthumous title.Baocheng is about 340 meters in diameter.

The Dingling Underground Palace was scientifically excavated from 1956 to 1958.Dingling Mausoleum is the joint burial mausoleum of Shenzong Wanli and the empress.Shenzong Zhu Yi (yiyi) Jun was faint and decadent, neglected political affairs, and was extravagant. The mausoleum was basically modeled on the Jiajing Yongling Mausoleum and was more luxurious (Figure 13). In front of the Xuan Palace, there are brick tunnels, stone tunnels and diamond walls that seal the door, about 33 meters deep from the top of the tomb.The Xuan Palace is composed of the front hall, middle hall, back hall and the left and right halls. Together with the corridor, it is 87.34 meters long, 47.28 meters wide, and 7.2-9.5 meters high, with a total area of ​​1195 square meters.All are constructed of stone materials.There are corridors between the halls.There are stone gates between the front, middle and back halls, on which are carved architraves and eaves tiles.The doors are 3.3 meters high and each door is 1.7 meters wide. Nine rows of door nails and title rings are carved on the surface.The design of the stone door is reasonable, the side near the door shaft is thicker, and the side is thinner. Although each door weighs about 2 tons, it is still relatively light to open and close.There are self-made stone top doors in each door.The ground of the front hall and the middle hall is paved with square bricks (commonly known as gold bricks), and the back hall and the two side halls are paved with mottled stones. In the nave of the underground palace, there are three confession cases carved with white marble, and the finished characters are placed.The backrest and armrests on both sides of the table are carved with dragon or phoenix patterns, and the surroundings are embossed with cloud patterns.There are five offerings of yellow glaze in front of the case, and a large porcelain jar with blue and white cloud and dragon patterns in front.The cylinder is filled with sesame oil and a wick, which is called a long-bright lamp, and there are traces of burning on the upper end of the wick.The apse is the main building where the Zigong (coffin) is placed, and it is taller and more spacious than other halls.On the front, there is a coffin bed made of white marble, and the Xumizuo at the lower part is carved with upside-down lotuses, and the surface is covered with polished mottled stones.There are three coffins on the coffin bed, one for each coffin and one for each.The coffin in the middle is larger, it is the coffin of Wanli, with a silk inscription on it, and the six characters "Daxing Emperor Zigong" written in gold.Only one skeleton remained of the deceased. According to the analysis of the bones, he was not tall, with a slightly hunchback and slightly lame legs.The coffins on the left and right sides are slightly smaller, with Empress Xiaoduan on the left and Empress Xiaojing on the right.The coffins are all made of nanmu, covered with red lacquer, and the coffin is made of pine wood.There are 26 red-lacquered wooden boxes, posthumous books and seals outside the coffin, and funerary objects are contained in the boxes.There are also coffin beds in the left and right side halls, but there are no coffins and utensils. The burial objects unearthed from Dingling Mausoleum are very rich, including wooden and tin Mingware and other funeral utensils, imperial crowns and empress clothing, brocade materials, gold wares, jade wares, bronze wares, porcelain wares, posthumous books, posthumous treasures, epitaphs, and gold ingots There are more than 2,000 pieces of various items such as silver ingots, silver ingots, etc., with a wide variety and exquisite production, many of which are rare treasures.The Yishan crown used by the emperor is woven with fine gold thread and decorated with double dragons playing beads, which is very delicate.The phoenix crown used by the queen is woven with gold silk and kingfisher feathers to form dragons, phoenixes, flower trees, and emerald clouds. Each crown is inlaid with more than 5,000 pearls and more than 100 gemstones. It is colorful and dazzling.Most of the brocade material is rolled, with a girdle seal in the middle, and the name, size, manufacturing time, place and craftsman's name are written.The brocade weaving in the Ming Dynasty was brilliant, but there are very few relics.These unearthed brocades provide extremely precious objects for the study of textile technology and crafts in the Ming Dynasty. In 1959, after renovation, Dingling Mausoleum was officially built into a museum and opened to the public for visitors to visit. The construction of the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty took a long time and cost a lot of money, soaking in the blood and sweat of millions of working people.Zhu Yuanzhang was buried in the ninth year of Hongwu (AD 1398), and the ancillary works were completed in the third year of Yongle (AD 1405), which lasted nearly 30 years.The stone used is taken from Yangshan Mountain outside the Qilin Gate. So far, there are three steles left. The stele is 45 meters high, 11.5 meters wide, and 4 meters thick. Each piece weighs more than 5,000 tons, which can be called the largest in the world.Because it was difficult to carry, it had to be discarded, which shows the abuse of people's power.Most other emperors also started to build their tombs during their lifetimes.In the fifth year of Yongle (AD 1407), Zhu Di sent people to search for the mausoleum near Beijing. The construction started in the seventh year of Yongle (AD 1407), and tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were recruited to participate. It was not until the first year of Xuande (AD 1426) that the last completed.The Yongling Mausoleum built by Sejong Jiajing for himself is the one with the longest construction time, the most manpower and the largest cost among the Ming Tombs.Shenzong Wanli chose the site of the mausoleum by himself, set the regulations, and everything was modeled after his grandfather Jiajing's Yongling Mausoleum, and personally inspected it during construction. It took six years and cost 8 million taels of silver to come to an end.Not only the specially-made city bricks, but also all kinds of stones and fir trees came from other places, and even the sealing soil was transported from more than ten miles away.According to the "Winter Palace Chronicle", to transport a piece of white stone from Fangshan with a length of three feet, a width of one foot, and a thickness of five feet, 20,000 people from eight prefectures including Shuntian were called, and it took 28 days to transport it to the capital, costing 110,000 silver. two. Most of the halls of the Ming Tombs were originally built with nanmu.Phoebe grows in the deep mountains and valleys of the southern provinces, where insects and beasts come and go, and miasma is harmful, so it is very difficult to find, harvest and transport.Especially for the giant wood used in Changling Lingen Temple, not only is it difficult to select materials, but it was also transported for thousands of miles, and countless lives were lost during the process.The large bricks used in each mausoleum weigh about 50 catties each, and the word "Shou Gong" is printed on them. Jiajing used to be paid by various prefectures and counties, but later most of them came from Linqing, Shandong. million.Its texture requirements are extremely strict, and the date of manufacture, officials and names of kiln households must be printed on the bricks for verification.It is conceivable how serious disasters the construction of the Ming Tombs brought to the people.