Míng Tombs 十三陵
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond
The first emperor of the Míng, the Hóngwǔ emperor, was buried near his capital of Nánjīng. The location of the tomb of the second, Hóngwǔ’s grandson, deposed after a bitter civil war by his uncle, who became the Yǒnglè emperor, is unknown. The Jǐngtài emperor, who usurped the throne after his brother the Zhèngtǒng emperor had been captured by the Mongols (see Mahakala Temple on the Forward to the Past walk), is not buried here but was banished to a site just east of the Běijīng Botanical Gardens, the Jǐngdì Líng, now within an off-limits military compound. After his restoration the Zhèngtǒng emperor adopted the new reign name Tiānshùn, so the Yù Líng is connected with two reigns but has only one occupant.
Yǒnglè 1403–24 Cháng Líng open
Hóngxī 1425 Xiàn Líng
Xuāndé 1426–35 Jǐng Líng
Zhèngtǒng 1436–49 Yù Líng
Tiānshùn 1457–64 Yù Líng
Chénghuà 1465–87 Mào Líng
Hóngzhì 1488–1505 Tài Líng
Zhèngdé 1506–21 Kāng Líng
Jiājìng 1522–66 Yǒng Líng
Lóngqìng 1567–72 Zhāo Líng open
Wànlì 1573–1620 Dìng Líng open
Tàichāng 1620 Qìng Líng
Tiānqǐ 1621–27 Dé Líng
Chóngzhēn 1628–44 Sī Líng
The Chóngzhēn emperor, the last of the Míng, hanged himself on Jǐng Shān as rebel armies entered the city. When the Manchus arrived shortly afterwards, the rebel peasants caused considerable destruction at the tombs as they fled, but the Qīng made repairs and converted the tomb of an imperial concubine to make the Sī Líng for the Chóngzhēn emperor. While they campaigned for years to complete the overthrow of the Chinese Great Míng Empire and to replace it with what would turn out to be the even greater Manchu Great Qīng Empire, the Manchus had no interest in seeing the institution of imperial rule, which they had adopted from the Chinese, lose respect.
The site has now been almost completely taken over by agriculture and villages, and the tombs not formally renovated and opened are for the most part dilapidated, their halls roofless or vanished altogether. Some are opened only for group tours, but if you’re visiting independently, walking to them through orchards that have invaded the site can be pleasant, even if the reward at the end is only peering through the gap in the main doors to a distant dilapidated soul tower.
▶ Shísān Líng, nearly 50km NW of Běijīng, in Chāngpíng County, t 6076 1424, www.mingtombs.com, gps 40º14’52.26”N 116º12’05”E, 8am–5.30pm, 1 Apr–31 Oct; else 5pm. ¥ See each tomb, below. nb audio guide available ¥40 (only ¥10 for Mandarin version) with ¥100 deposit. m Míng Tombs (Chāngpíng Line). b 867 from Désheng Mén.
From the metro walk a few hundred metres north to Dà Gōng Mén or pick up passing buses: b 867 stops at Dà Gōng Mén (大宫门), meaning the Great Palace Gate, but also written on some signs as Dà Hóng Mén (大红门), the Great Red Gate, easily spotted, as you see a large red gate in front of you marking the beginning of the spirit way. It goes on a few stops later to the Dìng Líng (定陵) and Cháng Líng (长陵).
From just southeast of the Qián Mén, the 世界文化遗产游A线, World Cultural Heritage Tour Route A, goes to a recently invented ‘Imperial Deer Park’, then the Dìng Líng, and on to Bā Dá Lǐng. Departures are daily, year-round, 6.30am–10.30am (¥160, including all entrance fees and a snack lunch).
Spirit Way 神道
The Chinese name is charmingly translated on the ticket as God Street.
The modern road access to the tombs runs either side of the original route. The bus forks right, so cross over and walk up the middle. On the way, before getting off the bus, there’s a highly avoidable ‘waxworks palace’ and a collection of stelae by a magnificent quintuple arch stone páilou.
The entrance to the Spirit Way is a red-painted, yellow-roofed, three-arched plain building that looks as though it’s been borrowed from the Forbidden City, and in the autumn contrasts nicely with the yellow of the corn cobs laid out to dry on the road in front, and with the green of the pines that line the route. The two-tiered Great Gate, actually both red and palatial, is straight ahead, 5mins on foot, and has stalls selling various knick-knacks to the right.
The Spirit Way may originally have been conceived solely for access to the first tomb, the Cháng Líng, built for the Yǒnglè emperor around 1409 at the same time he was remodelling Běijīng as a whole, but in the end served the whole site. None of the remaining 12 tombs has its own guardians, although the tombs of the Qīng dynasty, otherwise sometimes less magnificent than those of the Míng, do. But construction of the spirit way and the stelae pavilion that heads it was not begun until 1435, 11 years after the Yǒnglè emperor’s death. The pavilion holds a stele on the front of which his successor, the Hóngxī emperor (1378–1425), who died within a year of taking the throne, records Yǒnglè’s merits. On the back there are poems by that inveterate scribbler the Qīng Qiánlóng emperor and his successor the Jiāqìng emperor.
Photographs from the 1930s show the path ahead abandoned and overgrown, but it’s now a pleasant, willow-lined walk. The fenced-in statues to either side are a mixture of legendary beasts in both standing and recumbent versions, supposedly operating a shift system to give 24-hour security. The literature sold at the site and the introductory signs disagree on what some of these animals are, but look for lions, bearded camels of the two-hump variety that until the 1930s used to come in trains to the gates of Běijīng, horses, and anatomically incorrect elephants whose front knees bend the wrong way — surprising, given that the emperors owned elephants, which they once stabled somewhere near where the National Museum now stands. Yet seated elephants are almost always shown this way.
More confusing is the qílín (麒麟), a mythical composite beast with a wolf-like face on a cone-like head apparently made of flames, and twin horns, despite which it is known as the ‘Chinese unicorn’, perhaps because both are traditionally connected with honesty. Its body is scaly, and it has a lizard-like ridge down its back that leads to a brush on the end of its tail and horse’s hooves. In another version it does have a fleshy single horn (if male), the body of a musk deer, and the tail of an ox, and may still be wreathed in flames or clouds. But this might be another beast — the Chinese aren’t very clear. It has entered the English language as kylin, and Japanese as kirin, and in both countries can be found among the figures on the eaves of important buildings, pursuing the chicken-mounted prince. It is said to be the noblest animal of all, unwarlike, and a thoroughly Confucian beast of good omen. It is discriminating in matters of morality: so it hasn’t been seen in China since the birth of Confucius and seems unlikely to appear in the foreseeable future. A necklet with an image of a boy riding on a kylin is a traditional gift to babies after their first 100 days of life.
The row of figures ends with those of civil and military officials carrying maces and swords, and the triple-doored Dragon and Phoenix Gate (龙凤门, Lóng Fèng Mén).
▶ Shén Dào, 8am–5.30pm, 1 Apr–31 Oct; else 8.30am–5pm. ¥35 summer; else ¥25.
From the north end of the tomb figures it’s 4km straight on to the Cháng Líng, or you can pick up b 867 at a stop on the right just before the crossroads ahead as you exit. It’s a pleasant walk through apple and persimmon orchards, especially where parallel paths allow you to get off the road. The roofs of various tombs, both open and closed to the public, are visible to the left, and modern entertainment areas around the reservoir to the right.
Cháng Líng 长陵
The tomb of Yǒnglè, third Míng emperor and the first to be buried here, is the most magnificent tomb of all. The main hall was probably completed a little after his death, but he paid considerable attention to the tomb’s construction, which may have begun as early as 1409. At the entrance the original stele was left blank, but the Kāngxī, Yōngzhèng, and Qiánlóng emperors of the Qīng all later left their opinions on Yǒnglè.
Three halls of ever greater size exactly match the Forbidden City’s ceremonial centre in style; the last, the Hall of Eminent Favour, used for a continuous programme of sacrifices to the emperor after his death, is only slightly smaller than the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and with the same triple terraces, but built of better materials. This is because of Yǒnglè’s obsession with using the towering but hard to obtain nánmù wood, brought from remote valleys in southwestern China. This hall is the last entirely original hall of his period still standing, whereas the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City is a Qīng rebuild of Yǒnglè’s original but on a smaller scale because it used pine, which didn’t grow to the same height. Yǒnglè and his Míng successors had exhausted the supplies of nánmù.
Beautiful solid plain columns stand inside a largely unpainted interior, with the structure of the fine dǒugǒng (斗拱, roof brackets) clearly visible. The hall contains small displays of period artefacts, costume, and weaponry, and there’s a modern statue of Yǒnglè. Past a hòu-topped páilou, up a ramp and through the tunnel beneath the soul tower, you can reach the circular walkway around the substantial tree-covered tomb mound. Concubines are buried to either side of the main tomb palace.
▶ ¥45 1 Apr–31 Oct; else ¥35.
Take b 867 again to the Dìng Líng, or walk back and take the signposted first right, after about 2km, about 20mins’ brisk walk. Just before reaching the Dìng Líng you pass the left turn to the Zhāo Líng.
Dìng Líng 定陵
The Dìng Líng (Tomb of Security) was built for the Wànlì emperor, 13th of the Míng, who died in 1620 aged 57.
Wànlì spent much of his reign on strike, refusing to make decisions or deal with his officials, but paying close attention to the construction of his tomb and making several visits to the site, ignoring official disapproval. Many an emperor rarely left Běijīng, and some never did so. Wànlì’s refusal to participate in government or fill key civil service posts contributed to the collapse of the Míng two decades after his own death.
The tomb was begun when the emperor was only 22, taking six years and eight million taels of silver to construct. Wànlì had two wives, only the second of whom bore him a son and who predeceased him by several years. Not an empress, she could not be buried in the Dìng Líng, and was buried in a nearby tomb for imperial concubines. Wànlì’s son, Tàichāng, died less than a month after taking the throne in 1620 and was succeeded by his own son, Tiānqǐ (reigned 1621–7), who moved his grandmother into the Dìng Líng.
The buildings above ground were damaged in the peasant uprising that helped to bring down the Míng in 1644, but were restored by the Qīng Qiánlóng emperor. They burnt down again in the early 20th century, and the tomb itself was excavated in 1956–58. Behind the tower is a pleasing path makes a complete circuit around the cypress-topped mound.
The tomb is entered from the rear down a deep staircase to seven largely empty interlocking chambers, with an atmosphere reminiscent of Victorian railway stations, although one contains marble thrones. A slightly shorter climb up at the end brings you back to the original blue-tiled entrance gate beneath the soul tower, which houses a large red stele. Small exhibitions in side halls are little more than excuses for souvenir shops.
▶ ¥60 1 Apr–31 Oct; else ¥45.
Zhāo Líng 昭陵
Turn left just as you catch sight of the Dìng Líng entrance. A sign with three large red characters suggests that the tomb is 500m away, but in reality it’s a good 30 minutes’ walk.
The Zhāo Líng is the tomb of the 12th Míng emperor, Lōngqíng (reigned 1567–72), and the much-damaged halls above ground have been repaired with the donation of 144 Douglas fir and hemlock trees from the USA.
The tomb has several halls and gates behind one another on rising ground, not as impressive as those of Cháng Líng and heavy-handedly repainted. But the path around the tomb mound is very quiet and makes for an enjoyable stroll, with views of pine-covered hills and persimmon orchards as well as the tomb and mound of the Dìng Líng. Unpaved tracks snake intriguingly into the hills, and other more distant tombs can be seen. Both the stele in the soul tower, smashed up by the peasant uprising of 1644, and the damaged tower itself were restored by the Qīng in their own style.
▶ ¥30 1 Apr– 31 Oct; else ¥25
Next in Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond: Eastern Qīng Tombs
Previously: Introduction to Tombs and Burial Sites
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
