Ming Tombs and Dingling Tombs

The Ming Tombs were the tombs of the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. They were located at the foot of the Yanshan Mountain in the Changping District of Beijing. The Ming Tombs include Dingling, Changling, Zhaoling, Kangling, Jingling, Xianling, Yuling, Maoling, Tailing, Yongling, Qingling, Deling and Siling. Among them, Ding Mausoleum was the only mausoleum with an open underground palace. The other mausoleums could be seen from the outside, but the doors were tightly shut and no one could enter.

The Ming tombs include Changling, Xianling, Jingling, Yuling, Maoling, Tailing, Kangling, Yongling, Zhaoling, Dingling, Qingling, Deling and Siling.

The Ming Dingling Mausoleum was the tomb of the 13th Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Shenzong Zhu Yijun, and Empress Xiaoduan and Empress Xiaojing. It was located at the eastern foot of Dayu Mountain in Changping District, Beijing City. It was built in 1584 and took six years to complete. The general layout of the Ming Dingling Mausoleum's ground buildings was circular in front and back, which contained the symbolic meaning of the ancient Chinese philosophical concept of "round sky and square earth". The cemetery covered an area of 180,000 square meters, including a wide courtyard, a tall treasure city, and three white marble stone bridges. The Ding Tomb was one of the three largest mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty. From 1956 to 1958, archaeological excavation was carried out. It is the only imperial tomb of the Ming Dynasty that has been excavated so far. The underground palace of Dingling Mausoleum was also open for tourists to visit.

Two of the Ming Tombs had been robbed. One was the Ming Dingling Mausoleum of Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun, which was destroyed after archaeological excavation. The other was the Ming Si Mausoleum of Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian, which had been dug up and destroyed many times. Other than that, most of the tombs had not been stolen or excavated. As for the imperial mausoleums of the Qing Dynasty, almost all the underground palaces of the Qing Eastern Mausoleum had been opened. The Qing Western Mausoleum was better preserved than the three mausoleums outside the Pass, but the Chongling Mausoleum of Guangxu had also been dug up. The situation in the other mausoleums was not mentioned.

The Ming Tombs Cemetery in Changping District of Beijing mainly consisted of Jingyang Garden, Deling Cemetery, and Panlongtai Cemetery. Jingyang Garden was located in the west of the Ming Tombs Scenic Area. It was the location of the Changling Tomb of Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di and the Jingling Tomb of Emperor Xuanzongzhang Zhu Zhanji. Deling Cemetery and Panlongtai Cemetery were located to the east of the Ming Tombs, Deling and Yongling, echoing Jingling. These three mausoleums all had beautiful natural environments and modern cemetery facilities, very suitable for modern burial.

The Dingling Tomb was one of the three largest mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty. It was located at the eastern foot of Dayu Mountain in Changping District Beijing City. It was the tomb of Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun, Empress Xiaoduan Wang, and Empress Xiaojing Wang. The surface buildings of Dingling Mausoleum occupied 180,000 square meters, including three courtyards and a treasure city. The mausoleum was built in 1584 and took six years. The Dingling Tomb was the only Ming Dynasty imperial tomb that had been excavated by archaeologists. There was an underground palace in the mausoleum, and a large number of precious cultural relics were unearthed in 1957. Dingling Tomb was one of the most famous tourist attractions in Beijing, attracting millions of tourists every year.

The Underground Palace of the Ming Tombs was one of the famous underground buildings in China. It was located at the southern foot of Tianshou Mountain in Changping District Beijing City. The underground palace was composed of five palaces and three tunnels. The building area was 1195 square meters and was 27 meters above the ground. The palace was built with a stone structure, all in the shape of an arch, without the use of pillars. The underground palace of the Dingling Tomb was the only imperial tomb that had been excavated in the Ming Tombs. A large number of funerary objects and cultural relics were unearthed, including the coffins, thrones, and eternal lanterns of the Wanli Emperor and his two empresses. Among them, the most eye-catching were the golden crown and the phoenix crown. The golden crown was woven with pure gold thread, and there were no traces of joints on the entire body. There were pictures of two dragons playing with pearls on it. The excavation of the underground palace of Dingling Mausoleum provided important material materials for archaeological research and played an important role in understanding the life and culture of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty's Ming Tombs were the tombs where Emperor Wanli and his two empresses were buried together.

Currently, the Ming Tombs opened to the public are Changling, Dingling, Zhaoling and Kangling.

The names of the Ming Tombs included Changling, Xianling, Jingling, Yuling, Maoling, Tailing, Kangling, Yongling, Zhaoling, Dingling, Qingling, Deling, and Siling.