The journey is quick and easy: from Beijing city center you take the Badaling Expressway towards the northwest. Halfway to the Great Wall at Badaling, less than 40 kilometers later, you turn right into a small valley surrounded by the Yanshan mountain range. Passing fruit and vegetable plantations you finally reach the Ming Tombs – in Chinese, the “Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty”. 13, because 13 of the 16 emperors of the Ming Dynasty have their final resting place there at the foot of the Tianshou Mountain The Ming dynasty lasted from 1368 to 1644, and in 1409 Emperor Yongle gave the order to build the tombs in the area, which still appears peaceful and harmonious today. The tombs are scattered throughout, and they also differ in size and furnishings , depending on who was buried there, emperor, wife, concubine or eunuch.
The most impressive is certainly the Changling Mausoleum, where Emperor Yongle himself was buried. He was the most important ruler of the Ming Dynasty and ruled from 1402 to 1424. Emperor Yongle is considered the founder of the city of Beijing and commissioned the construction of the Forbidden City. He centralized the administration of his empire, ordered the construction of large fleets with which the famous seafarer Zheng He sailed large parts of the world’s oceans, and had an encyclopedia named after him created, one of the most famous and comprehensive collections of Chinese antiquity. His tomb is just as impressive as his achievements as emperor: its shape and design are reminiscent of the Forbidden City, a worthy tomb for a great emperor.
However, the most frequently visited resting place today is Ding Ling, the tomb of Emperor Wanli. He ruled from 1563 to 1620 and was buried in an underground, palace-like complex, along with his two wives. This chamber, dug deep underground, consists of five halls and is one of three resting places currently accessible. A tour guide then explains a few special features of the complex and names some of the difficulties that the archaeologists encountered during the excavation:
“This is the first gate of the tomb, it is called ‘Jingangqiang’. If you discover such a gate, you will automatically find a grave. It took the archaeologists a year to find the gate. There are a total of seven gates in the grave complex itself. When all the gates of the tomb were opened, the underground palace could finally be successfully excavated. In ancient times there was such a gate in front of every grave, behind which a tunnel led to the underground palace.”
The close proximity to the capital makes the Ming Tombs a popular destination for day trips. A small tour group from Germany, for example, combined a trip to the Great Wall near Badaling with a stopover in the quiet valley, and Jörg, one of the tour participants, was also visibly impressed:
“The impression is that it is fascinating, the story of all these emperors. What’s interesting is this tomb we were in right now is built deep into the ground. And you can already see the culture that lies behind all these dynasties. So that really moved me.”
Asked whether a visit to the Ming tombs is comparable to similar travel experiences in Europe, for example, he says:
“So I think there’s something specifically Chinese here. Unfortunately, I’ve only seen this first grave, so we didn’t even see the other graves that are outside in the mountains, because that’s just too far away and not within our scope, within the scope of our travel… But I think “It’s a unique thing, the way they did it here.”
Christian from New York is also impressed, but believes that Emperor Yongle’s final resting place, the Changling Mausoleum, is the more impressive structure:
“Yes, I do, because there’s more history there. There is less of a museum aspect here in Ding Ling than is the case in the other. I liked that a little better, it gives you a little better understanding of the Ming Dynasty.”
A small museum also exhibits grave goods and utensils from the Ming Dynasty, such as a crown or an empress’s cloak, as well as vases, carvings and small silver boats that were used as means of payment at the time. All in all, a visit to the Ming tombs offers an insight into the Ming dynasty and thus into a small section of Chinese history that is worth seeing and experiencing, as Christian from New York also believes. When asked whether he could recommend a trip to the gravesites, he simply said:
“Absolutely, absolutely!”
First published in German on german.cri.cn
