Day 252 Ming Tombs

Kirsten and I decided to take our chances with
the weather and make a trek to the far reaches
of northwest Beijing to visit the Ming Tombs.
It's been sunny and warm all week, but the
forecast is to be raining and cold all weekend.
What's a little adventure?

It took us four trains, a taxi and a bus to finally reach our
destination- we were women on a mission and we would
not be defeated!  Not even a stupid black cab driver was going
to deter us today.  We passed this beautiful bridge up in the
Changping district.  Hard to believe we were still in Beijing!

We finally made it.  The map of the Ming Tombs was
very deceiving.  We thought we could enter from the
south date and walk north to hit the highlights.  It
was not meant to be- there were several city buses
to navigate to visit various sites in the park. This was
no small park, and each visit required another admission.

Thirteen of the sixteen Emperors of the Ming Dynasty are
buried throughout the complex- which is MILES wide and long.
They are all situated along the east side of the Dayu Mountains.
We decided to visit the Underground Palace of Dingling first.
Above is the Lingxing Gate at the entrance to the subterranean
palace.  It is one of two tombs open to the public, and it is
the only completely excavated tomb of the Ming Dynasty.
What is impressive about the Lingxing Gate is that it is all
made of carved and painted stone and marble. It is not
painted wood, like most temples and gates were built.

An impressive stone carved newel post in the
marble staircase leading to Lingxing Gate.

And then the rain came, just as we got started :/

This impressive carved stone slab was on either side
of the steps; it contained a serpent and a phoenix.
There are lots of mythical creatures in Chinese folklore.

As we passed through the gate, the next
structure was the Soul Tower.  

The base of the Soul Tower, at the bottom of the
hill, displayed the five stone sacrificial vessels.
In the center (above) is the incense burner.
It is flanked by two candlesticks and two vases
on each side. I was in awe of the stone carvings.

Nice place for a cup of tea; on a nicer day, that is.

The story goes that the tunnel to the right of the Soul Tower
was discovered because some of the lateral bricks collapsed.  
As they began excavating the brick tunnel, they eventually came
 to a stone slab with the inscription "Tunnel Gate".  Further along, 
the tunnel led to the Diamond Wall of the Underground Palace.
It took two years to build the Underground Palace, from 1584-
1586.  As was typical of an Imperial Palace during the Ming
Dynasty, it contained five halls- the front, middle, rear, left
and right halls. They were all connected by intersecting arcs.

I have a fascination of all ancient or antique doors-
I wonder about all the people that must have passed
through them over the years.  This was the coolest
door I have ever seen- it was one HUGE carved
marble slab.  Over 400 years ago, they had the
engineering presence of mind to create a door
that was "thicker at the hinges, 40cm, but tapered
off toward the middle, 20cm, and the bottom pivots
were hemispherical.  This design relieved pressure
on the pivots so the door was easy to open due to
the reduced friction on the pivot's bottom."  Genius!
This stone gate lead to the front hall of the Palace.

Emperor Wanli's throne.  He ascended to the throne at the
age of 10, until he died at the age of 58 back in 1620. 

This is the rear chamber of the Underground Palace.  It took
30,000 workers a total of six years to complete the tomb.
Emperor Wanli was laid to rest between his two wives,
Xiaoduan and Xiaojing. It is said that during the excavation
of the tomb in the 1950's, several workers were struck by
lightening.  They sacrificed a couple of chickens to placate
the spirits!  The above coffins are replicas, as are the
twenty six boxes of burial 'ornaments' that surrounded them.
Over 3000 relics were recovered in the burial boxes.
I guess the ladies didn't know how to pack light! Clearly,
they did not live by the motto, "have backpack, will travel" :)

Why they throw money at the coffins, the throne,
and throughout the Palace, I don't quite
understand. Maybe it's to pay for more chickens?!

  

More beautiful carvings leading into the
final hall containing the Diamond Wall.

I would love to have a copper door like this one!
Look how thick the walls were- 26 layers of
brick before nine layers of stone slabs. 

Just me and another door to wonder about :)

As we left the Underground Palace, we decided
to walk along the semi-circular stone wall for
a glimpse of the mountain view.

Chinglish cracks me up!
"Cherish flower and grass to care about future."
But, of course :)

After the walk through of the Underground Palace, we visited
the museum which contained many of the artifacts that were
unearthed from the burial boxes surrounding Emperor Wahli.
There were 103 gold bars and ingots, and 65 silver bars.
I guess nobody told him that you really can't take it with you ;)

This was one of many crowns that was discovered- wow.

They also found wooden carved figurines of
the Emperors that passed before him.

Emperor Wahli and one of his teapots,
in case he gets thirsty in the afterlife.  This
is a tradition that continues here in China, as
I found out during the Tomb Sweeping ceremony
last month.  Like our Memorial Weekend, the
Chinese will go to their loved one's graves to clean
and tend to it, and lay flowers.  They also burn
play money, clothing, pictures of cell phones,
food and such so their loved ones do not "go without"
in the afterlife.  Interesting concept; though I
believe my Heavenly Father has prepared a place
for me already, where I will be clean and whole,
and will never experience earthly needs or desires again.

I was absolutely fascinated by this...the 'Mrs. Fix It' in me.  These
are the stone carved pieces that were used in the construction of
the Underground Palace.  I cannot fathom the work it took to
carve one 'joint'- it was like stone Lincoln logs!  No wonder
it took 30,000 workers six years to complete the tomb.  So cool.

After leaving the museum, we had to barter with a
black cab to take us to our next destination.  We
could not find the proper city bus to get us there.
We wanted to visit the Sacred Path, also known
as the Avenue of Stone Figures.  The first twelve
stone statues are of civil and military dignitaries
representing the Imperial court.  

The carvings were constructed in the 1430's,
between the first and third years of Emperor
Zhengtong of the Ming Dynasty.

The kylin (above) is one of the "Four Divine Creatures" of Chinese
mythology.  It is second to the dragon; the other two are the turtle
and the phoenix. In ancient Chinese culture, there are lots of legends
about the relationship between kylins and emperors.  It was widely
believed that the animal would convey the will of Heaven, and
therefore would dictate the rise and fall of the dynasty. In modern
Chinese folklore, it is said, the "kylin brings a child."  Kind of
like a stork, only different!  He better only bring one child  ;)

I had to take a pic of this one for my daughter, Jennessa :)

Another kylin...

...he looks menacing to me.

Behind the avenue is the Great Palace Gate. 

Inside the gate, was a great tortoise,
bearing a huge stele on its back, which
had Chinese inscriptions carved in to it.

We consulted the map of the other tombs
and gardens, and decided we had enough
of being cold and wet for one day. So
it was back in a black cab, to take four
trains, to walk another fifteen minutes
back to my apartment....

...where I had a pot of homemade chili waiting for me.
Chilly weather is perfect for a bowl of hot chili :)

G'nite, y'all!