Ming Palace Museum Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Ming Xiaoling Tomb History

The Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty:

It was built in the 26th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1366) by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. "Palace", later also known as "Imperial City". Since Zhu Yuanzhang had not yet proclaimed himself emperor at that time, the scale of the new palace was limited. There were only the outer court and inner court buildings on the middle road, and no palaces were built in the open space on the east and west sides. The new palace is 790 meters wide from east to west. It is 750 meters long from north to south and has four gates: Meridian Gate in the south, Donghua Gate in the east, Xihua Gate in the west, and Xuanwu Gate in the north. Entering the Meridian Gate is Fengtian Gate, inside is the main hall Fengtian Hall, and on the left and right in front of the hall are Wenlou , Wu Tower. Later it was Huagai Hall and Jinshen Hall. The inner court included Qianqing Palace, Kunning Palace, and Six East and West Palaces. In the first year of Hongwu (1368), Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. Yingtian Mansion was called Nanjing, and Kaifeng was called Beijing. And the Zhongdu City was built in Fengyang the following year. Since all manpower and material resources were concentrated on the construction of the Zhongdu City and the palace, the expansion work of the Nanjing Palace was stopped again. In the following years, only necessary maintenance was carried out on the existing palace. Hongwu In the eighth year (1375), Zhu Yuanzhang gave up the plan to build the Central Capital and concentrated on building Nanjing. In this construction, two more gates were added to the left and right of the Meridian Gate, the east and west corner gates were added to the left and right of Fengtian Gate, and Wenhua Hall, Wuying Hall, etc. were built. Architecture. In the twenty-fifth year of Hongwu (1392), it was built again. A palace wall was added outside the imperial city. The inner part of the new wall was the imperial city. The original imperial city was renamed the palace city. The Duanmen was built in front of the palace city. Tianmen and Jinshui Bridge form a "T"-shaped square, heading south to the Hongwu Gate built in 1373. On the east side of the square are the Five Departments (the Punishment Department is outside Taipingmen in the north of the imperial city), and on the west side is the Five Army Governor's Mansion. Nanjing When building the Forbidden City, attention was paid to Feng Shui issues and the Fugui Mountain of the Purple Mountain was used as the backdrop. However, due to site constraints, the inner court was built on the filled Yanque Lake. Although wooden piles were driven in, huge stones were used as the foundation, and The foundation was reinforced by methods such as tamping lime and triple soil, but the problem of foundation sinking still occurred after a long time. Internal waterlogging was easy to occur in the palace and drainage was difficult. At the same time, the palace city was too close to the outer city, making it difficult to defend during war. In the fourth year of Jianwen (1402) ), King Yan Zhu Di attacked the capital, Emperor Jianwen fled, and Queen Ma burned herself to death in the palace. After Zhu Di came to the throne, he still lived in the Nanjing Palace, but at the same time he ordered Peiping to be his residence and prepared to move the capital. In the 18th year of Yongle (1420), The Beijing Palace was built, and the following year Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing. After that, the Nanjing Palace was no longer used, but it was still used as the capital palace, and the royal family and ministers were assigned to manage it. In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644), King Fu Zhu Yousong ascended the throne here, and once established the Nanming regime. At this time, most of the palaces in the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty had collapsed, and the Nanjing Imperial Ancestral Temple had long been burned down. Zhu Yousong carried out some repair work and built Fengtian Gate, Cixi Hall and other buildings. After the Qing Dynasty destroyed Nanming, Nanjing was renamed Jiangning, and The Imperial City of the Ming Dynasty was changed to the Eight Banners Garrison City, and the General and Dutong Yamen were set up in the Ming Forbidden City. During the Kangxi period, stone carvings from the Ming Forbidden City were used to build the Putuo Mountain Temple. After the Taiping Rebellion captured Nanjing, the Ming Forbidden City was not used as the palace base. Instead, a new site was chosen to build a new palace in the city. A large number of stones and bricks from the Ming Palace were demolished here. By the time of the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the palaces and walls of the Ming Palace had basically disappeared. During the Republic of China, it was planned to use the Ming Palace area as its Central Administrative Region, but due to financial resources and war reasons, the plan was not fully realized. Only the Central Supervisory Commission of the Chinese Kuomintang and the Central Party History Materials Exhibition Hall of the Chinese Kuomintang were built within the ruins of the Ming Palace. The Zhongshan East Road built in 1929 started from the Ming Dynasty. It passes through the ruins of the Forbidden City, dividing it into northern and southern parts. By the late Republic of China, the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty had become a small airport.

Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum:

1. Funeral Preparation Office (April 4, 1925 - June 30, 1929) On March 12, 1925, Dr. Sun Yat-sen passed away in Beijing, and the whole country mourned.

On April 4, 1925, the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang in Beijing prepared for the burial and elected Zhang Jingjiang, Wang Jingwei, Lin Sen, Yu Youren, Dai Chuanxian, Yang Shukan, Shao Lizi, Song Ziwen, Kong Xiangxi, Ye Chuqian, Lin Huanting, Chen Qubing was responsible for his husband's funeral and chose the location of his tomb in Zijin Mountain. 2. Feng'an Committee The Feng'an Committee was established on January 14, 1929. On June 1, 1929, the National Government held a Feng'an Ceremony and moved Mr. Sun Yat-sen's body from Beijing to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing. 3. Prime Minister’s Cemetery Management Committee On July 1, 1929, the National Government organized the Prime Minister’s Cemetery Management Committee. The Funeral Preparatory Committee was disbanded on the same day, and all matters handled were handed over to the Prime Minister's Mausoleum Management Committee. 4. The pseudo-Father of the Nation Cemetery Management Committee In 1938, the pseudo-supervisory Nanjing Municipal Government Office Industrial Bureau Garden Management Office established the pseudo-Zhongshan Cemetery Office under it to temporarily maintain the status quo of the cemetery. On April 6, 1942, Wang Jingwei appointed Chu Minyi and others to organize the Management Committee of the Puppet Founding Fathers Cemetery to be responsible for nominal daily work. 5. The Management Committee of the Cemetery of the Founding Fathers On August 17, 1945, the Chongqing Prime Minister’s Cemetery Management Committee sent the first batch of personnel back to Nanjing to take over the cemetery of the Puppet Father of the Nation and restore the normal work of the cemetery. On July 2, 1946, the Nationalist Government promulgated the "Organizational Regulations of the Sun Yat-Senior Cemetery Management Committee". The original "Organizational Regulations of the Prime Minister's Cemetery Management Committee" was abolished, and the Prime Minister's Cemetery Management Committee was changed to the "Father of the Sun Cemetery Management Committee". Amid the turmoil, the Sun Yat-Sen Cemetery Management Committee only made some minor repairs. 6. Sun Yat-sen Cemetery Management Office On April 28, 1949, the Nanjing Municipal Military Control Commission was established, and on May 10, the Nanjing Municipal People's Government was established. Before August 1949, Sun Yat-sen Cemetery was under military control. In August 1949, it was renamed "Zhongshan Cemetery Management Office" and was affiliated to the Garden Management Office of Nanjing Municipal Government. 7. Sun Yat-sen Cemetery Management Committee In July 1951, the Sun Yat-sen Cemetery Management Committee was established. In September of the same year, a branch of the Rectification Committee was established, with Gao Yilin as the chairman. In April 1958, the Garden Management Office was merged into the Nanjing Urban Construction Bureau. The Management Committee is also affiliated with the Urban Development Authority. 8. Sun Yat-sen Cemetery Revolutionary Committee The "Cultural Revolution" began in May 1966, and the Urban Construction Bureau was abolished in June of the same year. In April 1968, the Sun Yat-sen Cemetery Revolutionary Committee was established. On January 22, 1970, the Jiangsu Provincial Revolutionary Committee decided to add Zhongshan District to the Zhongshan Cemetery and implement unified party and government leadership. The cemetery is affiliated to the Zhongshan District Revolutionary Committee. 9. Zhongshan Cemetery Management Office In April 1975, the Municipal Revolutionary Committee decided to abolish Zhongshan District, and the Cemetery Management Office was placed under the leadership of the Nanjing Urban Construction Bureau. In August 1982, the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government separated the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum from the Municipal Urban Construction Bureau and made it a municipal bureau-level unit. The nature of the national undertaking remains unchanged. 10. Zhongshan Cemetery Management Office In June 1996, the "Zhongshan Cemetery Management Office" was renamed "Zhongshan Cemetery Management Office" in Document No. 19 (1996) of the Nanjing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Nanjing Municipal People's Government, and it was directly under the municipal government. Public institutions. At this time, the Sun Yat-sen Cemetery, on the basis of protecting and restoring the existing cultural and natural landscapes, made full use of the superior natural conditions, constantly opened up new scenic spots and scenic spots, and integrated landscapes, cultural relics, buildings, historical sites and man-made garden art. As a whole, it presents a multi-functional tourist scenic spot. On May 8, 2007, Nanjing Zhongshan Scenic Area-Zhongshan Cemetery Scenic Area was officially approved by the National Tourism Administration as a national 5A tourist attraction.

Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum;

The construction project of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum started in the 14th year of Hongwu (1381), and in the 16th year of Hongwu, the main works of the mausoleum such as the Xiangdian Hall were completed. It mobilized 100,000 military personnel and completed it in the third year of Yongle (1405), which lasted 25 years. Its overall layout is divided into two parts: one is the Shinto guiding the building, and the other is the main building of the mausoleum. The Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty suffered many heavy losses during the Qing Dynasty. In particular, the wars during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty almost destroyed the buildings on the surface of the Xiaoling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty. The royal stele written by Kangxi even fell to the ground and broke. It was not until September of the third year of Tongzhi (1864) that Zeng Guofan was ordered to pay homage to the mausoleum before he began to repair the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, Zeng Guofan sent personnel to estimate that the maintenance of Xiaoling Mausoleum in the Ming Dynasty actually required 200,000 taels of silver. However, the Qing Dynasty was financially strapped. In the end, only 740 taels of silver were used to make some minor repairs. The imperial stele "Government of the Tang and Song Dynasties" was also repaired. It started to bond, and a repaired crack can still be seen on the monument. Originally, people could go around the left and right sides of the stele, but after the 1980s, the entire left and right sides of the stele were fixed with cement, all the way to the roof; so now you have to go out of the Imperial Stele Hall before you can see the back of the turtle. Behind the square city is the underground palace where Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma were buried together, commonly known as "Treasure City". It is a large circular mound with a diameter of about 400 meters. The treasure city is thick and solid, undulating along the mountains. It is built with huge stones at the bottom and exposed bricks at the top. It is about 1 meter thick. On the south stone wall, there are seven characters "This mountain is the tomb of Ming Taizu" engraved on it. During the Ming Dynasty, 100,000 pine trees were planted in the entire cemetery, and 1,000 immortal deer with silver medals were stocked there. By the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, all was lost. So far, Xiaoling has never been stolen. According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the construction of the mausoleum in the 14th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1381 AD). In August of the next year, Empress Ma died and was buried in this mausoleum in September, named "Xiaoling". The name of Xiaoling Mausoleum comes from the word "filial piety" in the posthumous title, which means "ruling the world with filial piety". One theory is that Queen Ma's posthumous title means "filial piety", hence the name. The Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty was built in the 3rd year of Yongle (1405) and lasted 25 years. The Ming royal family successively mobilized 100,000 military personnel, consuming a lot of manpower and material resources. The Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty is large in scale and majestic in architecture. Its shape is based on the tombs of the Tang and Song dynasties. When it was built, the palaces and pavilions inside the wall were majestic and magnificent. Half of the seventy temples in the Southern Dynasties were enclosed in forbidden gardens. There are 100,000 pine trees planted in the mausoleum and 1,000 deer raised. Due to repeated attacks by war, in addition to the mausoleum and underground palace, only the Shinto, Xiama Archway, Golden Gate, Sifang City, etc. remain in the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. The buildings in the tomb area are roughly divided into two groups: the first group is the Shinto part, starting from Xiamafang and ending at the main entrance of Xiaoling; the second group is the main part, starting from the main entrance to Baocheng, Minglou, and Chongqiu. The existing buildings include the Shenlie Mountain Monument, the Forbidden Covenant Monument, Xiamafang, Dajinmen, Sifangcheng, the Shengongshengde Monument, Xiaoling Hall, and Dashiqiao. In the 31st year of Hongwu (AD 1398), Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been emperor for 31 years, died and was buried in Xiaoling. The underground palace where Zhu Yuanzhang and his queen are buried together is commonly known as "Baocheng". It is a large circular mound with a diameter of about 400 meters. It is surrounded by stone walls. On the south wall is the inscription "This is the tomb of Taizu Ming Dynasty in this mountain". 7 big characters. The treasure city is thick and solid, undulating along the mountains. It is built with huge stones at the bottom and exposed bricks at the top. It is about 1 meter thick. It is one of the largest existing mausoleums in China. After more than 600 years of ups and downs, the walls of Baocheng have partially collapsed in recent years, with the walls peeling off and huge cracks forming in some places due to reverse tearing due to foundation settlement. The Nanjing Municipal Cultural Relics Department has invested more than 3 million yuan and adopted the protection plan of ancient architectural experts from Southeast University to repair the wall in accordance with the requirements of keeping it as old as possible, such as "suturing" cracks, leveling the "wall", and repairing the wall. Deformed walls were repaired and waterproofed to prevent leakage. In order to facilitate tourists to see the true appearance of the "Dragon Vein", a bluestone tourist trail has also been built, allowing tourists to climb to the top of the treasure to see the full view of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum