The construction time of the Ming Tombs
The Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di was an emperor with both civil and military skills and outstanding intelligence. During his reign, he played a key role in the construction of the Ming Dynasty. For example, he ordered the construction of the Ming Tombs. So when were the Ming Tombs built in history? What kind of emperors are buried? Let us introduce the Ming Tombs of Xiaoyi Search.
The Ming Tombs are the collective name for the tombs of the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. It took more than 200 years from the construction of Changling on June 20, 1409, the seventh year of Yongle, to the completion of Siling in the early years of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty.
According to the order of mausoleum construction, the names of the mausoleums are: Changling, Xianling, Jingling, Yuling, Maoling, Tailing, Kangling, Yongling, Zhaoling, Dingling, Qingling, Deling, Siling. In the entire mausoleum, 13 emperors, 23 queens, 1 concubine and dozens of palace officials were buried. There are also seven concubine tombs, one eunuch tomb, palaces, gardens and other ancillary buildings, each covering an area of 4,000 hectares. Experts believe that the Ming Tombs are the best-preserved tombs in the world and contain the largest number of emperors buried there.
Among the 16 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, 13 are buried in the Ming Tombs. Zhu Yuanzhang, the great emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was the founding emperor and his capital was Nanjing. After his death, he was buried in Zhongshan, Nanjing, known as Xiaoling in history. The second emperor Zhu Yun_ disappeared during the battle between his uncle and nephew for the throne, and there is no mausoleum. The third generation emperor Zhu Di moved his capital to Beijing and was buried in Changling at the foot of Tianshou Mountain in Changping County, 50 kilometers away from Beijing.
The last Ming Dynasty from Zhu Di to Emperor Zongyi During the reign of Zhu Youjian, 14 emperors were buried in the Ming Tombs except for Zhu Qiyu who was buried in Jinshan in the west of Beijing after the restoration of Yingzong. The location of the emperor's mausoleum is feng shui. The location of the Ming Tombs is considered a geomantic treasure. Liao, a sorcerer from Jiangxi in the Ming Dynasty, said that there is an auspicious land to the north of Changping, called a mountain. There are two Longhu Mountains in front of the mountain, forming a Feng Shui place.
On June 20, 1409, when Zhu Di decided to build a mausoleum here and changed Huangtu Mountain to Tianshou Mountain, the construction of Changling began. The Ming Tombs area is vast, and the remaining veins of Yanshan Mountain come from the northwest, forming a natural barrier; several rivers merge in the plain and slowly flow eastward. The mountains here are undulating and the trees are lush.
When the cemetery was built, due to the mountains, a 12-kilometer wall was built around it. There are more than a dozen gates at strategic points on the city wall, and gates and watchtowers are built and guarded by garrison troops. In addition to protecting the cemetery, setting up a garrison in Beijing is also of great significance. Because the cemetery is located in the hub area of northern Beijing, with Huanghua Town as a fortress in the north, Juyongguan in the west, and Jiliao in the east, its location is like the gateway to northern Beijing.
The Changling Tomb that was first built is the largest among the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty. It should be regarded as the Changling Tomb as soon as you enter the gate of the Grand Palace. It has the longest Shinto, the largest pavilions and monuments, the largest temple and the largest treasure city. These are beyond the reach of the other twelve tombs. It took four years to build Baocheng and Changling Underground Palace. Baocheng includes city walls and a square city, with the mausoleum mountain in the middle where Zhu Di is buried. The stele pavilion of Changling and the stone statues on both sides of the Shinto were built more than 20 years after the construction of Baocheng and the underground palace.
The layout of the Ming Tombs is very solemn. If the emperor built it himself during his lifetime, the scale would be large; if it was buried by the next generation after his death, the scale would be slightly smaller. There is no clear record of how much manpower was used in the construction of the Ming Tombs, but according to the records of the Ming Dynasty's Records of Renzong, nearly 180,000 military craftsmen were directly serving in the construction of the tombs in one month. It can be seen that all the manpower used to build the Ming Tombs.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Tombs had fallen into disrepair. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, renovations were carried out on Changling, Jingling and Yongling. In 1959, a museum was built in Dingling. Now, the Ming Tombs area has become a modern tourist attraction