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The Ming Tombs

The Ming Tombs are located about 30 miles northwest of Beijing at the foot of the Tianshou Mountains. Located here are the tombs of 13 of the 16 Ming Dynasty emperors. Dragon Hill lies to the east and Crouching Tiger Hill to the west. The first emperor to be buried here was Yongle who died in 1424. His tomb, Chang Ling, and that of Emperor Zhu Yijun, Ding Ling, who died in 1620, are the only two opened to visitors today.

Emperor Yongle was significant in Chinese history as it was he who moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing after its reconstruction. He also made many changes to the institutional forms of the state founded by his father, the first Ming emperor. Yongle's tomb served as the model for the other tombs that followed. The Emperor and Empress were buried, as was the Chinese tradition, under a large mound in underground vaults.

One of the more impressive sights at the Ming Tombs is the Sacred Way. The Sacred Way runs for about a kilometer and is flanked on both sides by carvings of human and animal figures. There are 12 large stone human figures and 24 of animals, all carved from a single blocks of granite in 1435 during the 10th year of the reign of Emperor Xuan De.

We entered the area through the Dragon-headed Turtle Tablet pavilion. Inside was a large stone carving of a turtle with a dragon head and a Chinese tablet containing more than 1,000 Chinese characters.

Exiting the Dragon-headed Turtle Pavilion we had a choice of either riding along the Sacred Way or walking. You guessed it ... we chose to walk and, along the way, take pictures of the magnificent stone statues. Actually I took it upon myself to take a picture of each statue along the way, 36 of them, but I won't bore you by showing them all, just a select few to give you an idea of how beautiful and intricately carved they were.

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