ShiSanNing-13 Tombs of the Ming Emperors

Usually,tours to the Great Wall will include a trip to the tombs,since they are on the same route(I guess.)The 13 tombs were built from 1409 to 1644 and belonged to the 13 Ming Emperors.The only tomb open to the public is that of Emperor Wanli (who reigned from AD 1573-1620).The tomb is called DingLing

My tour guide was most detailed in telling us how the tomb was discovered. I confess that whenever he started telling stories about the emperors and dynasties,I became completely lost.I said as much to him when he asked me if I could understand (well,the rest of the group are always sleeping when he was giving us all this background knowlegde,and seemed like I was on the only one interested enough to listen!)I was told why there are only 13 tombs when there were 16 Ming Emperors. The first Ming Emperor,Zhu Yuan Zhang,was buried in his hometown, while the second's throne was usurped by his uncle YongLe,and was exiled. Incidentally,the biggest and first tomb,Chang Ling, belongs to Emperor Yongle, the same one who built the Forbidden City if you recall. YongLe's tomb,after 500 years,is still beautifully preserved now! As for the3rd one,I forgot hehe... Anyway,I shall try to recall as much as possible!

It is not that the Chinese government do not want to open up the tombs; it is that no one COULD. The most amazing thing about the tombs is that no one could find the entrances! I guess this is usually to protect the emperors from folks and enemies who might try to uncover the body after they are buried,and not forgetting the grave robbers too. However,everyone knew that someone back in those days had to know where an entrance is to the tomb, since the empress(es) have to be buried later on with their royal husband. There has to be some sign or marking to indicate where one could enter.One day,a professor(or archeologist) was on the site,trying to find ways to enter the tombs. There was a storm when he had to answer nature's call. He came across a strange marking on the floor,which was exposed when the mud was washed off by the heavy downpour. This was THE sign they had been searching for,and it lead them to the Underground Palace finally.

It was not easy as you think to excavate the tomb.They encountered many difficulties,and many of them,superstitions. They knew how heavily-guarded the body would be,so every step had to be taken with the utmost caution. When they opened doors,they were afraid swords or daggers might drop from overhead,or poison gasses would emit and kill them all(ie.booby traps!) All this was actually quite funny when they saw the truths for themselves.Since the underground is much cooler,air currents caused by this sudden release of air from the chamber had rushed out,not poison gases at all. Imagine all the air trapped for hundreds of years...Also the so-called overhead 'swords' when they first spotted are nothing but stalactites,since water had seeped through and was cooled in the marble chambers.

The Secrets of the Underground Palace of the tomb were finally revealed in May 1957, after one year of excavation.It was almost 7 storeys underground, and actually our tour was the opposite of the direction of the excavation. That is, we went straight into the tomb,them walk our way out to the main entrance. This is the easier route,since it is not easy to go down and walk those flights of steps up later.

Inside the Underground Palace,you would be amazed how it was built in the first place. It was something like the pyramids,except this is build of solid blocks of white marble that are really big. In the central hall, there are three carved marble thrones. In the rear hall, there are three coffins - one for the emperor and two for his empresses. We could see that the front 2 supports of the coffin were broken and had been mended. My tour guide joked that this might be fated that the emperor Wanli might be unlucky,since the coffin bearers who transported his body must have somehow dropped it along the way. The poor bearers,since the punishment must be great,and the sheer long distance to transport the body to this site is daunting. And he was unlucky in the sense that it is his tomb that is discovered and thus 'disturbed'.

It is interesting to note that on either sides of the hall containing the thrones,are two chambers. They were meant for the thrones of the empresses, if I'm not wrong, but somehow the doorways were made too small, so they couldn't fit through. That's my guess,since my guide never did tell us the answer.Another interesting feature are the huge 2-leafed white marble door. There are 7 pairs of them,each weighing 8 tons! Yet,only 1,yes,1, person is required to open it! This is a proof showing how brilliant the builders were in those days,since they made use of the principle of gravity. The trick is in the 'mending',or the round semi-spheres found on both sides of almost every door you see in imperial buildings. Also,once the doors are closed, a special-looking props made of marble will sort of 'lock' the doors when they fall in place,as there is no way the doors could be pushed open from the outside. The excavators had a hard time figuring how this mechanism worked! Isn't it amazing just how brilliant these people were? And here we think people of the past are 'backward'! Just like the Egyptians and their pyramids eh?

Displayed in a museum near the underground tomb are valuables that were buried with the emperor and his empresses (concubines too).