Ming Tombs - March 12, 2005

Cathleen on The Sacred Way, Ming Tombs

The Ming Tombs are where many emperors from the Ming Dynasty are buried. How lucky they are that the Tombs are named for them! The Tombs are about 30 miles northwest of Beijing; our tour stopped at them on the way to the Great Wall.

At the "beginning" of the Tombs is a long, gravel walk called The Sacred Way. A small building sits at the beginning of The Sacred Way, and it contains the turtle-type creature statue, above. Once past that building, the path goes on for a little over a mile. On either side of the path are statues of various animals in sitting and standing positions, followed by statues of ministers.

As you can probably tell by my various coats, hat, and gloves, it was still on the cold side this day - the Mongolian wind was still blowing about Beijing and its environs even though it was sunny. We walked down the path to catch our bus to the next part of the Tombs (yes, there really was gravel even though you can't see it); at the end of the path were some souvenir vendors. Very persistent, those vendors!

I had to look this next part up in the my travel guide. Thirteen former emperors are interred at the Tombs. From what I remember, they are buried underground (actually, their tombs are carved into and/or under some of the surrounding hills) in elaborate rooms that probably rival those from ancient Egypt. I don't know that for sure as we did not get to visit any actual tombs.

Three of the thirteen tombs are open to the visiting public. I believe we went to the Changling Tomb. There were several buildings at this Tomb complex; the emperor himself is actually buried inside a hill at the back of the complex. All in all, we spent about 2 hours at the Ming Tombs before proceeding onto lunch at the cloisonné factory where much money was spent by almost everyone.