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Ming Ancestors Mausoleum

Coordinates: 33°05′20″N 118°28′20″E / 33.08889°N 118.47222°E / 33.08889; 118.47222
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Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
明祖陵
The Southern Red Gate
The Southern Gate of the tomb complex
Ming Ancestors Mausoleum is located in China
Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
Location in China
General information
Architectural styleChinese (Ming)
Town or cityXuyi
Huai'an Prefecture
Jiangsu Province
CountryChina
Coordinates33°4′55.81″N 118°28′39.63″E / 33.0821694°N 118.4776750°E / 33.0821694; 118.4776750
Construction startedHongwu 19[1]
1386[2]
CompletedYongle 11[1]
c. 1413
Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
Chinese明祖陵
Literal meaningTomb of the Ancestors of the Ming
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMíngzǔlíng
Míng Zǔlíng
Wade–GilesMing-tzu-ling
Ming Tsu-ling
First Tomb of the Ming
Chinese明代第一陵
Literal meaningFirst Burial Mound of the Ming Era
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMíngdài Dìyī Líng
Wade–GilesMing-tai Ti-i Ling

The Ming Ancestors Mausoleum, Mingzuling, or Zuling Tomb[3] was the first imperial mausoleum complex of the Ming dynasty, constructed at a geomantically advantageous site near the inlet of the Huai River[4] into the west side of Hongze Lake in present-day Xuyi County, Huai'an Prefecture, Jiangsu Province, China. Built between 1386 and 1413 by Zhu Yuanzhang—the Hongwu Emperor who founded the Ming—and his son Zhu Di the Yongle Emperor to display their filial piety,[5] it was located north of the town of Sizhou, where the ancestors of the dynasty had lived. The remains of the Hongwu Emperor's grandfather Zhu Chuyi are known to have been disintered and moved to the site. He, his father Zhu Sijiu, and his grandfather Zhu Bailiu[2] were posthumously revered at the site as honorary emperors, Zhu Chuyi as the Xi Ancestor of the Ming (Xizu), Zhu Sijiu as the Yi Ancestor of the Ming (Yizu), and Zhu Bailiu as the De Ancestor of the Ming (Dezu).[2]

The site was flooded by the lake in the 1680s, when the Yellow River still flowed into the Huai. It was not uncovered until the 1960s. During the 1970s and 1980s, earthworks were raised to protect the site from further flooding, after which it was restored as a cultural tourism site by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China. Most of the original statues of the sacred way have been recovered and restored, although some of the gates and halls remain as ruins.

Layout

See also: Chinese burial

The site closely followed fengshui principles, establishing a template that would be copied by other tombs through the Ming and Qing dynasties.[5] It was in a broad valley with mountains to the north, lower hills east and west, and a southern-facing slope with good drainage.[5] A main sacred way was built through the center, several li long, with lesser sacred ways leading from it to each of the separate tombs.[5] The entrance of the way was a portico with several doors for visitors of differing status, after which it passed through or beside several courtyards and buildings including a reception pavilion and a commemorative pavilion housing the deceased's tablets of divine merit, followed by rows of paired statuary representing symbolic animals and effigies of ministers and generals.[5] After stone bridges over geomantically placed streams and a dragon and phoenix portico, a second complex of buildings offered a hall of meditation and a memorial tower leading to the burial mound.[5] The mausoleums themselves held traditional trapezoidal tombs and followed the usual symmetrical arrangement of the burial chamber from the Qin until Zhu Yuanzhang's own burial.[6]

History

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming, constructed the complex in the 19th year of the Hongwu Era using the Chinese lunisolar calendar (c. 1386).[1] It is considered the first tomb of the Ming.[1] His grandfather Zhu Chuyi (朱初一, Zhū Chūyī) was exhumed and reburied within the complex; the other two mausoleums for his great-grandfather Zhu Sijiu (朱四九, Zhū Sìjiǔ) and Zhu Bailiu (朱百六, Zhū Bǎiliù) are empty and honorary.[1] The Xiangdian Hall (享殿,, Xiǎngdiàn) was built the following year.[1] The complex allowed them to receive veneration befitting their new status, having been posthumously elevated as the Yu, Heng, and Xuan Emperors of the Ming (明裕帝, Míng Yùdì; 明恒帝, Míng Héngdì; 明玄帝, Míng Xuándì).[1]

His son Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor, built the Lingxing Gate (櫺星門, Língxīngmén) and surrounding wall in the 11th year of the Yongle Era (c. 1413).[1]

In 1680 during the Qing dynasty, the Yellow River—then still flowing south of Shandong—changed its course and merged with the Huai River. The quickly accumulated river sediment blocked the flow of the Huai, enlarging Hongze Lake, which submerged the mausoleum complex along with the nearby city of Sizhou.[7][8]

Not until the dry season of 1966—in some sources 1963 or 1964[7]—did the mausoleum resurface. It was initially excavated in 1976. In 1980, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture allocated funds to repair it. The original Xiang Hall and Pei Hall were thought destroyed and without remains, but surfaced during a drought in May 2011.

In front of the mausoleum there are several gravestones and ornamental columns which are preserved. The sacred way is among the most well preserved in China. Today, the total area of the mausoleum is 351,000 square meters (87 acres). It contains over 9700 trees, including pines, cypresses, poplars, and willows. An arch bridge and five exhibition rooms have been newly built.[9] Prolonged drought along the Yangtze River[10] and Huai River lowered the level of Hongze Lake during the 2010s. The nine arches of the Ming Ancestors Mausoleum, beams under the arches, and most of the top of the paved path leading to the mausoleum are buried deep under the silt in the pond, only showing an outline. In order to protect the cultural relics after being unearthed, the site was submerged again.[clarification needed][how?][when?]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Yuanlin (2008).
  2. ^ a b c SACH (2000), p. 173.
  3. ^ SACH (2000), p. 171.
  4. ^ "Huaian". Jiangsu.NET,2006-2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d e f SACH (2000), p. 179.
  6. ^ SACH (2000), p. 253.
  7. ^ a b Eric N. Danielson, "The Ming Ancestor Tomb Archived 2013-09-27 at the Wayback Machine". CHINA HERITAGE QUARTERLY, No. 16, December 2008.
  8. ^ 二月河. 康熙大帝 (Emperor Kangxi). 长江文艺出版社 (Changjiang Literature & Art Press).
  9. ^ "Ming Ancestors Mausoleum". china daily. 中国日报. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  10. ^ "Yangtze River". 中国文化网, CHINACULTURE.ORG. Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Jiang Zhongjian (1990), 《明代第一陵》 [Mingdai Diyi Ling, First Tomb of the Ming] (in Chinese), Jiangsu Guji Chubanshe.
  • Qi Shancheng (2000), "明祖陵" "[Ming Zuling, Ancestral Tombs of the Ming ]", 《江苏政协》 [Jiangsu Zhengxie, Jiangsu Consultative Conference] (in Chinese), Jiangsu Province Consultative Conference Committee.

33°05′20″N 118°28′20″E / 33.08889°N 118.47222°E / 33.08889; 118.47222

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