Ming Ancestors Mausoleum

Last updated
Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
明祖陵
Xin Jian Ming Zu Ling Nan Hong Men Xing She Zi Di .jpg
The Southern Gate of the tomb complex
China Jiangsu adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in Jiangsu
General information
Architectural style Chinese (Ming)
Town or city Xuyi
Huai'an Prefecture
Jiangsu Province
Country China
Coordinates 33°4′55.81″N118°28′39.63″E / 33.0821694°N 118.4776750°E / 33.0821694; 118.4776750
Construction started Hongwu 19 [1]
1386 [2]
Completed Yongle 11 [1]
c. 1413
The diagram of the former layout of Ming Zuling printed in the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries reprint of Pan Jixun's 1590 Overview of River Maintenance Ming Zuling.png
The diagram of the former layout of Ming Zuling printed in the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries reprint of Pan Jixun's 1590 Overview of River Maintenance

The site closely followed fengshui principles, establishing a template that would be copied by other tombs through the Ming and Qing dynasties. [6] It was in a broad valley with hills to the north, lower hills east and west, and a southern-facing slope with good drainage. [6] A main sacred way was built through the center, several li long. [6] 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 stone statuary ( 石象 ,shíxiàng) representing symbolic animals and effigies of ministers and generals. [6] In the case of Ming Zuling, the statues begin with two pairs of qilin and then feature six pairs of stone lions, a pair of Song-style stone columns ( 華表 ,huábiǎo), a pair of horse officers ( ,mǎguān), a pair of mounted messengers (qianma shizhe), a pair of saddle horses, and a second pair of horse officers. After crossing a bridge, there are two pairs of civil officers ( 文臣 ,wénchén), two pairs of generals ( 武將 ,wǔjiàng), and last two pairs of scholar-bureaucrats ( 進士 ,jìntshì) or eunuchs ( 太監 ,tàijiàn). [3]

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. [6] 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. [10] This return to traditional Chinese practice marked a notable break with the Mongol Yuan. [3] A feature carried over from the Tang and Song but not later repeated was the surrounding of the site with three successive walls, the outermost and middle made of earth and the innermost from red brick. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yongle Emperor</span> 3rd emperor of the Ming dynasty (r. 1402–1424)

The Yongle Emperor, personal name Zhu Di, was the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hongwu Emperor</span> 1st emperor of the Ming dynasty (r. 1368–1398)

The Hongwu Emperor, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Ming, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, courtesy name Guorui, was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1368 to 1398.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huai'an</span> Prefecture-level city in Jiangsu, Peoples Republic of China

Huai'an, formerly Huaiyin, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province in Eastern China. As of 2020, the built-up area of its 3 central urban districts had 2,544,767 inhabitants and the prefecture as a whole had 4,556,230 inhabitants, down from 4.8 million in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ming tombs</span> Collection of mausoleums built by emperors of China

The Ming tombs are a collection of mausoleums built by the emperors of the Ming dynasty of China. The first Ming emperor's tomb is located near his capital Nanjing. However, the majority of the Ming tombs are located in a cluster near Beijing and collectively known as the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming dynasty. They are located within the suburban Changping District of Beijing Municipality, 42 kilometers (26 mi) north-northwest of Beijing's city center. The site, on the southern slope of Tianshou Mountain, was chosen based on the principles of feng shui by the third Ming emperor, the Yongle Emperor. After the construction of the Imperial Palace in 1420, the Yongle Emperor selected his burial site and created his own mausoleum. The subsequent emperors placed their tombs in the same valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jianwen Emperor</span> 2nd emperor of the Ming dynasty (r. 1398–1402)

The Jianwen Emperor, personal name Zhu Yunwen (朱允炆), was the second Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1398 to 1402.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ming Xiaoling</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Jiangsu, China

The Ming Xiaoling is the mausoleum of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty. It lies at the southern foot of Purple Mountain, located east of the historical centre of Nanjing. Legend says that in order to prevent robbery of the tomb, 13 identical processions of funeral troops started from 13 city gates to obscure the real burying site.

Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties is the designation under which the UNESCO has included several tombs and burial complexes into the list of World Heritage Sites. These tombs date from the Ming and Qing dynasties of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hongze Lake</span>

Hongze Lake, previously known as Lake Hungtze or Hung-tse, is the fifth-largest freshwater lake in China. Although it is known to have existed from antiquity, it drastically increased in size during the Qing when the Yellow River—then still flowing south of Shandong—merged with the Huai. The increased sediment and flow combined to greatly expand the lake, swallowing the previous regional center of Sizhou and the Ming Zuling tombs. During the imperial and republican periods, the lake formed part of the border between Jiangsu and Anhui provinces but since 1955 the previous borders have been shifted to place it entirely under Jiangsu's administration. It is now encompassed by the counties of Sihong and Siyang in Suqian Prefecture and Xuyi and Hongze in Huai'an Prefecture. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the lake has generally decreased in size as more of its inflow has been diverted for irrigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ming Palace</span>

The Ming Palace, also known as the "Forbidden City of Nanjing", was the 14th-century imperial palace of the early Ming dynasty, when Nanjing was the capital of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xuyi County</span> County in Jiangsu, Peoples Republic of China

Xuyi is a county under the administration of Huai'an Prefecture in central Jiangsu Province in eastern China. The southernmost of Huai'an's county-level divisions, it borders the prefecture-level cities of Suqian, Jiangsu, to the north and Chuzhou, Anhui, to the south and west. Xuyi is the site of the Ming Zuling tombs and also noted for production of crayfish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhu Shugui</span>

Zhu Shugui, courtesy name Tianqiu (天球) and art name Yiyuanzi (一元子), the Prince of Ningjing (寧靖王), was a royal member of the Ming and the last of the pretenders to the throne of Southern Ming after the execution of the Yongli Emperor in 1662. He took shelter to the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan after mainland China completely fell under the control of Manchu-led Qing dynasty. Despite his status as a royal member, he virtually shared no political power with the Zheng dynasts whom were the actual rulers of the kingdom. After the Qing forces successfully annexed Taiwan in 1683, he committed suicide. Nowadays there is a temple dedicated to the prince in Lujhu Township. Inside the temple is written Zhu's death poem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fengyang County</span> County in Anhui, Peoples Republic of China

Fengyang County is a county in north-central Anhui Province, China. It is under the administration of Chuzhou, a prefecture-level city. The county was home to 765,600 people as of 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yangshan Quarry</span>

The Yangshan Quarry is an ancient stone quarry near Nanjing, China. Used during many centuries as a source of stone for buildings and monuments of Nanjing, it is preserved as a historic site. The quarry is famous for the gigantic unfinished stele that was abandoned there during the reign of the Yongle Emperor in the early 15th century. In scope and ambition, the stele project is compared to other public works projects of Yongle era, which included the launching of the treasure fleet for Zheng He's maritime expeditions and the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empress Ma (Hongwu)</span> Ming Dynasty empress (1332–1382)

Empress Xiaocigao, commonly known as Empress Ma, was a Chinese empress consort of the Ming dynasty, married to the Hongwu Emperor and acting as his political adviser, exerting a large amount of influence during his reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomb of the King of Boni</span> Tomb of Abdul Majid Hassan, in Nanjing, China

The Tomb of the King of Boni is the tomb of Abdul Majid Hassan, the ruler of Boni, a medieval state on the island of Borneo sometimes considered to be the predecessor of modern Brunei. It and its associated statuary are located in a park at the southern foothills of Tortoise Mountain (Guishan), about 3km south of the southern gate of the walled city of Nanjing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Si Prefecture (Huai valley)</span>

Sizhou, Si Prefecture, or Si Subprefecture was a zhou of imperial China variously placed in what is now Xuyi County, Jiangsu, or nearby Si County, Anhui, both in China. Named for the Si River, it existed intermittently from 580 to 1912, during which time the relative position of a zhou within Chinese administrations varied. The same name Sizhou was used for the town used as the seat of the prefectural or subprefectural government, which also varied, and is preserved in modern Anhui's Si County and Sicheng.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan Jixun</span> Chinese scholar-bureaucrat and hydrologist

Pan Jixun (1521–1595), courtesy name Shiliang and pseudonym Yinchuan, was a Chinese scholar-bureaucrat and hydrologist of the Ming dynasty. He was noted for his monograph Overview of River Management.

<i>Hongwu Tongbao</i> First cash coin to bear the name of a Ming Emperor

The Hongwu Tongbao was the first cash coin to bear the reign name of a reigning Ming dynasty Emperor bearing the reign title of the Hongwu Emperor. Hongwu Tongbao cash coins officially replaced the earlier Dazhong Tongbao coins, however the production of the latter did not cease after the Hongwu Tongbao was introduced. The government of the Ming dynasty placed a greater reliance on copper cash coins than the Yuan dynasty ever did, but despite this reliance a nationwide copper shortage caused the production of Hongwu Tongbao cash coins to cease several times eventually leading to their discontinuation in 1393 when they were completely phased out in favour of paper money. In the year 1393 there were a total of 325 furnaces in operation in all provincial mints of China which had an annual output of 189,000 strings of cash coins which was merely 3% of the average annual production during the Northern Song dynasty.

Zhu Shizhen, born Zhu Wusi, was the father of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty. He was a native of Jurong. Ancestors of the Zhu family lived in Pei and later moved to Jurong. His father, Zhu Chuyi, moved to Xuyi, Si Prefecture, and Zhu Shizhen moved again to Zhongli, Haozhou.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Yuanlin (2008).
  2. 1 2 3 SACH (2000), p. 173.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Danielson (2008).
  4. SACH (2000), p. 171.
  5. "Huaian". Jiangsu.NET,2006-2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 SACH (2000), p. 179.
  7. "Ming Ancestors Mausoleum". china daily. 中国日报. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  8. "Yangtze River". 中国文化网, CHINACULTURE.ORG. Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  9. Paludan (1991).
  10. SACH (2000), p. 253.

Bibliography

Further reading

Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
Ming Zu Ling  - panoramio.jpg
The qilins, stone lions, and huabiaos on the left side of the sacred way

33°05′20″N118°28′20″E / 33.08889°N 118.47222°E / 33.08889; 118.47222