Brief information on Ming Tombs  

Located in Changping County, approximately 50 kilometers northwest from the downtown area of Beijing, the Ming Tombs are a cluster of 13 mausoleums, and are the final resting places of 13 Ming Dynasty emperors. The tombs cover a total area of 120K square kilometers and were listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2003. The 13 mausoleums are different in size but they have similar architectural styles: Changling is the largest, Yongling is the most delicate and Siling is the smallest. ?

Changling and Dingling are the most famous of the Ming Tombs. Changling is the tomb of Emperor Zhudi, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who reigned during the Yongle era. He rests here with his wife, Empress Xu. Emperor Zhudi ruled for 22 years, and enjoyed great success in the fields of politics, economics, culture, the military and diplomacy. He is regarded as one of the Ming Dynasty’s greatest emperors. Changling covers an area of about 120,000 square meters, and is the largest and best preserved of the Ming Tombs. The 12 emperors that followed Zhudi all had their tombs built around Changling.

Dingling is the mausoleum of the Emperor Zhu Yijun, the thirteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and his two empresses. Dingling is currently the only mausoleum of the 13 to have been excavated. It is an underground tomb, with construction beginning in 1584, continuing until its completion in 1590. There are many attractions in Dingling, such as the Stone Bridge, Soul Tower and Baocheng. The Soul Tower is the symbol of Dingling and it forms the entrance to the underground chamber. The whole Dingling is made of stone, and it is divided into three halls consisting of five palaces: the front, rear, and middle, left and right palaces. The gates of the main halls are made of white marble. ?

As the grandest tomb cluster and one of the most impressive cultural relics in all of China, the Ming Tombs have become one of the country’s most famous and unmissable tourist destinations.

*You can download the bilingual note to show it to a taxi driver or someone else to find your way to Ming Tombs if you plan to visit Ming Tombs and have language problems.

   

Chinese Pinyin: Ming Shi San Ling
Opening Times: Changling Tomb: 08:30 - 17:30; Dingling Tomb: 08:30 - 18:00
Address: Changping District
How to Get to: Buses: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5