China Travelogue  |  China City Guides  |  Beijing City  |  Hong Kong   |  Shanghai  |  Xian  |  China History  |  Home    
Travelogue By Cities  •   Experience China  •  China Hotels & Transportation    

BEIJING CITY GUIDE & TOUR
Badaling Great Wall of China
Beijing Duck at QuanJuDe - 1
Beijing Duck at QuanJuDe - 2
Beijing Forbidden City - 1
Beijing Forbidden City - 2
Beijing Forbidden City - 3
Beijing Hutong Tour
Beihai Park Tour
Ming Tombs Lunch
Ming Tombs Tour - 1
Ming Tombs Tour - 2
Ming Dynasty Wax Muesum
Summer Palace Beijing - 1
Summer Palace Beijing - 2
Temple of Heaven Tour - 1
Temple of Heaven Tour - 2
Tiananmen Square China

GUILIN CITY GUIDE & TOUR
Diecai Hill - Folded Brocade
Elephant Trunk Hill
Fubo Hill Tour
Guilin To Yangshuo Li River Cruise
Guilin Travel & Arrival
Li River Cruise - 1
Li River Cruise - 2
Liu Sa Jie Park
Ocean Aquarium Tour
Reed Flute Cave Tour
Seven Star Park
Solitary Beauty Peak & Princes City
Xiongsen Bear & Tiger Zoo - 1
Xiongsen Bear & Tiger Zoo - 2
Yangshuo Big Banyan Tree
Yangshuo Ju Long Tan Cave

HAINAN ISLAND TRAVEL
Haikou Evergreen Park
Haikou Hairui Tomb Tour
Haikou One Day Tour
Haikou Wugong Temple
Sanya City Impressions

HARBIN CITY GUIDE & TOUR
Dragon Tower Tour
Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Ice and Snow World
Impressions of Harbin City
Saint Sophia Church
Siberian Tiger Park Tour
Songhuajiang Gondola Ride
Stalin Park & Flood Prevention
Sun Island Snow Sculpture Festival

XIAN CITY GUIDE & TOUR
Banpo Village
Bell Tower Tour
Big Wild Goose Pagoda Tour
Drum Tower Tour
Forest of Stone Steles Museum - 1
Forest of Stone Steles Museum - 2
Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuang
Shaanxi Province History Museum - 1
Shaanxi Province History Museum - 2
Shaanxi Province History Museum - 3
Small Wild Goose Pagoda
Tang Dynasty Cultural Park - 1
Tang Dynasty Cultural Park - 2
Terra Cotta Warrior & Solder - 1
Terra Cotta Warrior & Solder - 2
Terra Cotta Warrior & Solder - 3
Xian City Wall

YUNNAN PROVINCE
Xishuangbanna
Yunnan Dali China
Yunnan LiJiang Old Town
Yunnan Shilin Stone Forest

Suzhou Gardens
Tibet Potala Palace
Tibet Travel in China

 

Beijing Ming Tombs Tour - I

Tour of Ming Tomb, Continued...

Continued from previous Ming Tomb Tour entry, we follow the path that leads us first to the left chamber in the Dingling tomb. As the name suggests, this chamber is located on the left side of the main chamber, and is symetrical to the right chamber. However, this chamber was empty when the underground palace was excavated.

Ming Tomb Dingling
Photo of the left chamber inside the Dingling Tomb. The big pile you see behind the railing is a pile of cash that tourists leave behind - for reasons I'm not sure of.

After the left chamber, the path leads the visitor to the middle chamber. The middle chamber did not contain any coffins, but in the center of it was the throne (made of solid stone) of the emperor with some sort of incense / candle infront of it.

Ming Dynasty Tomb
The throne of the emperor in the center of the middle chamber.

The right chamber is not open to the public, so once we finished with the middle chamber, the path lead us to the rear chamber. It's in the rear chamber that all the coffins are located.

Ming Tomb Dingling
Photo of some of the coffins inside the rear chamber. The photo quality isn't the greatest, since it was somewhat dark inside.

The rear chamber is the main chamber of the underground palace. During the excavation, there was a coffin bed, on which the coffins of the emperor and empresses were placed. The coffin of the emperor was in the middle with the coffins of the empresses on the two sides.

Researchers found jade materials between the coffins. They found 26 cases of burial articles that accompanied the emperor and empresses. The cofins and cases you see in the photo above are replicas of the originals. Which is why they look fresh, and vibrant in the picture above. After we finshed touring the rear chamber, we exited through a large set of iron doors. The gate frame was carved out of white stone, and the door slab is 40cm thick at the ends, and 20cm thick towards the middle.

Symbol of the Ming Tomb - Soul Tower

After you walk through the last set of doors, there's a 4 story climb up to the top, and back into the scortching heat I went. Having climbed back to the top, we exit the rear to the soul tower.

ming tombs soul tower
Photo taken from the rear exit of the Ming Tomb, and the large building in the back ground is the soul tower.

The soul tower was built in 1587, and is a symbolic structure of the under ground palace. It's carved of stones decorated with colorful paintings. A sacred stone stele was erected inside the tower, and two chinese characters are engraved on to the top which says "Da Ming" meaning "The Great Ming Dynasty".

While I was there, much of the color had faded, and it was quite difficult to make out the carved chinese writing on the stone tablet; however I was able to make out the Chinese characters.

Afterwards I headed down the stairs to the path and courtyard where we entered from. On the two sides are display halls housing various relics and artifacts recovered from inside the Dingling Tomb.

Ming Tomb Museum
Various gold and silver ingots recovered from the Ming Tomb.

Inside the Dingling Ming Tomb Museum, you will see all types of artifacts uncovered. The photo above shows silver and gold ingots recovered from the tomb; however I'm unsure if these are the originals or replicas... But my guess is probably replicas. Other relics includes various types of coins and currency, hair combs, make up accessories, various styles of hair pins, jade belts, different types of fabrics and clothing, pots and pans, and much more.

>> Click here to discover how to get dirt cheap airfare tickets

 

 

I Heart AWeber.com

Try AWeber Email Marketing Risk-Free

 
Beijing ChinaChina Travel Hong Kong ShanghaiSichuan Xian China Travelogue Contact Privacy
(c) 2006 - 2010 TravelChinaTour.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WORLDWIDE