In 2000 November, Royal Mausoleum of Ming and Qing dynasty was honored as “World Cultural Heritage” by the UN Organization of Science, Education and Culture. Locating in Northern China, the Royal Mausoleum of Ming and Qing dynasties is the biggest and most complete among the mausoleums that still exist today in China for emperors and empresses built in ancient time.
The Ming Tombs were built in a small basin on the foot of Tianshou Mountain in Changping District, the northwest area of Beijing , 44 km away from the downtown. The mausoleum consists of 13 tombs of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), generally known as “Ming Thirteen Tombs”. Here is where 13 emperors and 23 empress of the Ming Dynasty were buried, together with many imperial concubines, princes, princesses, and many maids.
The Dongling Tomb and The Xiling Tomb make up the royal mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
The Ming Tombs
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The approach to the Ming Tombs is a shaded 7-kilometer-long road known as the Sacred Way. Its beginning is marked with a marble archway standing 27 meters long and 15 meters high. The marble archway is similar to the triumphal arches of Europe (Paris, Rome, Berlin, etc.). This archway, the biggest and best preserved of the kind in the country, was erected in 1540, at a time when Chinese architecture had reached its climax.
This road is lined with gigantic stone statues called Shixiangsheng, including 24 of lions, camels, elephants, horses, and mythical animals and 12 of generals, civil mandarins, and courtiers.
The route of the leading part of the whole is arranged in light of the geographical situation, basically bearing southwest-northeast with as light turn. Taking the main peak of Tianshou Mountain on the right eastern side of the Changling Tomb as the background, the route deviates slightly to the horseshoe-shaped eastern side. This is because the mountain ridges on the eastern side are relatively low, so the deviation helps gain the feeling through the perspective effect that the east and west are approximately balanced. It is a successful artistic treatment of the environment, which should be the decision made by the planner after making an on-the-spot survey.
（Source: chinaculture.org）