Ming Tombs

Ming Shu Mausoleum

synonym

Ming mausoleum generally refers to Shu mausoleum

Ming Shu mausoleum is a national key cultural relic protection unit. It has a good reputation of "Ming Tombs in the north and Shu mausoleum in the South" since ancient times.

In the 1970s, more than ten tombs of the Ming Shu king family were discovered in the Shiling street of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. The tombs of the Shu king, represented by the tomb of Fu King, have magnificent underground palace buildings and exquisite carvings, which are praised by experts as "the most exquisite underground palace in ancient Chinese tombs". Located at the foot of Zhengjue mountain, Shiling street, Longquanyi District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, more than 10 tombs of kings and princesses of Ming Dynasty are scattered around the tomb of Fu, forming a famous tomb group similar to Ming Tombs in Beijing.

The discovery of Ming Shu mausoleum is of great significance to understand the mausoleum system, architecture and sculpture art of Ming Dynasty.

Historical records

Located in Shiling street, Longquanyi District, Chengdu City, the mausoleum of King Shu of Ming Dynasty is a family mausoleum group.

According to historical records, the Ming Dynasty granted 13 Shu kings in nearly 300 years. Ming Shu mausoleum is the royal family mausoleum group of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, 564 years ago, excavated in 1979.

The Ming Shu mausoleum is centered on the third generation of the Ming Dynasty Shu King Fu Mausoleum. Around the mausoleum and its adjacent areas, the most concentrated mausoleums have been formed, including Zhao Fei's mausoleum, Ji Fei's mausoleum, mourning Huai's mausoleum in Qianjiang, Huai's mausoleum, Hui's mausoleum, Zhao's Mausoleum, Cheng's mausoleum, Cheng's second mausoleum, and banbianjun's mausoleum. They are distributed at the foot of Zhengjue mountain and qinglonggeng in front of the mountain.

And its location, Shiling street, Longquanyi District, got its name.

archaeological excavation

Two tombs have been excavated in the Ming Shu mausoleum. In 1979, more than 500 pieces of precious cultural relics such as terracotta warriors and horses with colored glaze and terracotta dancers were unearthed.

The underground palace is 28 meters long, 8.96 meters wide and 6.59 meters high, with only 14 meters of stairs after restoration. The double dragon plate inlaid in the center of the main wall of the hall can be regarded as an art treasure of the Ming Dynasty. A pair of dragons imitating the head of Zhu Yuanzhang in the mausoleum of King Zhao is unique in China.

The Xiling mausoleum is more majestic than the Yongling mausoleum, and more exquisite than the Ming Tombs in Beijing. It is known as the most exquisite and concentrated underground palace in ancient Chinese Imperial Mausoleums for its exquisite carving, vigorous calligraphy, rich underground palace and concentrated mausoleums.

The tomb is spacious

It is known as one of the most exquisite underground palaces in ancient Chinese Imperial Mausoleums.

This is a grand and ornate underground palace. The total length of the underground palace is 28 meters, the width is 8.96 meters, and the height is 6.59 meters. Only the restored steps are 44 meters. Down the steps is the underground palace nine meters deep. The gate of the underground palace is tall and majestic, and the spirit of the emperor is unquestionable. The underground palace is exquisite, gorgeous and luxurious. Its plan is a courtyard with three entrances and three halls. The doors, windows and columns are carved with stone and wood. The whole tomb is like the palace where the owner lived.

The gate of the three tombs is tall and heavy, the chamber is spacious, and the walls of the tombs are exquisitely painted and carved, which are incomparably exquisite against the light.

Layout of tombs

After his death, he was buried in Fenghuang mountain, Tianhui mountain and other places, especially in zhengjueshan. From Tang Dynasty to Ming Dynasty, the royal tombs were concentrated in one place. The site selection and layout of tombs pay more attention to geomantic omen, and the so-called geomantic omen is the most important.

Shuwangfu is a great vassal of the Ming Dynasty. It was built in Chengdu. Sichuan was called the land of abundance in ancient times. Shuwangfu occupies seven tenths of the fertile land in the Chengdu Plain. It is one of the most prosperous royal houses in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the mausoleum buildings of successive shuwangs are extremely luxurious.

The tomb of the Ming Dynasty has been excavated The tombs of King Cuan and King Zhao are more than 560 years old. The owner of the tombs of King Shuan is Zhu Youan, King Shuan of Ming Dynasty. The tombs are located in the northeast and Southwest (Genshan Kunxiang). Zhu Youan is the direct grandson of Zhu Chun, the 11th son of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of Ming Dynasty (Zhu Chun is also the first generation of King Shu of Ming Dynasty). King Cuan was born in 1409 and was named Luojiang county king and Xuande in the 22nd Year Book of Yongle He was the third generation king of Shu in the seventh year. Wang Xiaoyou, a simple king, suffered from wind disease in the ninth year of Xuande. He was 26 years old and served for one year and nine months.

Precious cultural relics

In 1979, due to the construction of Shiling middle school (now the Shiling junior middle school), the underground palace was excavated by accident. At first, because of irrigation, the water did not know where it was going and disappeared out of thin air. Later, the underground palace was discovered. More than 500 precious cultural relics, including kuangzhi stele, burnt stove, glazed terracotta warriors and horses, and dance music figurines, were excavated. The ground architecture of Shufu mausoleum was destroyed early, so it is difficult to verify its original appearance, but its underground palace architecture is well preserved.

The underground palace is a courtyard with three entrances and three halls. From the entrance of the tomb, it is the gate, the vestibule, the front hall, the atrium, the main hall, the back court, the back hall and the coffin room. It was built in the form of the palace of the prince before his death. The underground palace, which imitates the form of the "living Palace", is also the characteristic of the mausoleum of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The underground palace is exquisitely carved, and although the color painting has faded, it can still imagine the magnificence of that time.

Walking down the stone ladder, you can see the nine meter deep underground palace at the entrance of the underground palace. Standing in front of you is a well preserved stone tablet. The seven characters of "Kuang Zhi, king of Shufu in Ming Dynasty" are engraved on the forehead of the tablet, and the inscription is meaningful and vigorous. At the end of the underground palace, there is another room with a stone coffin bed. In the center of the platform, there is a rectangular soil groove and the soil inside the groove, which is similar to the stone coffin bed In our folk Nagu pagoda, the bottom of the golden urn must be paved with mud and sand, which may symbolize the underground earth Qi of geomantic omen. Only in this way can the earth Qi be connected, the earth be at peace, and the soul can enter and leave the underworld freely.

Interestingly, it is said that when the archaeologists entered the tomb, they found two skeletons, one is king Fu, and the other is supposed to be tomb robbers. There are always stories about tomb robbers in ancient tomb legends.

Sculpture art

The mausoleum of King Zhao is the joint burial tomb of King Zhao and his wife. The whole tomb chamber of King Zhao's mausoleum was built according to the wooden structure of the ground palace of King Shu's mansion. It is of great significance to understand the system of Ming Dynasty's vassal mausoleum and the art of architecture and sculpture. From the gate into, followed by the vestibule, vestibule, atrium. Because it is a joint tomb, the back of the atrium is divided into left and right main hall, back court, back hall and coffin room.

The whole tomb is full of relief murals, red walls, green tiles, painted pillars, carved beams, resplendent. In the center of the left and right coffin rooms is the coffin platform of Xumi seat of King Zhao and Princess Zhao, the place where the two loving couples sleep. The most wonderful thing is that there is a partition between the two coffin beds, and there is a door in the middle of the wall. It is said that this is to facilitate the communication between husband and wife in the underworld.

The beginning of tomb building

According to historical records, King Zhao of Shu died in 1508. The princess died in 14 years of Zhengde, 13 years apart. From the perspective of the architectural structure of the tomb, at the beginning of the construction of the tomb, the plan for the future burial of the husband and wife was made in advance. It can be seen that the couple got along well and had deep feelings. In heaven let us be two birds flying ever together, and on earth two trees with branches interlocked forever. It turns out that even people in the royal family are willing to live and die.

There is also a mysterious stone tablet of Panlong in the mausoleum of King Zhao, and the dragon on it is actually the head and body of the dragon! It is said that it is a portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of Ming Dynasty. The kings of Shu in the Ming Dynasty were all virtuous kings, and they were very kind to them. Especially in the battle of Jingnan of Zhu Di, the king of Shu helped Zhu Di to win the throne, and the emperors of Ming Dynasty after Zhu Di also showed their gratitude to the king of Shu. The 81 doornails of the mausoleum of King Fu, the five clawed Golden Dragon. The head and dragon body of King Zhao's mausoleum. These are incredible gifts. The kings of Shu in the Ming Dynasty should really thank the emperor for his great kindness (the original site of King Zhao's mausoleum is located near Baihe Village, Honghe District, Damian street, Longquanyi District, Chengdu).

Addendum to Ming Tombs

The five mausoleums of Shu are: Fu Mausoleum, Cheng mausoleum, Huai mausoleum, Hui mausoleum and Zhao mausoleum.

The Chengwang mausoleum, huaiwang mausoleum and Huiwang mausoleum have not been opened to the public. According to the existing records, Chengwang mausoleum is the largest Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. It is located at qinglonggeng on the West Bank of Dongfengqu. The cemetery is 490 meters long from west to East, east to west, and 140 meters wide from north to south. Along the central axis, there are glazed tile top gate, Shinto, Hengdian, Fangcheng minglou and Baoding, and the scale of its display is close to that of imperial mausoleum. In addition, Qianjiang mourned the mausoleum of King Huai and the mausoleum of King Hui. The scale of the two mausoleums needs further investigation. It is speculated that the scale and underground palace building of the two mausoleums may be only slightly smaller than that of the tomb of King Fu, which is still of high scientific research value.

In ancient imperial tombs, compared with Ming Tombs in Beijing and Qing tombs in Hebei, the Ming Tombs in Chengdu are much smaller in scale because they are only local mausoleums, and the mausoleum buildings are restricted to some extent, but they still have their own characteristics.

Mausoleum layout

Layout of mausoleum group: the whole mausoleum area is the so-called geomantic treasure land of "storing wind and boundary water" and "gathering Qi and concentration". The tombs are mainly composed of the tomb of King Fu and the tomb of King Cheng. The other tombs are distributed around according to the situation, forming a palm shaped layout pointing to the center of the lake. This layout is different from the tree shaped layout of the Ming Tombs in Beijing and the Qing tombs in Hebei, so it is unique. The tombs are divided into three sides (North, East and West), surrounded by mountains and arranged in a "mountain by Lake" layout. The mountain is Zhengjue mountain with an altitude of 534 meters, and the lake is Qinglong lake, which disappeared with the change of history. Now it passes through the mausoleum area and the site

Chinese PinYin : Ming Shi Ling