The Ming Tombs

Fengyang is located in the northeast of Anhui Province, on the South Bank of the middle reaches of Huaihe River. Fengyang is endowed with the great love of nature, which breeds Huaihe River culture with profound connotation, nurtures a generation of peasant Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, and creates Xiaogang people who dare to be the first in the world. Therefore, Fengyang is famous at home and abroad for its "hometown of Emperors", "hometown of flower drum", "hometown of reform", "hometown of quartz", "hometown of Quyi" and "hometown of culture and art". Located 7 kilometers southwest of Fengyang County, the Ming imperial mausoleum is the mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang's parents. It was first built in 1366 and completed in 1369. The 32 pairs of stone statues, Mausoleum steles, wordless steles and cemeteries on the Shinto in front of the mausoleum are well preserved. The inscription on the mausoleum was written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, recording his life experience. The large number of stone statues and the exquisite carving are the crown of all Imperial Mausoleums, and are listed in Guinness. Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty. In 1344, his parents, brother and sister-in-law died one after another. Zhu Yuanzhang was only over 10 years old. He could not afford to hold a funeral. He only settled his family with the ceremony of "being covered with evil clothes and floating three feet". More than 20 years later, Zhu Yuanzhang was granted the title of king of Wu, and ordered his late Minister Wang Wen to repair his parents' Mausoleum in Haozhou. In the second year of Hongwu, he issued an imperial edict to build the central capital in his hometown. At the same time, he issued an imperial edict to cultivate soil and seal the old mausoleum. In the eighth year of Hongwu's reign, the construction of Zhongdu was stopped, and the remaining materials of Zhongdu were used to build the tomb of parents again. By the 12th year of Hongwu, the general layout of the imperial mausoleum was basically in the form of a city wall outside, a shelter and sacrificial facilities inside, and tall mausoleum steles and paired stone statues in front of the mausoleum. The mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty has been well protected by the Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xianzhong's uprising army captured Fengyang, burned the imperial mausoleum, painted charcoal for the hall and other buildings, and then was repeatedly damaged. During the Anti Japanese War, Japanese invaders cut down pines and cypresses in the cemetery, which turned the lush cemetery into bare mound. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, cultural relic management organizations were set up in the central capital and the imperial mausoleum. Through efforts, the environment around the central capital and the imperial mausoleum has been improved, and the existing cultural relics and historic sites have been properly protected. In 1982, the stone carvings of the old city and Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty were announced by the State Council as the second batch of national key cultural relics protection units. It is now an important tourist spot on the second antique international tourism line in Anhui Province.

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The Ming Tombs

The Ming mausoleum is located seven kilometers south of Fengyang County, Anhui Province. It was built by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, for his parents and brother-in-law. When it was first built, it covered an area of more than 20000 mu. It was built in 1366 and completed in 1379. In the second year of Hongwu, it was recommended as Yingling mausoleum and later renamed Huangling mausoleum.

There are three main Mausoleums in Ming Dynasty: Imperial City, brick city and Earth City, more than 1000 temples and houses, mausoleums and stone carvings. Since the end of Ming Dynasty, the palaces and palaces have been abandoned due to man-made destruction and wind and rain erosion.

The Ming mausoleum is the same system as the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing and the Ming Tombs in Beijing. Although the Ming mausoleum is not the mausoleum of the emperor, it has hundreds of palaces, palaces and official halls. The total length of the royal mausoleum is 257 meters. There are 32 pairs of stone statues. The inscriptions of the mausoleum are written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself. The number of stone statues and the exquisite carving are the highest in the mausoleums of the past dynasties. Its artistic style is excellent and can be rated as the best It is a large-scale stone carving of the song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In 1982, the stone carvings of the old city and Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty were listed as the second batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

Evolution of construction

Zhu Yuanzhang's parents died in April of the fourth year of yuanzhizheng (1344). At that time, due to the poverty of their family, the funeral was very simple. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang abandoned his monks and joined the army, "succeeding as king and finally as emperor.".

The Ming imperial mausoleum was first built in 1366, when Zhu Yuanzhang was granted the title of king of Wu. He ordered his old minister Wang Wen to repair his parents' Mausoleum in Haozhou (now Fengyang County, Anhui Province). During the construction of the Ming mausoleum, Zhu Yuanzhang went to visit the mausoleum three times, and repeatedly ordered the prince and the kings to visit Fengyang.

In 1369, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict to build the central capital in his hometown. At the same time, he issued an edict to cultivate soil and seal the old mausoleum.

In the eighth year of Hongwu (1375), the construction of Zhongdu was stopped, and the remaining materials of Zhongdu were used to build the tomb of parents again.

In 1379, the Ming mausoleum was completed. There are walls outside the mausoleum, shelters and sacrificial facilities inside, and tall mausoleum steles and paired stone statues in front of the mausoleum. There are six characters in the seal script of the imperial mausoleum, which is also called "imperial mausoleum stele" because the inscription was written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself.

In September of the first year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1403), Emperor Chengzu ordered the imperial mausoleum to be repaired.

Yongle six years (1408), repair.

In the 11th year of Yongle (1413), the imperial mausoleum was repaired again.

From the 7th to the 15th year of Yongle (1409 to 1417), Zhu Di, the founder of Ming Dynasty, visited the mausoleum four times. According to the rule of renzuling in Daming Huidian, all officials who pass by on official business must pay a visit to the mausoleum,

In 1439, the fourth year of the reign of emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the second month of February, the ninth month of the tenth year, and the eighth month of the eleventh year, the imperial mausoleum was repaired many times.

In 1454, Zhu Qiyu, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, ordered the renovation.

In July of the first year of Ming Dynasty (1457) and July of the third year of Ming Dynasty, Zhuqi Town, the emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty, ordered the imperial mausoleum to be repaired.

In the 23rd year of Chenghua (1487) of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial mausoleum had been built for more than a hundred years. The palace of the mausoleum was in ruins, so it was rebuilt.

In February of 1531, the tenth year of Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houfu, Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty, once again called the name of Huangling mountain Xiangsheng mountain and built a stele and pavilion. After that, the mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty were constantly repaired by the emperors of the Ming Dynasty.

The mausoleum was repaired in March 1535, September 15, April 17 and October 33.

In the first month of the eighth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1635), Zhang Xianzhong's uprising army captured Fengyang, burned the imperial mausoleum, and painted charcoal for the palace.

In the early Qing Dynasty, the government allowed the people to demolish other houses wantonly. By the time of Qianlong, the imperial mausoleum was completely destroyed, but only two steles, stone figures and stone horses were left. Since then, the stele has been broken into four pieces, brick and stone components, which were used for other purposes by the people who settled nearby after the revolution of 1911.

During the Anti Japanese War, Japanese invaders cut down pines and cypresses in the cemetery, which turned the lush cemetery into bare mound. The whole site of the mausoleum was used as farmland for the peasants and the imperial mausoleum farm before and after the founding of the people's Republic of China.

After 1982, cultural relic management organizations were set up in the central capital and imperial mausoleum to protect the surrounding environment.

Since 1985, Fengyang County Cultural Relics Management Institute, together with professionals from Anhui Provincial Institute of cultural relics and Archaeology and Anhui Provincial Museum, has made a comprehensive restoration of the stone carvings of the imperial mausoleum, cleaned up the foundation of the wordless stele, and restored them.

From May 2003 to September 2004, due to the erosion of wind and rain, the steles with and without characters were seriously weathered. In order to better protect the cultural relics and prevent further damage to the stele, Anhui Institute of archaeology has restored the stele pavilion with words and the stele Pavilion without words.

In August 2015, Fengyang County started the protective restoration of the Ming mausoleum stone carvings,

Architectural pattern

The imperial mausoleum is the first mausoleum built in Ming Dynasty. There are three walls in the imperial mausoleum. The inner part is the Imperial City, with a perimeter of 251 meters. The four gates are decorated with red clay. The middle part is the brick city, with a perimeter of about 3 kilometers. The outer part is the Earth City, with a perimeter of 14 kilometers. The overall layout adopts "three sets of square cities", and the cemetery is developed into a pattern of three walls. The stone carvings are placed in front of the Imperial City, the mausoleum is behind the Imperial City, the hall is in the Imperial City, and the Huabiao is placed between the stone beast and the stone horse. Because the direction of the mausoleum faces north by East, the buildings on the North-South central axis face north, and the north gate of the outer city is the main gate, which is obviously inclined to the Northeast central capital. From north to south, the main Red Gate of Tucheng is Hongqiao, lingxingmen, zhuanchengminglou, Shinto, Yuqiao, huangchengjinmen, huangtang, huangchenghouhongmen, Fenqiu, zhuanchengnanminglou and Tucheng Nanmen. On both sides of the 3.4-kilometer-long central axis, there are the east corner gate and the west corner gate symmetrically. There are two rows of stone statues on the left and right, the imperial mausoleum stele and the wordless stele, the East and West veranda, the Dongming tower and the Ximing tower, the east gate and the West gate. Other buildings inside and outside the mausoleum wall are also generally East-West or north-south symmetrical.

Construction scale

Imperial city

When the imperial mausoleum was built, it was built with a brick base, two feet high, seventy-five feet high, and red clay. Main hall nine, Dan Bi three, yellow glazed tile, green painted color. Five rooms in Kinmen. There are eleven rooms on the left and eleven on the right. One stove. There is a corner gate on the left and right. Back Red Gate Five. There are two stele pavilions on the left and one on the left. There are five royal bridges across Jinshui River. Huabiao, together with 36 pairs of stone man and stone beast, is in the north gate, and the two sides reach to the north of jinmenwai Yuqiao. Above all yellow glazed tile, green and blue painted, 20 families take turns to keep. Brick city

A brick city was built in the imperial mausoleum. It was built with bricks inside and outside. It was two feet high. On Saturday, it was 118 steps away and opened four doors. All of them had buildings. The tower has four gates, four seats and five double eaves. There are six rooms in Jufu hall. There are two kitchens. There are six government offices. There are four straight rooms, five on each side, and eleven on each side. All above are Fuwa. There are three Lingxing gates with green glaze. There are five red bridges. The above-mentioned 11 groups are guarded in turn. Magic Cook

Chinese PinYin : Ming Huang Ling