Crescent City

There is a small courtyard between the imperial mausoleum of Ming and Qing Dynasties, called Crescent City, commonly known as "dumb courtyard". According to the collection of Liu Dunzhen's works, the second one is the Western Tomb of Qing Dynasty in Yi county. The small courtyard is also called "dumb courtyard", while the wall of the opposite city is called "crescent wall" (according to Wang Qiheng's Mausoleum architecture of Ming Dynasty).

Dumb house

synonym

Crescent City generally refers to the dumb courtyard

Dumb courtyard is called Crescent City in the official history. It doesn't look strange. In fact, it is a crucial place. Because the glazed screen wall in the courtyard just blocks the entrance of the underground palace, under the Shinto in the courtyard is the slope tomb path into the underground palace, from which the coffins of the former emperors and empresses were sent to the underground palace.

Architectural design

Mausoleum system in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Between the emperor's mausoleum, Fangcheng and Baoding. To the north of the courtyard is Crescent City, which is actually a wall. In the middle of the Crescent City, a screen wall is built with yellow glazed tile roof. The entrance to the underground palace is under the shadow wall.

Architectural records

Source: Xu Guangyuan's Qing Xiling

Therefore, whether we can prevent tomb robberies is the key. It is said that in order to keep the secret of the entrance to the underground palace, all the craftsmen used in the Crescent City project must be dumb. They have to rest during the day and work at night. They have to be blindfolded on the way to and from work. After the completion of the project, they have to be sent to live in the sparsely populated remote areas Because this yard is built by dumb people, it is called "dumb yard".

This kind of legend is not believable, because although a mute can't speak, he can still write, draw and make gestures, which may leak secrets. Relevant experts and scholars look through and search all kinds of books, and find the origin of the name of "dumb courtyard" from architectural books. It turns out that in ancient Chinese architecture, those parts or components that are relatively hidden and invisible from the outside are usually named after "dumb", such as "dumb Dang" and "dumb rafter". That's why the strange name "dumb courtyard" comes into being.

Source: Official Website of Dongling Mausoleum of Qing Dynasty

Address: Beiling Park, No.12 Taishan Road, Huanggu District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province

Longitude: 123.42768058203

Latitude: 41.85446321

Chinese PinYin : Yue Ya Cheng