The imperial city site of Zhongdu in Ming Dynasty

Stone carvings of the old city and Mausoleum of the emperor in the central capital of Ming Dynasty

synonym

The site of Zhongdu Imperial City in Ming Dynasty generally indicates the stone carvings of Zhongdu imperial city and mausoleum

The stone carvings of the old city and Mausoleum of the central capital of the Ming Dynasty are mainly composed of the stone carvings of the old city and Mausoleum of the central capital of the Ming Dynasty. Located in the northwest of Fengyang County, Chuzhou City, Anhui Province (slightly to the south of the central forbidden wall), the capital of the middle Ming Dynasty is located on the South Bank of the Huaihe River at an altitude of 20 meters. It starts from the east foot of Dushan mountain in the East, connects the West foot of Ma'an mountain in the west, reaches Laoren bridge in the south, stretches out the south slope of fenghuangzui mountain in the southwest, and reaches the Beijing Shanghai railway in the north, covering an area of about 50 square kilometers. The stone carvings of the mausoleum of the parents of Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, are carved on the tombs Shinto stone carvings are located on both sides of Shinto in front of Ming imperial mausoleum, 7 kilometers southwest of Fengyang County, Chuzhou City, Anhui Province, with a total length of 253 meters and an area of 1750 square meters

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There are three cities inside and outside the old city of the Ming Dynasty, the inner one is the Imperial City, the middle one is the forbidden wall, and the outer one is the capital city

. In terms of architectural art, the ancient city of the central capital of Ming Dynasty inherits the tradition of Ning and Yuan Dynasties and creates a new style of Ming and Qing Dynasties, which occupies an important position in the development history of ancient capital cities in China. The stone carvings of Imperial Mausoleums are the stone carvings of the Royal Mausoleum of Ming Dynasty, which have high artistic value.

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On February 23, 1982, the State Council of the people's Republic of China announced the stone carvings of the old city and Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty as the second batch of national key cultural relics protection units

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Historical evolution

In 1369, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of Ming Dynasty, built Zhongdu in Fengyang

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Hongwu two years (1369), erected mausoleum stone

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Hongwu five years (1372), built in the forbidden wall

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In the sixth year of Hongwu (1373), Zhongdu imperial city was built

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In 1375, the construction of Zhongdu was suspended

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In the 16th year of Hongwu (1383), famous materials of Zhongdu palace were demolished to build Longxing Temple

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In 1393, Zhongdu built Hongwu gate, Beizuo Jiadi gate, Chaoyang Gate and Tushan gate

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In 1397, Zhongdu built the South left Jiadi gate, Dushan gate, Changchun gate, front right Jiadi gate and back right Jiadi gate

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In 1454, Zhongdu was rebuilt

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In the third year of Tianshun (1459), more than 100 yamen such as Zhongshu province were demolished and Longxing Temple was rebuilt

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In the eighth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1635), the central capital allowed people to take refuge in it, and the houses were increasingly dense

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In 1667, the capital of China was renamed the county seat

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In 1754, the forbidden wall of Zhongdu and nine gatehouses of Zhongdu were demolished and Fengyang city was built

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In Daoguang period (mid-19th century), Zhongdu was rebuilt

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On April 11, 1853, Li Kaifang and Lin Fengxiang led the Northern Expedition army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to Jingfeng. On April 21, they occupied Fu and Xian

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Xianfeng eight years (1858), Nien siege, Zhongdu as a base

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In the first month of the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), China was occupied by the Qing army

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During the Anti Japanese War, the Japanese army colluded with the traitors to demolish the official offices and houses in the county

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In 1934, the government of the Republic of China renovated the stone carvings of the imperial mausoleum

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During the Cultural Revolution (around 1968), two thirds of the buildings were demolished

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In 1981, the Bureau of cultural relics of Anhui province carried out the first restoration of the stone carvings of the imperial mausoleum

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In 1983, Anhui Provincial Bureau of cultural relics carried out the second restoration of the stone carvings of the imperial mausoleum

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In 1985, Anhui Provincial Bureau of cultural relics carried out the third restoration of the stone carvings of the imperial mausoleum

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In the second half of 2015, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences started the archaeological exploration and excavation of the central axis of the ancient city of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, covering an area of about 1800 square meters

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Site features

Construction scale

The old city of the Ming Dynasty is divided into three parts: inner city, middle city and outer city. Inside is the Imperial City, built of brick, 3702 meters in circumference, approximately square, more than 15 meters in height, with a bottom width of about 7 meters and a top width of about 6 meters

There are four gates open, which are Meridian Gate, Donghua gate, Xihua gate and Xuanwu Gate. In the middle, there are forbidden walls, and the walls are built with bricks and stones. It is about 7 meters high and 7670 meters long. It has four gates, namely Chengtian gate, Dong'an gate, Xi'an gate and Bei'an gate. Outside it is the capital of China, with a circumference of about 30 kilometers

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City site layout

The North-South central axis of the ancient city of the central capital of the Ming Dynasty runs through the whole city. The south end of the city runs from Fengyang bridge across the river, into Hongwu gate, through Hongwu street, and through Yunji street to damingmen, which is 2 km long. After entering Daming gate, walk along the royal road to finish the wide convex square, enter the forbidden wall Chengtian gate, pass the Duanmen gate, pass the outer Wulong bridge and reach the Meridian Gate of the Imperial City, which is about 1.5 km. Enter the Meridian Gate, cross the inner Wulong bridge, and enter the Fengtian gate to the main hall. The main hall is the center of the central axis, north into the palace, out of the Xuanwu Gate of the Imperial City, through the garden, over the peak of Fenghuang mountain, out of the beianmen gate of the forbidden wall, down Fenghuang mountain, straight north to the north gate of the central capital (not built), up to 10 kilometers. The central axis is 13.5km long. On both sides of the axis are the East-West symmetrical Qianbu corridor, Zhongshu Province, Dadu Dufu and other central civil and military offices, Taimiao and taisheji, Wenhua hall and Wuying hall, Wenlou and Wulou, East Palace and West Palace. Before the Daming gate, on the cloud Ji street, Town God's Temple, Jinshui bridge, Imperial College and drum tower were arrayed eastward, and there were the temple of merit, the Jinshui bridge, the emperors temple and the bell tower in the West. Inside and outside the central capital, Huanqiu and Shanchuan altar, Chaori altar and Xiyue altar are symmetrical from east to west; Huanqiu and Fangqiu, Huangling and the tombs of the four imperial concubines of the ten kings, Fengyang Prefecture and Fengyang County are symmetrical from south to north

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Site distribution

The Meridian Gate, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, still has three gates in the middle, yemenquandong, two wing buildings 142.4 meters wide from east to west, 41.5 meters deep from north to South and 12 meters high at present, and a concave shaped rammed earth platform 35.8 meters wide from east to west, 47.5 meters long from north to South and 12 meters high. The three gateways of xihuamen and the foundation of the tower, which is 70.6 meters wide and 36.66 meters deep, are basically preserved and 12 meters high. There are rammed earth foundations of 7 to 10 meters high in Donghuamen, Xuanwumen, Southeast, northeast and northwest turrets. In addition to the Northeast wall and the east part of the south wall, the west wall is relatively complete, with 810 meters. There are also 329 meters in the western part of Nanyuan, 1139 meters in total. The moat of the imperial city is 80 meters wide and basically remains unchanged. The old road of Jinshui River is winding

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building material

The huge bricks, about 40 cm long, 20 cm wide, 11 cm thick and weighing about 20 kg, were made by 22 prefectures, 68 prefectures and counties in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, two inspection departments, Zhongdu liushousi and five guards. The bricks were printed with the names of the prefectures, prefectures, counties and guards, and some were printed with the names of supervisors and craftsmen. The internal and external walls are made of brick and bonded with lime, rice juice and tung oil. The key parts are even poured with pig iron. The stone components used were all collected from outside the city of Zhongdu and processed on the spot. The block materials weighed several hundred jin or even several thousand jin. The diameter of the white jade well fence in Miyai is 2.6 meters. On the site of the hall, there are five huge stone foundations of flat dragons, each of which is 2.7 meters square and about 1.7 meters high. The foundation surface is semi embossed with a circle of flat dragons, which is 15 cm high and 32.5 cm wide. The diameter of the outer ring is 1.9 meters, and the diameter of the inner ring is 1.25 meters. Xiangfeng is carved on the base outside the dragon. Nine dragons, four phoenixes, clouds, etc. carved on the steps of the imperial road; single dragons, single phoenixes, seahorses, waves, clouds, etc. carved on the steps of the imperial road in front of Danlong; various birds and animals carved on the stone railings and pillar. On both sides of the Meridian Gate and around the concave pedestal, the relief on the white jade Sumi seat is particularly exquisite. Xumizuo is 1.61 meters high and 576.24 meters long. The waist part is inlaid with relief sculptures of 32 cm high and 3-5 cm deep. Its shapes are dragon and Phoenix, deer, elephant, unicorn, double lions, hydrangea, peony, peony, lotus, passionflower, cloud, Fangsheng, etc. all of them are vivid. On both sides of the East and west gate and Xuanwu Gate, there are brick sculptures inlaid with moulded flowers and Fangsheng. The remaining brick sculptures are 28.8 meters long. The sparse glazed tiles used in the building are bright red, vermilion, rose red, dark blue, light blue, peacock blue, yellow, black and white. The ridges, tiles, dripping water and animal kisses of the hall are not only gorgeous in color and glaze, but also decorated with dragons and phoenixes

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Stone carvings of imperial mausoleum

The stone carvings of the imperial mausoleum are located on both sides of the Shinto in front of the Ming imperial mausoleum, 7 kilometers southwest of Fengyang County. The mausoleum is an oval large flat top with a bucket, 5 meters above the surrounding ground. The tomb is made of earth. The bottom of the mound is 50 meters long from east to west and 35 meters wide from north to south, covering an area of 1750 square meters. To the north of Jinshui bridge in front of the mausoleum, there is a Shinto 257 meters long and 6.3 meters wide

The total length of Shinto is 257 meters. There are 32 pairs of Huabiao and shixiangsheng from east to west. The row spacing is 6.3 meters and the spacing is 8.4 meters. The order from north to south is: 22 pairs of Unicorn standing statues, 2.42 meters high and 3.27 meters long. There are 8 pairs of stone lion statues (4 pairs for male and 4 pairs for female), 2.25 meters high and 1.75 meters long. Two pairs of Huabiao, 5.44M high. There are 6 pairs of standing statues of horse officer, stone horse and horse control man (one horse and two people in one group is actually two groups). The height of horse officer is 2.75 meters, the height of stone horse is 2.13 meters, and the length is 3.28 meters. The horse control man is 2.27 meters high. Stone tiger sitting 4

Chinese PinYin : Ming Zhong Dou Huang Cheng Yi Zhi