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Ming Xiaoling is called ‘The Greatest Imperial Tomb of Ming and Qing Dynasties’

It represents the concept of the political power in feudal China.

The construction began in 1381 and ended in 1405.

It involved 100,000 laborers.

40 concubines were forced to commit suicide.

They followed their Emperor into the netherworld.

Emperor Kangxi (r. 1661-1722) visited Ming Xiaoling for 6 times.

He performed the ‘three kowtows and nine prostrations’ every time.

His movements greatly enhanced the unity of Han and Man nationalities.

The rule of the Qing Dynasty was consolidated.

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Ming Xiaoling barely survived the military battles between Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Government.

In March 1853, Nanjing was forced to be the capital of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

In November 1853, Qing armies broke the city’s defense lines.

The leader of Taiping Kingdom refused to surrender or escape.

More battles took place inside the city.

Ming Xiaoling became a part of the main battlefield.

All its wooden structures above the ground were burned down.

Only a few stone remains can tell the vicissitude of the old city.

More than 200000 Taiping troops were killed in those battles.

So many historic sites were destroyed by the war.

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Ming Xiaoling can be divided into three individual sections:

The Golden Gate and Tablet section;

The Sacred Way section;

The Underground Palace section.

The layout of the whole mausoleum is like the Big Dipper in the sky.

Big Dipper is the seat of the celestial bureaucracy of the gods in Taoism.

In feudal age, the Chinese people admired the Big Dipper a lot.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was one of them.

He believed that ‘His soul belongs to the Big Dipper’.

So, the mausoleum was designed as a mirror of the Big Dipper.

After Zhu Yuanzhang passed away,

he could go back to the Big Dipper and guard his country forever.

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Many folk legends talk about the real burial place of Zhu Yuanzhang.

One legend says that he prepared 13 coffins.

Each of the coffins was carried out of different city gates of Nanjing simultaneously.

No one could tell which coffin was the real one.

This is why some people doubt the Emperor is buried in Ming Xiaoling.

The cause of these legends is that Zhu Yuanzhang was a very suspicious man.

He killed too many people in his lifetime.

He was afraid that someone would dig his grave for revenge.

The truth will only be revealed if people open the main tomb.