The Thirteen Ming Tombs and the Governance during the Ming Dynasty
6 min readThe”thirteen tombs”as they are known popularly in Chinese are the imperial tombs of 13 of the 16 Ming-dynasty(1368-1644) Emperors. The word ling indicates the small mound over a tomb. These tombs or mounds with their graves underneath are located near Tianshou Mountain in Changping County, around 50 kilometers to the northwest of Beijing. The 14Emperors from Chengzu to Sizong are all buried here, with the exception of Daizong Zhu Qiyu whose Jingtai Ling is in the western precincts of Beijing. The other thirteen are here and each has its own name. In chronological order, they are: Changling of Chengzu, Xianling of Renzong, Jingling of Xuanzong, Yuling of Yingzong, Maoling of Xianzong, Tailing of Xiaozong, Kangling of Wuzong, Yongling of Shizong, Zhaoling of Muzong, Dingling of Shenzong, Qingling of Guangzong, Deling of Xizong, and Siling of Sizong.
The first evidence that one is entering the district is passage through the middle of parallel lines of stone stelae. This is the earliest and best preserved of stelae passageways or “alleys”in China. After the steles is a large gate, which is the proper entryway to the Tomb district. Before the gate is a stele that reads”officials must dismount here.”Further on is what is known as the Spirit Way. This is a passageway,750 meters long, lined on either side with pairs of stone-carved statues of men and animals. There are 18 pairs or 36 sculptures in all. The tradition of placing stone men and stone animals as an entryway to a tomb dates from 2,000 years ago, from the Qin and Han periods. This was primarily as a form of ornamentation for the grave but also to symbolize the status and protection of a person before his death.
At present, one can visit only two of the tombs in the thirteen Ming tombs, which are Changling and Dingling. Changling is the tomb of Chengzu Zhu Di(reigned1403-1424, reign name Yongle), and his empresses. It covers ten square meters. The main building above ground at Changling is the Hall of Eminent Favor. This is one of four similar great halls inChina, which include the Taihe Hall in the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Dacheng Hall at the Confucian Temple in Shandong at Qufu, and the Hall at the temple at the foot of the mountain at Taishan. At the thirteen tombs, this Ling’ en Hall occupies 1,9 56.44 square meters, which is larger than the Hall in the Forbidden City. Each of the sixty pillars of this massive structure is composed of one single tree. In the Taihe Hall there are a total of 72 pillars, however they are nothing like as precious since they are made of pine whereas those of Ling’ en are made ofa very valuable wood called”golden nanmu.”These pillars have stood untreated by any protective coating for 600 years, and yet they are completely undamaged.
Dingling is situated at the foot of the Dayu mountains, and holds the grave of the Ming Shenzong Emperor(reigned 1572-1620, reign name Wanli), and also his two empresses. The construction of Dingling began in the 12th year of Wanli and continued until the 28th year (1584-1590). The construction expended more than eight million taels of silver, roughly equivalent to two years of national income during the Wanli period, or enough grain for ten million people for one year. The underground palace of Dingling was excavatedin 1956. In 1959, the Dingling Museum was officially established.
The Dingling underground palace is at a depth of 27 meters and is composed of five separate halls. It covers 1,19 5 square meters in area. Three white marble platforms stand in the middle hall.A large glazed ceramic vessel containing oil stands before each, with its acces-
sories of bronze ladle and lamp.A bronze tube once connected the oil to the lamp, but the oilhas long since been used up. The rear hall is the largest in the underground palace, being 9.5 meters tall,30.1 meters long and 9.1 meters wide. Its floor is of polished stone. In the center of the outer wooden coffin is the inner coffin of Zhu Yijun. Xiaoduan and Xiaoqing, thetwoempresses, are placed to either side, one on the left and one on the right. Arrayed around the threecoffins are red lacquer chests full of decorative objects to accompany the afterlife. Some 3,000 objects were recovered from the tomb at the time of excavation, among them a golden crown and a phoenix crown that are priceless treasures.
The thirteen tombs are an outstanding example of China’s ancient burial traditions. In China, people have always believed strongly in the peaceful burial of a person after death and funerary customs were an important part of ancient Chinese culture. Generally speaking, an emperor received a first-class tomb, ministers, premiers, and high officials were entitled toa second-class, while officials and large merchants got a third-class tomb. Each had its own standards and specifications, while the common man was glad simply to be placed peacefully in the ground. The tomb of emperors had a Spirit Way placed before the building constructed over the tomb, and on either side of this Spirit Way were Spirit animals and loyal ministers.
The main function of the building constructed over the tomb was to serve as a commemorative hall, in which to hold ceremonies and make offerings. On either side were subsidiary halls; there was also a separate pavilion for slaughtering animals.A stele lauding the virtues of the emperor was generally placed. Behind the Hall was a Ming-tower, in the middle of which was a spirit stele. On it was carved the name of the temple of the occupent of the tomb which could be made known only after the emperor had died.
Three of the Ming-dynasty emperors are buried elsewhere. The founding emperor of the dynasty, Ming Taizu, or Zhu Yuanzhang(reigned 1368-1398, reign name Hongwu) is buried in Nanjing at the Xiaoling. Zhu Yuanzhang was a cruel and tyrannical ruler. As soon as he came to power he began to fabricate intrigues and accuse his ministers of plotting rebellion before having them killed. He murdered his chief strategist, Liu Ji. The second advisor or strategist was Li Shanchang, who was also the relative of Zhu Yuanzhang’s children. When this strategist was at the advanced age of 77, Zhu Yuanzhang had him killed together with seventy members of his family. The famous General Xu Da was one of the very few who had not been accused of plotting to overthrow the throne. Legend has it that he developed a strange illness and had a particular aversion to eating geese. Zhu Yuanzhang sent an official to deliver a bowl of geese to him, and stayed next to him as he ate it. Xu Da died that same day. The Prime Minister Hu Weiyong was the most important assistant to Zhu Yuanzhang, yet Zhu Yuanzhang still wove stories of his plot to rebel. Zhu Yuanzhang said that Hu Weiyong planned to link up with the Japanese in plotting his overthrow. Out of his paranoia, Zhu Yuanzhang is said to have massacred several tens of thousands of people.
The cruelty of the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty was no less than that of his father.
The third was Zhu Di. He mobilized a war to seize power from his legally appointed predecessor Zhu Yunwen, the Emperor Jianwen. He killed Zhu Yunwen’s ministers Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and others, and put to death a loyal Confucian official who refused to write the document allowing him to ascend the throne. Then he obliterated the loyal retainer’s entire clan. Thesuccessive rulers of the Ming Dynasty were characterized by maniacal cruelty. The character and style of the founding emperor of a dynasty is critical to the dynasty’s future success. Other than the rapacious Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, the rest of the Ming Emperors were mediocreand incapable, some cared nothing for state affairs, others pursued Daoist elixirs. Ruling through the use of spies was a Ming-dynasty specialty. The behavior of such people formed an atmosphere of extreme terror among both officials and common people. Although the reforms of the Prime Minister of Shenzong let in a few rays of hope, they turned out to be like fleeting mist before the eyes. They did little to obstruct the traditional posture of 16 Ming Emperors.
Eventually it was up to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong to start the rebellion that enabled the Manchus to break through the passes from the north and put an end to the Ming Dynasty.
