Ming Ancestors Mausoleum

Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
Hanyu Pinyin	Míngdài Dìyī Líng
Wade–Giles	Ming-tai Ti-i Ling

Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
Ming Ancestors Mausoleum
明祖陵
	Yongle 11; c. 1413

The Ming Ancestors Mausoleum, Ming Ancestor Tomb,

posthumously revered at the site as honorary emperors, Zhu Chuyi as the Xi Ancestor of the Ming (Xizu), Zhu Sijiu as the Yi Ancestor of the Ming (Yizu), and Zhu Bailiu as the De Ancestor of the Ming (Dezu).^[2]

The site was flooded by the lake in the 1680s, when the

People's Republic of China. Most of the original statues of the sacred way

have been recovered and restored, although some of the gates and halls remain as ruins.

History

Yongle Era (c. 1413),^[1] completing the burial complex.^[3]

In the 19th

year of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing (c. 1680),^[3] the Yellow River—then still flowing south of Shandong—changed its course and fully merged into the Huai. This quickly accumulated river sediment that blocked the previous course of the Huai, redirecting most of its flow into Hongze Lake, which submerged the mausoleum complex along with the nearby city of Sizhou.^[3]

In the spring of 1963 or 1964,

excavation and reconstruction in 1976,^[3] the last year of Mao Zedong's rule. A new bridge across the Huai had to be constructed in 1977 to allow the necessary personnel and equipment to reach the site from Xuyi.^[3] Beginning in 1978, a 2,700-meter (1.7 mi) embankment was constructed to protect the site from any further flooding.^[3] About 15 meters (49 ft) high, it tapers from 20 meters (66 ft) wide at the bottom to about 6 meters (20 ft) wide at the top.^[3] In 1980, the Jiangsu Department of Culture and the national State Administration of Cultural Heritage allocated funds for further repairs.^{[citation needed]} By 1982, the surviving stone statues had been pieced back together and the sacred way repaved.^[3] Its original Golden Brook Bridge (金水橋, Jīnshuǐ Qiáo) was so damaged that it had to be entirely replaced, although surviving fragments are preserved at the site's exhibition hall.^[3] Only one of the site's walls was rebuilt, and none of the site's original memorial stele have survived intact.^[3] The original Xiang Hall and Pei Hall were thought destroyed and without remains, but surfaced during a drought in May 2011.^{[citation needed}

]

In front of the mausoleum there are several gravestones and ornamental columns which are preserved. Today, the total area of the mausoleum is 351,000 square meters (87 acres). It contains over 9700 trees, including pines, cypresses, poplars, and willows. The

Yangtze River^[8] and Huai River lowered the level of Hongze Lake during the 2010s. The nine arches of the Ming Ancestors Mausoleum, beams under the arches, and most of the top of the paved path leading to the mausoleum are buried deep under the silt in the pond, only showing an outline. In order to protect the cultural relics after being unearthed, the site was submerged again.^{[clarification needed]}^[how?]^[when?

]

The site has been generally ignored in scholarship,[9]^[3] but was accorded provincial protection as an important cultural site in March 1982 and national protection on 21 January 1996.^[3]

Legends

Several legends surround the establishment of the tombs. One holds that a

conception and his grandfather's death.^[3]

Layout

Complete Library of the Four Treasuries reprint of Pan Jixun

's 1590 Overview of River Maintenance

The site closely followed

eunuchs (太監, tàijiàn).^[3]

After stone bridges over geomantically placed streams and a

Mongol Yuan.^[3] A feature carried over from the Tang and Song but not later repeated was the surrounding of the site with three successive walls, the outermost and middle made of earth and the innermost from red brick.^[3]

One of the messengers on the right side of the sacred way
The half-moon pool, submerged "doors", and wooded burial mound

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Yuanlin (2008).
^ ^a ^b ^c SACH (2000), p. 173.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w Danielson (2008).
^ SACH (2000), p. 171.
^ "Huaian". Jiangsu.NET,2006-2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f SACH (2000), p. 179.
^ "Ming Ancestors Mausoleum". china daily. 中国日报. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
^ "Yangtze River". 中国文化网, CHINACULTURE.ORG. Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
^ Paludan (1991).
^ SACH (2000), p. 253.

Bibliography

State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China (2 December 2000), "Supplementary Explanations", Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (PDF), Paris: UNESCO World Heritage Commission, pp. 170 ff.
"江苏淮安明祖陵 [Jiangsu Huai'an Mingzuling, The Ancestral Tombs of the Ming in Huai'an, Jiangsu]", 中国景观网 [Zhongguo Jingguan Wang] (in Chinese), Hangzhou: Zhenjiang Academy of Forestry, 2008.
Danielson, Eric N. (December 2008), "The Ming Ancestor Tomb", China Heritage Quarterly, Canberra: Australian National University.
Paludan, Ann (1991), The Ming Tombs, Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.