Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum
Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is located at the foot of the Wanzhu Peak on the south of Zhongshan Mountain in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is the mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and his wife Empress Ma. In the 14thyear (1381) of the Hongwu reign in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Li Xin to supervise the construction of the mausoleum.
In August of the following year, Empress Ma died and she was buried in September in this mausoleum, which was then called the Xiaoling Mausoleum, meaning the emperor ruled the country by means of filial piety. Another explanation says that it was named after Xiaoci, the posthumous title of Empress Ma. In May of the sixteenth year (1383) of the Hongwu reign, the palace of the Xiaoling Mausoleum was founded. In May of the thirteenth year (1398) of the Hongwu reign, Zhu Yuanzhang died, and he was buried in the mausoleum together with Empress Ma. The accessorial project of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum was not finished until the third year (1405) of the Yongle reign.
Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum has a grand scale with stately buildings. Its structure adopted the style of the mausoleums of the Tang and Song dynasties. The mausoleum is 22.5 km in length, inside which there are magnificent palaces and pavilions. Half of the seventy temples built in the Southern Dynasty (420-589) were encircled in a forbidden garden. Hundred thousand pine trees were planted and thousands of deer were raised in the mausoleum. Each deer had a silver badge hanging from the neck, which read, Deer thief will be punished to death. In order to protect the Xiaoling Mausoleum, inspectors of the divine palace were arranged inside of the tomb, and guardians were arranged outside of the tomb.
There were five thousand to ten thousand soldiers on duty day and night. When Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty made visits to the southern China, they would go to the mausoleum to pay their respect. They specially assigned two tomb keepers, forty tomb houses, and so on. In the 3rdyear (1853) of the Xianfeng reign, the Xiaoling Mausoleum area became the important battlefield between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom forces and the Qing forces. The wooden construction on the ground was almost entirely damaged.
The constructions in the mausoleum generally fall into two groups: the first group, or the Sacred Way, including the structures from the Dismounting Lane to the front gate of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, the second group, or the principal part, consists of the structures from the front gate to Baocheng (Treasure City), Minglou (Soul Tower), and Chongqiu (High Mountain). The buildings still extant include the Shenlie Mountain Monument, the Jinyue Monument, the Dismounting Lane, the Big Gold Gate, the Sifang City (Square City), the Supernatural Work and Holy Virtue Monument, the Stone Statue of Weng Zhong, the Yuhe Bridge, the Mausoleum Gate, the Stele Pavilion, the Xiaoling Mausoleum Palace, the Gig Stone Bridge, the Treasure City, and the tombs, as well as stele pavilions and palaces built at the end of the Qing Dynasty.
The Dismounting Lane is the entrance of the Xiaoling Mausoleum. It is a two-bay stone memorial archway with pillars. On its horizontal tablet engraves six big characters in regular script, meaning "All the officers dismount here. So all the civil and military officers who visited the mausoleum must dismount the horse and walk on foot. The archway is 9m high with the middle part 6m wide. The horizontal tablet is 6m long, 1.28m high, and about 0.32m thick. The archway had been destroyed into a few blocks lying at the side of the road. Afterward it was repaired. A Jinyue stele was established beside the archway in the 14thyear (1641) of the Chongzhen reign in the Ming Dynasty, restating the strict byelaw to protect the Xiaoling Mausoleum, and people against the ordinances would be executed. Passing through the frontispiece named the Big Gold Gate, one can reach the Sifang City (Square City).
Its bounding walls take the shape of bulwark. In the city, there is a big Shi Liang (stone bar), perking and wagging the tail as a living creature. On its back stands a monument with inscription that reads, Supernatural Merit and Holy Virtues Monument for the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. The epitaph has 2,746 characters with each character as big as a fist. It narrates the merits and virtues of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty in his lifetime. Emperor Chengzu named Zhudi established it for his father Zhu Yuanzhang in the 3rdyear (1405) of the Yongle reign. The monument is 8.84m high in total, with the stele body 4.78m high, and 2.24m wide; it is the biggest monument extant in the area of the Nanjing.
In the northwest of the Square City, the Sacred Way lies at the other side of the Yuhe Bridge over the Thunderbolt Cave. From the east to the west, 12 couples of stone beasts are arranged on both sides of the Sacred Way: lion,Xiezhi(a legendary animal), camel, elephant, kylin, horse, four for each kind with two squatting and two standing. Thus there are 12 couples altogether, winding and extending to more than 1 li (0.5km). Afterwards, the Sacred Way turns to the north. There are a couple of ornamental columns erecting in the front, followed with four couples of huge statues, two civil and two military. They are mighty and sturdy with solemn manners. The lively sculptures depicted by the simple lines are important works of the early Ming Dynasty. 18m north of the Sacred Way is the site of the Lingxing Gate, where only 6 carved stone pole bases are left. The Yuhe Bridge lies about 275m to the northeast of the Lingxing Gate. The original five-hole bridge had been converted into a three-hole bridge.
The Xiaoling Mausoleum is located behind the Yubei (Imperial Stele) Pavilion. It originally had double eaves and nine intercolumniations. There were also establishments such as the houses of the Inspectors of Devine Palace and the Jufu Palace (for garments), the Animal Killing Pavilion, the Burning Stoves and wells, etc. The palace is one of the main buildings in the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. The present palace was rebuilt at the original site in the 28thyear (1902) of the Guangxu reign on a greatly reduced scale. A portrait of Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty was put up in the palace.
The Minglou (Soul Tower), also called Fangcheng (Square City), is the last construction in the Xiaoling Mausoleum. It is built of huge flagstones. Its roof has been destroyed leaving only the four walls. Behind it stands the Treasure City, which is a round earthen hillock, with the diameter of about 400m. There are cypresses planted on it and the tombs of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma lie under it. There are high walls built of flagstones around the Treasure City as the base and with bricks as the body of the wall. It is one of the largest mausoleums extant in China.
