The location of Changling Tomb.

Emperor Yongle

Changlingcovers an area of 120,000 square meters, where buried Ming Emperor Zhudi and his Empress Xu. The construction began in 1409 AD and completed in 18 years, it is the central, largest and the best preserved mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty Tombs.

Zhu D (朱棣)i was the 4th son of Zhu Yuangzhang (the first emperor of Ming dynasty), initially Zhu Di was made a prince entitled the “the King of Yan” guarding Yanjing (today’s Beijing) possessing a heavy military base in Beijing, and his eldest brother Zhu Biao was made the Crown Prince. In 1392, the latter died at the age of 38 before ascending to the throne.

In 1399, after the first emperor’s death, the throne was past down to the son of the Crown Prince. The young Emperor Jian (建文帝) proved to be too weak in politics and military action, it took only 4 years that he was droven away from the throne, During the final attack of the Capital Nanjing, Emperor Jianwen ‘s palace caught fire, the emperor and his wife disappeared mysteriously, people believed most likely they died in the fire, though their corpses came to be nowhere.

Zhu Di had ended Jianwen’s reign. Zhu Di and his administration spent the latter part of 1402 brutally purging China of Jianwen’s supporters, and he was credited with ordering perhaps the only case of “extermination of the ten agnates” in the history of China.

In order to establish himself as legitimate successor of the regime, he also ordered all records of the four-year-reign of Jianwen Emperor to be dated as year 32 through year 35 of the Hongwu Emperor.

Though in the end, Zhudi came to the throne at Nanjing reign-titled as “Yongle” (literarlly “Perpetual Happiness”), his usurpation of the throne made him somewhat ‘unfit’ in the old capital, in the year 1421, after a brand new capital constructed at his order, he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. Most of  Beijing’s layout shaped based upon his design.

Also Emperor Yongle had the Grand Canal of China repaired and reopened in order to supply the new capital of Beijing in the north with a steady flow of goods and southern foodstuffs.

Emperor Yongle sponsored the massive and long term Zheng He (郑和) expeditions. These were China’s only major sea-going explorations of the world, some scholars believe behingd these overseas expedition there were attempts of tracing the mysterously disappeared Emperor Jianwen.

Yongle sponsored and created many cultural traditions in China. He promoted Confucianism and kept traditional ritual ceremonies with a rich cultural theme. His respect for Chinese culture was apparent. He commissioned his Grand Secretary, Xie Jin, to write a compilation of every subject and every known book of the Chinese. The massive project’s goal was to preserve Chinese culture and literature in writing. The initial copy took 17 months to transcribe and another copy was transcribed in 1557. The book, named the Yongle Encyclopedia (永乐大典), is still considered one of the most marvelous human achievements.

Many have seen Yongle as in a life-long pursuit of power, prestige, he is remembered very much for his cruelty. According to historical records, even in his mausoleum at Changling, 16 lifes were sacrificed for martyrdom.

Emperor Yongle reigned the Ming for 22 years.(1403-1424)

The Changling Tomb

The architecture in Changling are of magnificence, especially the Ling’En Hall, the architecture style of which is identical to that of the Supreme Harmony Hall in the Forbidden City. Ling’En Hall represented the highest architecture and artistic level of Ming dynasty. The beams, columns and trusses are all made of Nanmu, Nanmu is a species of plant in the Lauraceae family, which is endemic to China, it is now threatened by habitat loss. The diameter of internal columns are even more than 1 meter. Nanmu columns of such a big size are rarely found all over the world. This palace has been maintained quite well up to now and it represents a typical architectural style of the Ming dynasty.

For its indisputable charm and great historical and artistic value, Changling was inscribed into the World Heritage Organization Catalogue by UNESCO on 3rd of July, 2003.

朱棣小传

大明成祖文皇帝，諱棣，太祖第四子也，母孝慈高皇后。洪武三年封燕王。十三年，之藩北平。

二十三年，棣討乃兒不花，獲其全部而還，太祖大喜，是後屢帥諸將出征，並令棣節制沿邊士馬，威名大振。

三十一年閏五月，太祖崩，皇太孫即位，時諳王以尊屬擁重兵，多不法。帝納齊泰、黃子澄謀，欲因事以次削除之，湘、代、齊、岷諸王皆以罪廢。棣自危，佯狂稱疾。

建文元年七月，上書天子指泰、子澄為奸臣，並援《祖訓》「朝無正臣，內有奸惡，則親王訓兵待命，天子密詔諸王統領鎮兵討平之」。書既發，遂舉兵。自署官屬，稱其師曰“靖難”。四年六月，燕兵陷都城，建文帝不知所終。棣升輦，詣奉天殿即皇帝位，下詔以洪武三十五年為紀年，明年改元永樂。

永樂三年六月，遣中官鄭和帥舟師使西洋諸國。

八年正月，成祖親征韃靼，五月，大敗本雅失里師；六月敗阿魯台師。

十二年二月，成祖親征瓦剌，六月，敗瓦剌次忽蘭忽失溫，馬哈木師。

二十年三月，成祖新征阿魯台，發京師，至雞鳴山，阿魯台遁。明年七月，成祖複親征之。二十二年三月，再親征阿魯台，不見敵，六月，糧盡，班師。七月，至榆木川，崩，年六十有五。

明长陵

长陵始建于1409年，历经18年建成。占地12万平方米，是明朝永乐皇帝朱棣与皇后徐氏的合葬陵墓。朱棣是明太祖朱元璋的第四子，初封燕王，镇守燕京。”靖难之变”后，在南京称帝，改元”永乐”。1421年迁都北京，在位22年(1403-1424)。

长陵建筑宏伟，特别是祾恩殿，其建筑风格与故宫太和殿一致。梁、柱、檩全部使用整材金丝楠木，其中立柱的直径都在一米以上，是世间罕见的奇材佳木。此殿保护完好，具有典型明代建筑风格。

长陵2003年7月3日被联合国教科文组织列入”世界遗产名录”。

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The museum is located at Fengtai District near Beijing World Park. It covers an area of 18,000 square meters. Its main exhibition contents include the underground originally site, unearthed culture relics and Exhibition of China Mausoleums for the Emperors in different Dynasties. Moreover, it further includes the participating projects in unique style, such as archaeological study simulation, amusement activities relate to Han Dynasty Culture and etc.

The underground palace is very large in scale, and its construction is special. It adapts “System of the Sons of the Heaven”, namely, the highest level funeral specific system used by the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty. It is called as “Xin Palace, Bian House and Huangchangticou”. The whole palace is built by the several hundreds cubic meters cypresses and chinaberries. The length from its south to north is 23.2 meters, while the width from east to west is 18 meters. It is 4.7 meters under the earth surface.

Three carriages and eleven horses are buries together in the tomb channel. They are both real carriages and horse in practical use. According to the history records, they are “the carriages with red spots wheel and green cover” which is designated for the prince and dukes. There are more than one thousand unearthed cultural relics, includes cooper ware, iron ware, jade ware, agate utensils, golden leaf, pottery and textile products. The palace site and the carriage and horse relics is the precious material objects to study Chinese Han Culture and the history of Beijing, and is the sole large scale Han Tomb site in complete condition preserved in the original cite in China.

Address: Near Beijing World Party at Fengtai District in Beijing.

Telephone: 63816427, 63816688
Opening Time: 9:00 a.m. to 16:00 p.m.

Ticket: 10 yuan (US$1.2)

Bus Routes: Bus 340, 352, 937 or tour bus to World Park.

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Located at the foot of the Tianshou Mountain in Changping District, Beijing, the Ming Mausoleums, occupying an area of 120 square kilometers, are well preserved and have the biggest number of emperors buried in the world.

• Ticket for Ding Ling: RMB 40 Yuan

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Main room at the Tomb

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