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Stone carving at Changling.

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.