Dear tourists:
Hello, welcome to Zhongxiang Mingming Mausoleum, I am your tour guide Kesai.
The Mingming Mausoleum is a national key cultural relics protection unit. It is located in Songlin Mountain on the eastern outskirts of Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province. It is the joint tomb of Emperor Jiajing’s father, Emperor Gonghexian, and his mother, the Empress Dowager Zhangsheng. It is one of the few mausoleums in my country. The most unique imperial mausoleum in the thousand-year history.
The Xianling Mausoleum was first built in the 14th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty (1519) and was completed in the 45th year of Jiajing (1566). The feudal city is more than 3,600 meters long, with a wall height of 6 meters and a wall thickness of 1.8 meters. The red walls, yellow tiles and golden walls are brilliant, winding up and down among the mountains. It is majestic and majestic. It is a relic of the tombs of the emperors of our country. The most complete and unique piece of the city wall, the cemetery consists of inner and outer city walls, front and rear Baocheng, Fangcheng Minglou, Lengsi Hall, Ling'en Gate, Divine Kitchen, Divine Treasury, Tomb House, Military House, Shrine Supervisor, Merit Stele Tower, and Xinhong Palace. It consists of more than 30 large-scale buildings including the gate, the old red gate, the inner and outer bright ponds, the Jiuqu River Royalty, and the dragon-shaped shrine. It is rare and a treasure in ancient Chinese architectural art.
The uniqueness of the Xianling Mausoleum mainly stems from the fact that the royal tomb was converted into an imperial mausoleum, which is a unique and unique example of double tombs in one mausoleum and is extremely precious. The owner of the tomb in the Xianling Mausoleum, Zhu Youqi, was King Xingxian during his lifetime and was buried in Songlin Mountain after his death. Emperor Wuzong died in the 16th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty. Because he had no heirs, the Empress Dowager Cishou and Yang Tinghe, a scholar from the First Fu University, followed the rule of "brother to brother". According to the ancestral precepts, "Xingxian Wang's eldest son Zhu Houcong" was ordered to inherit the throne. The reign name was Jiajing, and later Zhu Houcong established an independent system and used force to quell the three-year-long "Imperial Examination" dispute. During this period, 17 people were killed by the imperial staff, and officials were imprisoned, deprived of their salaries, exiled, sent to the border, and dismissed from their posts. There were more than 115 people, thus completing their own Zhaomu system. This major event was called the "Great Rituals" dispute in history. After that, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong honored his father as Emperor Gonghexian, changed the royal tomb into an imperial mausoleum, and began a large-scale reconstruction and expansion project. The construction did not stop until Jiajing's death.
The Xianling Mausoleum is the product of the "Great Etiquette", a major historical event in the early Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. It has unique planning layout and architectural techniques, and plays a connecting role in the regulation of imperial mausoleums in the Ming Dynasty. Among the mausoleum buildings, the golden bottle-shaped Wailuo City, the Jiuqu River Yuhe, the Dragon Scale Shinto, the Qionghua Double Dragon Glazed Shadow Wall, and the inner and outer Mingtang are all the only examples seen in Ming Dynasty mausoleums, especially the "one mausoleum and two tombs" The structure of the mausoleum is unique among the imperial mausoleums of the past dynasties. The two secret dumbbell-shaped underground palaces connected by Yaotai are mysterious and mysterious, and have always been amazed by the world.
The Xianling Mausoleum is planned to cover an area of ??183 hectares, of which the mausoleum covers an area of ??52 hectares. In this vast area, all mountains, water systems, and forest vegetation are uniformly laid out and arranged as components of the mausoleum. The natural hill at the back of the mausoleum is Zushan, which serves as the support for the mausoleum, and the mountains on both sides serve as surroundings. Buildings are arranged on the platform in the middle, with the Jiuqu River meandering in between. The hill in front is Pingshan, which forms the front Zhuque, back Xuanwu, left The Feng Shui pattern of Qinglong and Youbaihu embodies the principle of "the mausoleum system is commensurate with the landscape". At the southernmost end of the mausoleum, there is a stele pavilion built to seal Chunde Mountain. It is square in plan. The pavilion has been destroyed. There is a white marble stele inside. It is 3.59 meters high and 1.15 meters wide. It has three characters "Chunde Mountain" written on it. , the base, body, inscription and forehead of the stele are well preserved. On the east side of Chunde Mountain, there is a dragon-headed turtle stele pavilion in Tianzigang, commonly known as the "Shanqu stele" pavilion, which records the scope and management of the mausoleum area.
There is a Wailuo City built around the mausoleum that is 6 meters high, 1.6 meters thick, 4730 meters long and in the shape of a "gold bottle". Due to the influence of the pond and the southeast sand mountain at the front end of Wailuo City, a palace gate on the top of the Xieshan Mountain was built next to the mountain and water, named Xinhongmen, with a width of 18.5 meters, a depth of 8 meters, and three holes. There are two dismounting steles in front of the door, with the words "Officials are waiting to dismount here." On the right side of the new red gate is the Waiming Pond based on the original natural pond, and behind the Waiming Pond are three imperial bridges. Across the Royal Bridge is the Zhenghong Gate, which has red walls and yellow tiles. It is in the shape of a mountaintop, 18 meters wide, 7.8 meters deep, and has three gates. In the middle of the Shinto of the Red Gate stands the tall Ruigong Shengde stele pavilion. The layout is square, with a width of 18.3 meters and a depth of 18.3 meters. It covers an area of ??334 square meters. It has a white marble platform, a stone Xumi pedestal below, and a On the top of the mountain with double eaves, there are gates on each side, and in the center stands a monument with a dragon's head, a turtle's head, and a turtle's merits and virtues.
There are three imperial bridges 63 meters behind the stele pavilion.
Crossing the bridge is the most important tomb decoration building in the mausoleum area. Facing the white marble pillar is 12 meters high, with a square Xumizuo at the bottom. Look at the capital of the column with a cylindrical relief with clouds and dragon patterns. Behind the pillar are a group of stone statues, including one pair each of a lion, a mink, a reclining camel, a reclining elephant, a unicorn, a standing horse, and a reclining horse; two pairs of generals, and one pair each of civil servants and honorable ministers. They are vivid in shape and arranged in an orderly manner. . Next is the Dragon Feng Gate. As a support for the stone statues, the design of the Dragon Feng Gate is very exquisite. It is a sky-shaped archway with six pillars, three doors and four floors. Cloud plates are hung on the square pillars and covered with rosettes. Each rosette is carved with a statue roaring towards the sky, There are flame orbs and stone piers standing in the main body. The square body is made of imitation wood and is equipped with forehead beams, flower panels and hugging frames. The upper forehead beams are equipped with door hairpins. There are drum-holding stones sandwiched between the front and rear of the square pillars. There is a Xumi pedestal under the screen wall, and it is covered with yellow glazed tiles. , the entire Dragon and Phoenix Gate is not only dazzlingly white but also magnificent.
From the Dragon and Phoenix Gate and then across the Royal Bridge, there is a 290-meter-long Shinto. This Shinto goes against the principles of symmetry and straightness, and is curved in the shape of a dragon. It is a dragon-shaped Shinto. The Solitaire Shinto is the last three imperial bridges. Jiuqu River meanders from northeast to southwest. The river channel is a masonry structure. There are nine dams built in the river according to the height difference. The last imperial bridge across the Jiuqu River is Neimingtang. Neimingtang is circular with a diameter of 33 meters, and is surrounded by bluestone bank protection. There is a stele pavilion on each side of the pond, namely the "Chunde Mountain Memorial Announcement" stele pavilion and the "Ruiwen Stele" pavilion. Behind Neiming Pond, there is the Xien Gate, which is three rooms wide and two rooms deep. There is a platform with three clouds and dragons in front and back. There are glazed screen walls on both sides of the door. The front of the screen wall has a pattern of green glazed branches and the back is a double dragon. Leaping up means a hidden dragon protecting life. On the east side of the outside of Xin'en Gate, there are divine kitchens, divine treasuries, and slaughtering pavilions.
On the west side, there are shrine supervisors, ritual rooms and living rooms. Behind the Xien Gate, there are side halls on the left and right, five rooms wide, two rooms deep, and a corridor in front. Next is the Leng'en Hall, a palace-style building with a building behind the mountain. It is five rooms wide and four rooms deep. Going out to the platform in front, there is a stone-carved Xumizuo platform and a carved railing, dragon and wind pillar. Behind the Qin'en Hall is the mausoleum gate, which is three rooms wide and has a masonry and glazed structure. Behind the mausoleum door is a two-pillar door. Now only the stone pillars, squatting dragons and war drums remain, and no wooden structure remains. Behind the two-pillar gate is the Five Stone Offerings, with existing offerings and some stone carvings. There is a stele pavilion on each side of the confession case, namely the stele pavilion for the imperial sacrifice and the imperial stele pavilion for the posthumous record. Behind the confession is the Fangcheng Minglou. The square city is 22.2 meters wide and 22.2 meters deep. It has a gate and a royal road in front of it. There are imperial steps on the left and right behind the door for going up and down. There is a bright tower built on the square city, which is 17 meters wide and 17 meters deep. It has double eaves on the top of the mountain, a stone Xumizuo foundation, and four gates. Inside, there is a monument with the title "The Emperor Ruizong of the Ming Dynasty presented his mausoleum", which is 4.69 meters high.
The left and right sides of the square city are connected to the front and rear treasure cities. The front treasure city is oval in shape, 112 meters wide from east to west and 125 meters long from north to south. Inside the Baocheng is the Baoding, and under the Baoding is the Xuan Palace built in 1519 (the fifteenth year of Zhengde). There is Crescent City built between Baocheng and Fangcheng, with a glazed screen wall inside. The front and rear Baocheng are connected by Yaotai. Yaotai is rectangular, with a width of 11.5 meters and a depth of 40.5 meters. Houbaocheng is circular with a diameter of 110 meters. Inside is a treasured roof, and under the treasured roof is the underground Xuan Palace built in 1539 (the 18th year of Jiajing reign). Inside the Xuan Palace are the coffins of the emperor and the empress. There is Crescent City built between Houbaocheng and Yaotai, with a glazed screen wall inside. There are a total of 16 cantilevered Sanshuiji heads on the two treasure cities. They are exquisitely designed and serve as a unique drainage system. On the periphery of the mausoleum area, there are Xianlingwei, Dongguoyuan, Xicaiyuan, Gengpu and Xunshanpu along Zushan, Dongxishashan and Anshan.
The original architecture and environmental features of the Mingming Mausoleum are well preserved, the scale of the building is grand, the mausoleum structure is unique, and the cultural connotation is rich. It can be called the shining pearl of China's imperial mausoleums.
Xianling Mausoleum has been highly valued by national cultural relics experts for its unique environmental features, exquisite layout concept, grand architectural scale, rich underground treasures and precious historical value. The State Council announced in 1988 It is a national key cultural relic protection unit. In March 1999, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage designated it as the only imperial mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty and applied it to the United Nations World Heritage Committee as a world cultural heritage. The UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Committee has voted to include it in my country. The Mingming Mausoleum in Zhongxiang County, Hubei Province is listed as a World Cultural Heritage project.
Mr. Jean-Louis Lucerne, a United Nations expert, was very surprised after inspecting the Xianling Mausoleum. He called the Xianling Mausoleum a "miraculous Mingming Tomb" and was impressed by the fact that Wailuo City has remained intact for 115 years. It felt "unbelievable". At the same time, the protection and maintenance work of Xianling Mausoleum was fully affirmed.
Okay, tourists, this is the explanation of Zhongxiang Mingming Tomb for you. Thank you for your support!