Beijing Badaling Great Wall + Ming Tombs Dingling + Bird's Nest Pure Play One-Day Tour

Description

The only route to experience history is by visiting the Ming Tombs. The Dingling Mausoleum, located at the eastern foot of Dayu Mountain in Changping District, Beijing, is one of the Ming Tombs and the joint burial site of Emperor Shenzong Zhu Yijun (1563-1620, reign title Wanli), the 13th emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and his Empresses Xiaoduan and Xiaojing. Construction began in the twelfth year of Wanli (1584) and took six years to complete. From May 1956 to July 1958, archaeological excavations were carried out at the Dingling Mausoleum, making it the only Ming Dynasty imperial mausoleum that has been excavated to date. The overall layout of the ground buildings of the Dingling Mausoleum is in the shape of a front square and a rear circle, containing the symbolic meaning of the ancient Chinese philosophical concept of "round sky and square earth." The Dingling Mausoleum has become one of the three largest mausoleums among the Thirteen Tombs. Its ground buildings cover a total of 180,000 square meters, with three wide courtyards in the front and a tall treasure city in the back. In front of the main gate of the mausoleum is a three-span white marble stone bridge. After crossing the bridge is a tall stele pavilion. Around the pavilion are more than 300 buildings, including the Temple Sacrifice Department, the Animal Sacrifice Pavilion, and the Ming Dingling Mausoleum Supervisor. Further behind is the outermost wall of the mausoleum—the outer Luo City (the wall outside the wall). The discovery of the Dingling Mausoleum has provided important physical materials for the study of Ming history, and its underground palace structure can be regarded as a representative of the Ming Dynasty imperial mausoleum system, providing valuable materials and references for the study of the Ming Dynasty tomb system. In October 2021, the Dingling Mausoleum was selected as one of the "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in a Century." The Ming Tombs, including the Dingling Mausoleum, have been successively announced as the first batch of key ancient building cultural relics protection units in Beijing, the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units, national key scenic spots protection areas, and world cultural heritage sites.