Changling Mausoleum Chánglǐng Língyuán 长岭陵园

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The Changling Mausoleum is the resting place of the Ming Yongle Emperor (reigned 1403– 24), whose given name was Zhu Di and whose posthumous title is Chengzu. At 120,000 square meters, it is one of the grandest and certainly the best preserved of all of the Thir- teen Ming Tombs (shisan ling) that lie roughly 45 kilometers north of Beijing in a valley be- low the Tianshou Mountains.

mperor Ming Yongle, or Zhu Di as he was known at birth, was an emperor of usurpation. He gained the title after a four-year war with his nephew, whom the first Ming emperor had chosen for the throne. Like the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing, which Zhu Di designated the Ming capital after his ascen- sion to the throne, the building of the Changling Mauso- leum was yet another project to legitimize Zhu Di as the true successor to the Ming emperorship, and Beijing as the true capital of the Ming Empire. The construction of Changling began in 1409. By 1413, Portrait of the Yongle emperor Zhu Di, for whom the underground tomb was completed. The exact struc- the Changling Mausoleum was built. Ink and ture of the Changling tomb is not known, but it is likely color on silk, by an anonymous painter, Ming dy- that it is similar in construction to the excavated Dingling nasty. Zhu Di, who usurped the throne from his tomb. Upon completion of the tomb, Zhu Di ordered the nephew, had the Changling Mausoleum built as a body of his empress Xu, which was being kept in Nan- way to legitimize his succession to Ming emper- jing, to be buried in the tomb chamber. The tomb was orship and Beijing as the true capital of the Ming covered with a large mound, or tumulus, which remains dynasty. undisturbed today. 298

Hall of Eminent Favors, Tomb of the Yongle emperor (Zhu Di), Ming dynasty, re- cently renovated. This immense building is one of the largest wooden halls in Asia and, like the rest of the complex, has been extraordinarily preserved, partly because Mao Zedong paid a visit to Changling in 1954 and declared it a historical site. It was thereby spared the ravages of the Cultural Revolution. Photo by Joan Lebold Cohen.

Over the next fourteen years, workers continued Built upon a hillside, the ceremonial path through the to build the complex of ceremonial halls leading to the tomb complex leads northward and upward. Beyond the Changling tumulus. The entire complex runs roughly from entrance and to the right lies a double-eaved wooden pa- south to north, ending at the tumulus. It is approached al- vilion erected in 1542, housing a stele carried by a mythi- most directly from the Spirit Path (shen dao) upon which cal animal with a tortoise body symbolizing longevity and all emperors living or dead must be carried as they ap- with a coiling dragon on top. During the Ming, the stele proach the Thirteen Tombs. Following a slightly winding contained no epitaph, but during the Qing it was engraved road around 5 kilometers northward from the exit of the with imperial edicts and poems of Qing emperors, who Spirit Path, one reaches the entrance to Changling, a stan- sought to legitimize their own succession by honoring the dard ceremonial arched gateway with three entrances. Ming imperial tombs. The emperor would pass through the central entrance, The imperial pathway then passes through the Ling’en while nobles passed through the right entrance and of- Gate, an open hall with three entranceways. A set of stairs ficials through the left. The design of the Changling is leads to the gate on both sides. Upon the central stairway quite similar in ways to that of the Forbidden City, also over which the living emperor passed as he paid homage constructed under the Yongle reign. to his ancestors is a marble carving showing water, deer,

© 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC 300 Berkshire Encyclopedia of China 宝库山中华全书 mountains, and two dragons flying in clouds, symbolizing The hall is covered by a largedouble- eaved rooftop, deco- imperial power or perhaps the soul of the emperor in the rated with images of dragons and other mythical crea- afterlife. Two sacrificial burners lie on either side of the tures. Supporting the roof are sixty columns constructed north exit of the gate, which faces into a large square sec- out of nanmu, a fragrant cedar indigenous to southwest- tion containing the Ling’en ceremonial hall. These burners ern China. It took about five years on average for each tree were meant for silk, money, and other combustible items to be transported to the northern tomb, which helps to that could be sent on to the afterlife by burning them. explain why it took workers another four years after the This Ling’en hall is a uniquely preserved feature of emperor’s death to complete this building and the tomb Changling and by far its most distinguished. It is the sec- complex. During the Ming dynasty, the Yongle emperor’s ond largest hall of its type that still survives from the Ming spirit tablet was kept in the hall, and during ceremonies dynasty. The hall is elevated and is approached by a set of such as Yongle’s birthday, the living emperor, nobles, and stairs with marble balustrades. Like the halls of the For- officials would give food and other offerings to the spirit bidden City, there are three tiers, the lower symbolizing tablets of the emperor and empress. hell, the middle earth, and the higher heaven. A marble Having passed through the Ling’en hall, one enters pathway built for the emperor lies upon the middle stair. through a simple gateway known as a “stargazing gate” to

Altar in front of the stele tower, Tomb of Emperor Zhu Di (the Yongle emperor). Vessels used for offerings were usually made of lacquer, metal, or ceramic, but here they have been fashioned for posterity out of marble. The central vessel simulates a censer (incense burner) in a ding tripod shape. The sculptor has formalized the vaporous emissions, like a great conical hat. A dragon resides in this cloud. Photo by Joan Lebold Cohen.

Detail of the wooden ceiling of the Hall of Emi- nent Favors. The ceiling, like those in the Imperial Palace, is coffered and brightly painted. Golden dragons writhe within the coffers and on the cross beams. Photo by Joan Lebold Cohen.

the Soul Tower, a pavilion built atop a tall stone edifice to Nanjing, others remarked that the imperial tomb was containing a stele commemorating the Yongle Emperor. already in the area of Beijing, thus justifying remaining Before the Soul Tower is a marble altar containing five there despite the ill omen. In this sense, Changling was ceremonial objects—the last step in the ritual process the anchor that held the capital in Beijing. of obeisance to the spirit of the emperor. A passageway One of the reasons that the tomb complex is so well leads through the fortification and around the other side preserved is that Mao Zedong paid a visit to Changling in to the Soul Tower. Behind the Soul Tower lies the tumu- 1954, thereby consecrating it as a historical site and pre- lus, which is still undisturbed. serving it from the ravages of the Cultural Revolution. The Changling Mausoleum provided the basic blue- Andrew FIELD print for the construction of the subsequent twelve sur- rounding Ming tombs, though they all differ in detail. Further Reading Some scholars speculate that were it not for the construc- Bai Bo. (2006). Atlas of world heritage: China. San Fran- tion of Changling, Beijing may not have remained the cisco: Long River Press. imperial capital, as it was vulnerable to attacks from the Changjian Guo & Jianzhi Song. (2003). World Heritage Mongols. Moreover, in 1421, the year that Zhu Di finally Sites in China. 五洲传播出版社 [Wuzhou: China In- led the imperial retinue to the new capital from Nanjing, tercontinental Press]. some palaces in the newly built Forbidden City were Howard, A. F., Li Song, Wu Hung, & Yang Hong. (2006). struck by lightning and burnt down. While some offi- Chinese sculpture. New Haven, CT: Yale University cials saw this as a bad omen and suggested moving back Press.

CHEN Cheng ▶

Changling Mausoleum Chánglǐng Língyuán ​长岭陵园

Changling Mausoleum Chánglǐng Língyuán 长岭陵园