"The Ming Tombs...fascinating immensity"

Once we had left the wall we headed for the tombs of the Ming Emperors who were buried in a forty square kilometre area. The site itself was picked due to the principles of Chinese geometry, which sited buildings to ensure that they would be surrounded by favourable ’supernatural’ influences. The tombs are in an ideal situation with mountains to the rear and a river to the front, this was considered to be the best possible burial site. There are thirteen of the sixteen Ming Emperors buried within this area and the tomb that I visited was that of the Emperor Wan Li (A.D.1573-1620). The tomb took over six years to build and more than half a million workers were used to construct it. When the Emperor finally died his wife and sixteen concubines were also buried alive with him, as they would be needed in the ’after life’, (or so they thought!). This was common practice around this time.

During the excavations of the tombs between 1956 to 1958, more than twenty six lacquered trunks of beautiful jewellery, crafted headdresses, fine examples of gold (and of course Ming vases) were all discovered. Items that survived the Cultural Revolution years of Mao, can today be seen in the Beijing museum. The tombs are an under-ground-bunker type of construction, four storeys deep. Another bewildering example of the misspent labour of the Chinese people many years ago.

The Lonely Planet guide book said that the tombs were not too interesting but, I found them totally fascinating and could have spent a lot longer there if only to admire the immensity of the construction.

Read Neils complete adventure here.