The Ming Tombs are the tombs for 13 of the 16 emperors from the Ming
Dynasty. The first emperor, Zhu Di, selected the site for the tombs after
sending his Feng Shui expert into the country to look for the perfect
place for them to spend their afterlife. They picked this spot because of the
northern mountains which protect from bad influences from the north
(Mongols?) and a basin of water to the South representing the fruits of
the earth.
A couple of interesting facts about these
Tombs:
1. Each successive emperor had to
build his tomb so that it was not any bigger than his
predecessors. Therefore Zhu Di's tomb is the largest and most
prominently located.
2. The afterlife was considered an
extension of the current life therefore the tombs consisted of many
buildings including a place to eat, a place to work and a place to
sleep. They also began preparing for their second life very early
- Zhu Di began construction on his when he was 28.
3. When the emperor died, his wife,
16 favorite concubines and several servants were killed (usually
poisoned) to join him and take care of him in his afterlife. Best
to be his 17th favorite concubine, I think. They were all buried
somewhere in the hill behind the structures - none of the actual tombs
have been found because no one wants to disturb the actual
tombs.
4. There are three mountains around
the Tombs. The middle mountain behind Zhu Di's Tomb is the
mountain of Heavenly Longevity. The other two mountains are the
Dragon mountain and the Tiger mountain.
Only three of the Tombs are actually open to the
public...the rest are in very bad shape.