World Cultural Heritage: Mausoleum of the Ming and Qing Emperor (3)

Summary of the Ming Tombs

Since Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, overthrew the regime of the Yuan Dynasty and established the Ming Dynasty in 1368, to when the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by the peasant uprising army led by Li Zicheng in the 17th Chongzhen Year in 1644, the Ming Dynasty had dominated China for 277 years and had 16 emperors. Among them, 15 emperors built imperial mausoleums in accordance with the mausoleum system, except for Zhu Yunwen, the emperor Hui whose whereabouts are unknown due to the "Battle of Jingnan," who did not build a mausoleum for himself.

After his death, Zhu Yuanzhang was buried at the foot of Mount Zhongshan in Nanjing, called Xiaoling Tomb, and Zhu Qiyu, the Emperor Jing, was killed during the "Restoration of Emperor Yingzong" and buried at Mount Jinshan in the west of Beijing and when he regained the title of an emperor in the Chenghua Year period. His tomb was extended into imperial mausoleum called the Emperor Jingtai Tomb. The other 13 emperors are all buried and Mount Tianshou in Changping District in Beijing, known as the Ming Tombs.

In addition, the tombs of those who were not emperors but were bestowed the title of emperors after death in the Ming Dynasty also became imperial mausoleums. Zhu Wusi, Zhu Yuanzhang's father, was bestowed the Emperor Renzuchun and his original tomb in Fengyan County in Anhui Province was extended into an imperial mausoleum. Zhu Chuyi, Zhu Yuanzhang's grandfather, was bestowed the title of Emperor Xizuyu; Zhu Sijiu, his great-grandfather, was bestowed the title of Emperor Yizuheng, and Zhu Bailiu, his great great-grandfather, was bestowed the title of Emperor Dezuxuan. As the burial sites of emperors Yizuheng and Dezuxuan are unknown, their clothes along with their wives’ clothes were buried at the original tomb of the Emperor Xizuyu in Xuyi County of Jiangsu Province, called the Ming Mausoleum of Ancestors. Zhu Youyuan, Zhu Houcong's father, originally was a marquis and was bestowed the title Emperor Ruizongxian when Zhu Houcong became Emperor Jiajing, and his tomb in Zhongxiang City in Hubei Province was extended and called the Xianling Tomb.