The Ming Tombs – Chang Ling

The first courtyard.

After our lovely visit to Ding Ling tomb we got back into our mini bus and drove a short way to a lovely restaurant, where, among other food we had was the most delicious fish, covered with herbs and spices. We then carried on our journey to Chang Ling.

The first Hall

Ling’en Palace.

Offerings to the Emperor and Empress.

Chang Ling is the largest of the Ming Tombs, and is absolutely beautiful. It is set out like the Forbidden City, with Halls one behind the other, separated by courtyards.

Alice, Susie and Freya next to a water spout

Chang Ling is the tomb of Emperor Zhu Di and his Empress Xu. Zhu Di reigned between 1360-1424. The actual tombs are once again underground, but in this case they are not open to the public. The buildings on this site are very beautiful and the whole site has an air of peace about it.

This is a silk burner, again there are money offerings inside.

Beautiful carved marble everywhere.

Looking back from the Blessing and Grace Palace towards the entrance.

We sat in the second courtyard and enjoyed an ice lolly, and bought ourselves the fans that you can see in some of the photos.

Inside the Ling’en Palace, such an amazing space.

Ceiling decoration

Enormous beams holding up the ceiling.

The bronze statue of Emperor Zhu Di, the plinth has nine dragons carved on it.

The main building on this site is the Ling’en Palace (Blessing and Grace Palace) it is a huge building, and an amazing space. In front of the building there is a display showing where offerings were made to the Emperor and Empress.The building has some amazing items in it, including a massive bronze statue of Zhu Di. Zhu Di was the Emperor who was responsible for moving the Capital to Beijing (Peking) and was also responsible for the building of the Forbidden City, which I did not know at the time, but I was struck by the similarities between the two places, without knowing the connection.

The Tower

As in Ding Ling there is also a beautiful tower, we climbed to the top, and admired the view.

We did not have time to visit the Sacred Way, where all the statues of the Day and Night animals are, as they quite some distance from Chang Ling, but I am very pleased I was able to visit this tomb. Looks like I need to have another visit to Beijing sometime in the future!

Susie and Freya leaving the tower.

We all had a lovely day out, my thanks go to Freya and Susie for their company on this day, and a very big Thank You to the company which Alice works for, for arranging the whole day out for us all