明孝陵英文导游词Xiaoling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty

Xiaoling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty

(Today

we

will

visit

Xiaoling

Tomb

of

the

Ming

Dynasty,

which

was

adopted

as

the

Worlds

Cultural Heritage in 2003)

Xiaoling Tomb is the mausoleum of Zhu Y

uanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty

600

years

ago. The

construction

of the

mausoleum

started

in

1381,

and was completed

in

1413

when

“

the Tablet of Great Merits of the Ming Tomb of the Great Ming Dynasty

”

was erected.

Emperor

Zhu

Y

uanzhang

was

born

in

a

peasant

family

of

Anhui

Province

in

1328.

He

lost

his

parents

in

his

childhood

and

became

a

monk

at

Huangjue

Temple.

In

1352

he

joined

the

Red

Turban Army and became commanding general later. In 1368, he established his empire and made

Nanjing the capital with a name of Ming for his dynasty

. In 1398, he died and was buried here in

the Xiaoling.

The

mausoleum consists

of

two

major sections. The

front section

starts

from

”

The

Gateway

of

Dismounting

Horses

”

at

the

Falial

Guard

to

the

Lingxing

Gate

at

the

end

of

Sacred

Way.

The

whole

approach

is

1800

meters

long.

The

Gateway

of

Dismounting

Horse

is

engraved

with

6

Chinese

characters

for warning worshipers,

meaning

”

All

the

officials

must

dismount

from

the

horse back here

”

.

Go 700 meters northwest from the gateway, we can see a three-arched gate. It is known as the the

Great Golden Gate, which is the front gate of the mausoleum, connecting with the red enclosure

walls.

Go

through

the

Grand

Golden

Gate

is

a

roofless

pavilion,

which

is

called

Square

City.

In

the

middle of the pavilion there stands a huge stone tablet, which is 8.78m high with 2,746 characters

carved on it. This is

”

the Tablet of Great Merits of the Ming Tomb of the

Great Ming Dynasty

”

.

The characters were written by Zhu Di, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Go out of the Square City, we

’

ll come to the first section of the

Sacred Way. The Sacred Way is

divided

into

two

sections.

The

front section

is

flanked

by

12

pairs

of stone

animals

in

6

kinds:

each kind of the animals has 2 pairs, one standing and one kneeling. The animals are arranged in

proper order: lions, Xiezhi, camels, elephants, unicorns and horses.

Go straight a little bit forward, we can see two pillars, from where the sacred way makes a right

turn. Here, we are at the second section of the Sacred Way, which is flanked by 4 pairs

of stone

Weng Zhongs: 2 pairs of generals and 2 pairs of officials.

At

the

right

of

this

path, we can see

a

small

hill

planted

with

thousands

of

plum

trees.

It

is

the

Plum-Blossom Hill,

which is

Sun Quan’s tomb

. The Hill is now a wonderful site for local

people

to appreciate plum blossom in spring when the trees are blooming.

At the end of the Sacred Way, there is a gate named Lingxing Gate with three arches. It is also