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Saturday, July 22, 2006

Ming Tombs

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Michael,

The first stop on our tour yesterday was to the Ming tombs. It’s an hour bus ride west of Beijing in a national scenic area bordered by green hills. On the way there, our guide told us the history of the Ming Dynasty. Ming I (14th century) had 20 sons, and he chose the first son to be his successor, but the son died before him. So the old man had to pick another inheritor of his throne, and rather than one of his other sons, he picked the oldest son of his first son. (At that time, the custom of the first son automatically inheriting the power was not in effect.) The grandson was only 6 years old at the time, but his grandfather trained him in the arts and guiles of emperorship for 11 years. In the mean time, he appointed the other 19 sons to govern distant provinces of the kingdom and keep them from meddling with his affairs. By the time of his death, the grandson was capable of taking over the kingdom. Ming II ruled for about 50 years, and his successors continued the dynasty for over 250 years. Only 3 other Chinese dynasties were as long lived as 200 years.

In the late 16th century, a huge burial complex was built to accommodate all of the remnants of the Mings. A rumor came down to the 20th century that the builders of the grave complex were all killed and buried there to prevent the location of the burial entrance from becoming public knowledge. In any event, for 3 centuries, no grave robbers or archaeologists ever succeeded in finding the way in. It was reputed that there were Indiana Jones-style traps and misleading entrances in the complex. Finally in the 20th century, the government succeeded in finding the entrance, and reconstructed tunnels for public access. Most of the actual coffins, remains, and artifacts are now in Beijing museums, but some of the original Ming vases and thrones are still there.

Although archaeologists have excavated the entire area, no remains of the original workers were ever found, and it is now widely held that the rumor about their execution was false.

The current Chinese must revere the ancient emperors, since there are heaps of modern Yuan notes strewed everywhere around the coffins, presumably to bring good luck. Funny cautioning signs in fractured English are displayed here and there–“Don’t scribble”, “Luxuriant grassland please don’t trample”, “No smoking. Fireproofing caution”.

–rakkity

(Blogmeister’s note: I’ve fallen way behind prolific rakkity, and I’m posting out of sequence though I don’t think it diminshes his transfixing travelogues. )

posted by michael at 12:34 pm  

4 Comments »

  1. We’ll be doing this with W’s kin. They too know the guiles of emperorship. They’ll all rule for the next 50 years and be enshrined in a secret place in Kennebunkport, somewhere near their current compound and the White Barn Inn. It will look regal on the outside but be quite common on the inside. There will be no vases or thrones. Just guns and deer heads and big stuffed bass. Maybe Bab’s pearls and an old cheerleader uniform. Notes strewn around the coffin? Can you imagine what they’d say.

    Comment by emperors clothes — July 22, 2006 @ 10:55 pm

  2. Kennebunkport, not Crawford, where it would look common on both the outside and the inside? And they could have signs in fractured English, just like Beijing.

    Comment by rakkity — July 24, 2006 @ 9:26 am

  3. Yes! The dynasty is smart enough to know that no one vacations in Crawford and Kennebunkport exudes class (from the outside).

    Comment by emperors clothes — July 24, 2006 @ 11:02 am

  4. […] The photos below should have been linked to rakkity’s Ming Tombs entry. I don’t know how I missed them. […]

    Pingback by » The Lost Photos Of Ming Tombs — August 9, 2006 @ 7:31 am

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