Tourists walk the passageway connecting to the Ming Tombs, located 50 kilometers northwest from Beijing City. The general name was given to the mausoleums of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD). The mausoleums have been perfectly preserved. The Ming tombs possess high cultural and historic value. The first tomb was originally built as Changling, the tomb of Emperor Zhu Di and his empresses. Changling remains the most magnificent of all the tombs. The succeeding twelve emperors had their tombs built around Changling. None of the tombs except the Changling and Dingling are open to the public. The total internal area of the Changling main building is 1956 square meters. There are 32 huge posts, and the largest measures about 14 meters in height. Changling inhumes Emperor Zhudi, the fourth son of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Unlike Changling, Dingling is under ground and about 27 meters deep. It is the mausoleum of Emperor Zhu Yijun, the thirteenth emperor who occupied the throne the longest during the Ming Dynasty, and his two empresses. Dingling's Underground Place was unearthed between 1956 and 1958. The entire palace is made of stone. The Soul Tower is symbolic of the whole of Dingling and it forms the entrance to the underground chambers. The yellow glazed tiles; eaves, archway, rafters and columns are all sculptured from stone, and colorfully painted. The entire construction is stable and beautiful!. Served by three stone doors, it is divided into three Halls consisting of five high palaces - the front, the middle, the rear, the left and the right palaces. The Gate of the Tomb, the Gate of Eminent Favor and the Lingxing Gate all have the same structural form. The front hall, considered the square of the Palace, has no building within it. No special artifacts remain in either the left and right palaces that are about 7 meters high, six meters wide, and 26 meters long. However, each has a centrally placed white marble coffin bed, the surface of which is covered with gold bricks. On each bed there is a square hole filled with loess. This is the so-called "Gold Well". A paved path leads to the central hall where there are three white marble thrones. Incense, candles and flowers were set in front of the thrones. Before each of them, there are glazed 'Five Offerings' and a blue china jar that would have been filled with sesame oil to be used for lamps. The rear hall is the main and biggest part of the Palace. The coffins of Emperor Zhu Yijun and his two empresses are in this palace. There are also some precious items displayed with these coffins; among them is the gold imperial crown, one of the world's most rare treasures.

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