Beside the vast Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, there lies a royal tomb shrouded in desolate grass, known as Ming Dongling. It is the resting place of Zhu Biao, the eldest son of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor, and the Crown Prince Yiwen. Crown Prince Yiwen was designated as the heir by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and passed away in the 25th year of the Hongwu era. The overall layout of Dongling is similar to that of Ming Xiaoling, but on a smaller scale, comprising elements such as the tomb enclosure, the entrance to the tomb, the front gate of the memorial hall, the memorial hall itself, and the treasure top. The main structures are distributed along a north-south axis. The front part of the tomb’s enclosure wall is pointed in the front and flat in the back, resembling the shape of a turtle’s back, which is a unique layout. Archaeological investigations have not found any separate spirit road stone carvings or imperial bridges at Dongling, indicating that Dongling shares a main spirit road with Xiaoling. This layout feature of Xiaoling initiated a system where the spirit road of the first emperor’s tomb was shared by descendants, a practice that was inherited by the Ming Tombs in Beijing. All the above-ground structures of Dongling were destroyed by war, leaving only some architectural remains. Opening hours are all year round, open all day.
Ming Dongling
Beside the vast Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, there lies a royal tomb shrouded in desolate grass, known a[...]
