Following a successful internal rebellion against the Mongolian Yuan dynasty rulers, the Ming Dynasty was declared in 1368.
The Ming dynasty would prove to be the last Han Chinese imperial rule of China. When it fell less than two centuries later in 1644 it was succeeded by the Manchurian Qing Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty was declared in Nanjing but already in the early 1400's the 3rd Ming emperor, Yongle, moved the imperial court to Beijing. Hence, all Ming emperors were buried in Beijing except for the first, who was buried in Nanjing.
The main aim of this feature is to explore the mausoleum of each Ming emperor along with a brief recap of his reign.
But these pages will go beyond that by also exploring other Ming tombs like those of concubines, generals, eunuchs, etc.
And for those interested, we will revisit the annual rites, provide a tomb dictionary, touch upon geomancy, Ming tomb layout and similar concepts on the information pages.
Tombs may not rank high on the list of great places to visit. I hope however that my pages will inspire you to pay a visit to some of them. Trust me, it's well worth it.
