Sacret Way of Ming Tombs

Above: Sacret Way of Ming Tombs in ChangPing, one hour drive from Beijing. Quite amazing. Photo gallery below.


Sacret Way of Ming Tombs near Beijing
PICTORIAL - BENDS LIKE THE LIGHT

I visited Sacret Way of Ming Tombs first time in 1992, and since then twice more walking through it. Sacret Way is elegant, timeless and thoughtful experience and bends like the light. Ming Dynasty emperors ruled 1368-1644.

Sacret Way of Ming Tombs, Shendao, is total 7,3 km long, in Changping, Beijing, 42km from city center. Statue part of Sacret Way is about 1,1 km. In the beginning there is Stele Pavilion (1435) which has 50-ton stone statue of mythological figure BiXi carrying a memorial tablet.

18 pairs of stone statues of mythical animals (12 pairs) and officers (6 pairs) are all sculpted from whole stones and are larger than life size. Sacret Way leads to 3-arched Dragon and Phoenix Gate.

Three Ming Emperor Tombs of 13 are open to the public: Changling, Dingling, and Zhaoling. There have not been new excavations since 1989.

- BeijingMan

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Above-1: Road to Sacret Way of Ming Tombs.
Towards ChangPing, Beijing.


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Shengong Shengde Stele Pavilion, built in 1435.


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In front of Shengong Shengde Stele Pavilion.


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Inside Shengong Shengde Stele Pavilion. Mythological BiXi.


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Inside Shengong Shengde Stele Pavilion. Mythological BiXi.


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In front of Shengong Shengde Stele Pavilion.


Above-8: Sacret Way of Ming Tombs is about 500-600 years old.


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Main part is dedicated to animals, real and imaginative, 24 statues.


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There Sacret Way bends like light in the space.


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BeijingMan with the big boy.


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You can find a lot of Qilin in Beijing where they compete with door lions. Usually Qilins and Lions are in pairs in front of banks and office buildings.

Chinese Qilin is about imagination and luck. Qi=male, Lin=female. Qilin is Chinese legendary animal which "has dragon head, deer horn, lion eyes, tigers back, bear waist, snake skin, horse feet and pig tail. Female Qilin often has one horn. Qilin is always kind. It's a symbol of good luck which pushes away disasters. Qilin comes only when times are peaceful, and when a great man is born".


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Qilin.


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Midway exhibition.


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Midway sales point.


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Second segment is dedicated to civil servants, 6 pairs of statues.


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Above-45: Sacret Way of Ming Tombs. Click to enlarge.


Above-46: Sacret Way of Ming Tombs. Click to enlarge.


Sacret Way of Ming Tombs near Beijing
+ Elegant place, timeless feeling when walking through
+ One hour drive from Beijing, was not too crowded

**** GOOD TARGET FOR PHOTO SAFARI ****

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© BeijingMan aka Kippo 2022