Shenlu Scenic Area

I went there on December 31st in winter. The scenery was not good. The combined ticket (Changling, Dingling, and Shinto) was 80 yuan for adults and 40 yuan for seniors. There were no places to eat around, only farmhouses. There were small stalls at the door selling snacks. It was best to bring some hot food such as self-heating rice, which tasted very comfortable. Among the Ming Tombs, only Changling, Dingling, Shinto and Zhaoling were open. Other tombs were said to be closed. However, they were all similar, so it was enough to visit these two tombs. The distance between different tombs is quite far, so it is recommended to drive by yourself.

A road in front of the Ming Tombs in Changping District is located near Dagongmen Village, Ming Tombs Town, Changping District. A big red gate leads to the sacred road. On both sides of the sacred road are white marble sculptures called stone statues, including elephants, horses, military officers, and civil officials. However, this place still charges admission. In the past, there was no admission fee, but due to poor protection, tourists climbed up the stone statues to take pictures, endangering personal safety and the safety of cultural relics. Later, iron fences were installed, but they could not stop tourists from climbing. The last and best way is to charge a fee, have special people guarding, and punish anyone who climbs.

The tour time is 1 hour. Let me first complain about the navigation. If you navigate directly to the Shenlu or Shenlu parking lot, Baidu Maps will navigate to the north gate, but you can't enter at all. There is a ditch between the road and the parking lot, and it is a one-way street. In short, it is very bad. Later, I navigated to the Shenlu ticket office and found the way. There is no parking lot, just park outside, free of charge. The outside of Shenlu is quite inconspicuous, and there is no big sign outside. Today I went to Dingling, Changling, and Shenlu. There are many tourists in the first two, especially foreigners (I met several foreign tour groups, from Russia and South Korea), but there are no people in Shenlu. Shenlu is a north-south road. The north side with statues requires tickets to visit. The south side has no statues but the road is the same as in Shenlu, and there is no charge. In the impression of the statues on the Shenlu of Ming Xiaoling, the distance between the statues is closer. Shenlu uses the annual tourist ticket. If you don't have the annual ticket, it is not cost-effective to go at your own expense.

If you go to Shenlu, you mainly see the stone statues, which are really lifelike and big. It was raining when I went there, so there were few people and it was very comfortable to walk around. If you have a 200 yuan version of the park annual pass, you can use it.

Enter the Dahongmen Gate (also known as the Great Palace Gate), walk along the more than 500-meter tree-lined road, exchange tickets at the visitor center, and enter the Shenlu Scenic Area. This section of the mausoleum road starts from the stone archway, passes through the Dahongmen Gate, and leads all the way to Changling. It was originally built for Changling, and later became the main mausoleum road of the entire mausoleum area. At the south end of the Shenlu Road is the Changling Divine Merit and Sacred Virtue Monument Pavilion, which has a stele with a dragon head and a tortoise missing, 8.1 meters high. The front of the stele is engraved with an inscription written by Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi, which recounts the life-long merits of Changling's tomb owner Zhu Di, with a total of more than 3,000 words. The back of the stele is engraved with "Thirty Rhymes of Lament for Ming Mausoleum" by Qing Gaozong Qianlong. The northbound path is the Stone Statue, which was built between the first and third years of the Zhengtong Period of the Ming Dynasty. There are 24 stone animals in total, from south to north, lions, xiezhi, camels, elephants, unicorns, and horses, four of each, two lying and two standing. The layout of the stone animals is the same as that of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing, but the images are different, with the elephants and horses being the most different. Further north are 12 stone men, four of each of generals, civil officials, and meritorious officials. Compared with the Weng Zhong Road of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, there are four more meritorious officials (the stone men are called "Weng Zhong", for details, see "Nanjing Nostalgia: Visiting the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum"). The north end of the Shenlu is the Dragon and Phoenix Gate, a three-door, six-column style, which is the Lingxing Gate symbolizing the royal nobility. It is also called the Flame Archway because of the orb flames engraved on the beams. Exit the Dragon and Phoenix Gate and leave the Shenlu Scenic Area.

As you walk, you can see mythical beasts and stone statues of civil and military officials.

The Shenlu Stone Carvings represent the highest level of ancient Chinese large-scale sculpture art and are well worth a visit.

This Shinto is the main Shinto of the Ming Dynasty's Thirteen Tombs. Entering the Shinto is like entering the mausoleum area of ​​the Thirteen Tombs. Therefore, there is a dismounting stele on each side of the Dahongmen, which is engraved with "Officials and others dismount here", indicating the supremacy of imperial power. After entering the gate, there is a pavilion of divine merits and virtues, inside which there is a vertical stele engraved with the inscription written by Ming Renzong. After the pavilion, it is the real Shinto. A large number of stone carvings are presented in front of you, first a pair of Huabiao, then six kinds of animals, lions, Xiezhi, camels, elephants, unicorns, and horses, each with a pair of sitting and standing postures, followed by military generals and civil officials, and finally the three-door six-column Lingxing Gate. The Shinto ends here. The stone carvings are really exquisite. If paired with the yellow leaves of golden autumn or the white snow of midwinter, it must be amazing. Unfortunately, when I went there, it was midsummer, and the two sides of the Shinto were green, but it was also a different kind of vitality, which was an alternative experience.

I went there in the evening, it was quiet and comfortable. I took some photos and named it "Thousand Years of Watch".

This is the road leading to the Ming Tombs, with various sculptures and archways.

The Divine Road is the first scenic spot of the Ming Tombs, consisting of a stone archway, a big red gate, a stele building, stone elephants, and a dragon and phoenix gate.

The Divine Road is the first scenic spot of the Ming Tombs. It was originally built for the Chang Mausoleum and later became the main mausoleum road of the entire mausoleum area. Because the divine roads of all mausoleums are branched from this road, it is also called the General Divine Road. On both sides of the 1,000-meter-long Divine Road starting from two hexagonal stone pillars, 24 stone beasts and 12 stone men are neatly arranged. Such stone statues are set up in the imperial mausoleum to symbolize the emperor's majesty during his lifetime, indicating that the emperor still has civil and military officials and various livestock to drive in the underworld after his death, and can still dominate everything.

It doesn’t mean much. . . . .

I go to the Shinto Road often, so the Shinto Road I wrote about is not the one I went to this time, but the one I wrote about in the past whenever I brought friends past here. Because it was free, I would park the car in front of the Shinto Road and then walk around to take a look. I have been there four or five times.

The Divine Road is the first scenic spot of the Ming Tombs, which consists of a stone archway, a big red gate, a stele building, stone elephants, and a dragon and phoenix gate.

The head of the dragon vein walks slowly, and the stone statues on both sides have lowered eyebrows and are pleasing to the eye, which gives a different feeling.

Go once. Although the ticket is 30 yuan! You can download an app called Lianjing Travel which is quite good and has explanations of the scenic spots. Otherwise, it would be too boring. It is not worthwhile to walk there for 30 yuan.

I went there on August 1st. Overall I felt that the Shinto Road was more majestic. Of course, it is not as delicate and exquisite as the Shinto Road of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing. Perhaps this is another difference between the north and the south. The heritage is also much worse than that of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. After all, this precious land was used as a cemetery by the Ming Dynasty for only a few hundred years. Emperor Sun Quan was buried there for nearly two thousand years at Zhongshan (Purple Mountain) where Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is located. Relatively speaking, I prefer the Shinto Road of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.

The Ming Tombs Sacred Road is located in Changping District, Beijing. The Ming Tombs Sacred Road, also known as the Changling Sacred Road, is the first scenic spot of the Ming Tombs. It consists of a stone archway, a big red gate, a stele building, stone elephants, and a dragon and phoenix gate. The first stone archway on the sacred road is also the earliest existing and highest-grade large-scale imitation wood-structured stone archway in my country. The stone men, stone horses, and stone animals on both sides of the sacred road are lifelike and vivid.

The Ming Tombs are located in Tianshou Mountain, Changping District, Beijing. Since the Changling Mausoleum was built during the Yongle period, it has a history of nearly 600 years. It uses a main sacred road, a stone archway, and a group of stone statues to connect the entire mausoleum area together to form a whole. It is the world's most well-preserved imperial mausoleum with the largest number of emperors buried. After passing the stone archway, passing through the Dahongmen, and continuing forward, you will reach the Changling Shenggong Shengde Stele Pavilion. The pavilion has a double-eaved hip roof, four doors, and a square shape. There is a white marble stele at each corner of the pavilion. Inside the pavilion is the Shenggong Shengde Stele. The Changling Shenggong Shengde Stele has a coiled dragon stele head on top and a tortoise-shaped stele below. The stele head is engraved with the nine characters "Da Ming Changling Shenggong Shengde Stele". "Shenggong Shengde" refers to the evaluation of the emperor's historical status. On the front of the stele is an inscription of more than 3,000 words written by Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi for his father. There were no words on the other three sides. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, an imperial poem "Thirty Rhymes of Lamenting Ming Mausoleum" was engraved on the back of the stele, and later another imperial poem was engraved on the left side of the stele. During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, an imperial text was engraved on the right side of the stele, which talked about the lessons and gains and losses of the Ming Dynasty's fall. After the stele pavilion, you can see the stone elephants. After the stone lookout column, there are 12 pairs of stone beasts and 6 pairs of stone men on the 800-meter sacred road. There are two pairs of each stone beast, two standing and two lying. These stone statues are: two pairs of stone lions, two pairs of stone Xiezhi, two pairs of stone camels, two pairs of stone elephants, two pairs of stone unicorns and two pairs of stone horses. There are 6 pairs of stone men, they are generals, officials and meritorious officials. After the stone elephants, it is the Lingxing Gate. The Lingxing Gate symbolizes the gate of heaven. Passing through the Lingxing Gate is the place where the gods live. The Lingxing Gate on the Shinto Road has three doorways in the middle, with a flame orb on it, so it is also called the Flame Archway or the Dragon and Phoenix Gate. Passing through this gate, the Shinto Road ends here, and the Changling Mausoleum is in front.

It represents a period of time in China's long history.

The Ming Dynasty Changling Sacred Road is the main sacred road of the Ming Dynasty Changling. The sacred roads of the other tombs are connected to the main sacred road, thus closely linking the tombs together and making the Ming Dynasty Tombs an organic architectural whole.

On the Sacred Road, my favorite thing to see is the stone statues, which show the most spectacular images and demonstrate the extremely high carving skills and level of the time.

What is the role of stone statues? In ancient times, when a grand ceremony was held, in addition to civil and military officials, military guards were placed on both sides, and artificially raised elephants and lions were placed in cages and lined up on both sides of the imperial road to enhance the emperor's prestige. After the emperor died, this kind of pomp and circumstance was still needed, so stone statues were set up in front of the mausoleum.

The total length of the Ming Tombs is 7.8 kilometers. 18 pairs of stone statues are arranged on both sides of the 800-meter-long road. There are 12 pairs of stone beasts, two lying and two standing, representing the alternation of yin and yang, serving the emperor day and night. There are also 6 pairs of stone men. Each of the stone statues is exquisitely carved, lifelike, and moving, and is worth a careful viewing and appreciation.

The white marble stele is the symbol of the tomb. After the white marble stele, there is the stone statue. The stele is 11 meters high and has 41 dragons carved on it. It has remained beautiful despite the change of dynasties.

The mighty and majestic stone lions are tomb-guarding objects that can ward off evil and drive away evil spirits.

Camels, known as the "ships of the desert", have made great contributions to desert transportation. Camels are placed in front of the mausoleum to symbolize the vastness of the imperial territory.

The Qilin is a legendary benevolent animal. Its appearance shows the emperor's wisdom. The Qilin is placed on the Shinto Road to symbolize good luck and good fortune.

The horse is the emperor's mount and a necessary item in the ceremonial procession, and of course it is indispensable in front of the mausoleum.

Civil and military officials were stationed on both sides. These military officials were more powerful than real warriors.

At the end of the stone statues is the Lingxing Gate, also known as the Dragon and Phoenix Gate, also known as the "Flame Archway" because the center of the lintel is decorated with stone carved fire beads.

Walking on the Shinto Road and viewing the stone carving art that has hundreds of years of history, I was so intoxicated.

The Sacred Road of the Ming Tombs is still very well preserved, especially the stone carvings on both sides of the road, which are lifelike, tall and mighty. There are civil and military officials as well as animals, with a wide variety of categories.

Shenlu is an ancillary building of Changling Mausoleum and the first scenic spot of Ming Tombs. It consists of stone archway, big red gate, stele building, stone elephants, dragon and phoenix gate, etc.

I really like this kind of road. The animal stone statues on both sides of the wide road are carved lifelike. It is wider than the Sacred Road of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing.