题一：明十三陵概况及神道(历史沿革;今日十三陵;石牌坊;大红门;长陵神功圣德碑;石像生;棂星门) 　　The ming tombs are located in changping district, about 50 kilometers northwest of Beijing. It covers an area of 80 square kilometers with 13 ming emperors, 23 empresses, many imperial concubines buried here.The ming dynasty reigned from 1368 to 1644, lasting 276 years. There were altogether 16 emperors who ruled in the ming dynasty. But only 13 of them were buried here. 　　The first emperor built the tomb here was emperor zhudi. Having been a frontier commander in Beijing for many years, emperor zhudi realized that a peaceful northern frontier was very important to the ming court and Beijing was a very important strategic position for the whole country. Emperor zhudi decided to move the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. Another reason for emperor zhudi to move the capital was that the dethroned emperor jianwen was nowhere to be found, and the former officials in nanjing refused to accept zhudi as the third empeor. That threatened his power, so he decided to move the capital to Beijing.......详细信息

　　题一：明十三陵概况及神道(历史沿革;今日十三陵;石牌坊;大红门;长陵神功圣德碑;石像生;棂星门)

　　The ming tombs are located in changping district, about 50 kilometers northwest of Beijing. It covers an area of 80 square kilometers with 13 ming emperors, 23 empresses, many imperial concubines buried here.The ming dynasty reigned from 1368 to 1644, lasting 276 years. There were altogether 16 emperors who ruled in the ming dynasty. But only 13 of them were buried here.

　　The first emperor built the tomb here was emperor zhudi. Having been a frontier commander in Beijing for many years, emperor zhudi realized that a peaceful northern frontier was very important to the ming court and Beijing was a very important strategic position for the whole country. Emperor zhudi decided to move the capital from Nanjing to Beijing. Another reason for emperor zhudi to move the capital was that the dethroned emperor jianwen was nowhere to be found, and the former officials in nanjing refused to accept zhudi as the third empeor. That threatened his power, so he decided to move the capital to Beijing.

　　Upon the decision, the construction of the imperial palace started in 1406, but unfortunately in 1407 empress xu died. In order to show his determination on moving the capital from nanjing to Beijing, emperor zhudi decided to bury her in Beijing instead of nanjing.

　　First, He sent an official and a fengshui master to Beijing to find the best place for building the imperial tombs. Based on fengshui and after serious consideration, the present site was finally chosen to be the best place, because this area was located in a basin encircled by mountains. Rolling hills formed a natural protection screen to the north. Dragon hill, and tiger hill, stood just like two generals guarding the gateway for the tomb area on both sides. So, this area was screened by mountains on three sides.

　　Emperor zhudi was satisfied with this place and ordered the construction of his tomb. Upon the decision, in 1409, the construction of his tomb changling started. The whole construction took 18 years and was completed in 1427. But the underground tomb was completed in 1413, and then empress xu was moved from nanjing and buried here first.

　　A sacred way is always found in an imperial cemetery. The sacred way of the ming tombs is 7.3 kilometers long from the marble archway to the gate of changling.

　　The main structures along the sacred way are: the marble archway, the great palace gate, the tablet tower, the stone statues and lingxing gate.

　　The stone archway is made of white marble for promoting the virtuous deeds of the feudal rulers. As a starting point, the marble archway is a symbol of the tomb area. It has 5 arches supported by 6 marble pillars with beautiful relief carvings.

　　The great palace gate is the main entrance to the tomb area. The gate has three passageways: the central passageway was for the deceased emperor’s coffin only, the living emperor used the left gate, the ministers and the imperial family members used the right side when they came to pay respects to their ancestors.

　　According to the statute of the ming dynasty, Nobody could enter the gate on horseback. There were two stone tablets, placed on each side of the gate, inscribed with the words: officials and others should dismount from their horsebacks. So it was called “dismount stele”,

　　The tablet tower is about 600 meters north of the great palace gate. Inside the tower there is a big stone tablet on the back of a big stone tortoise. The big stone tablet is inscribed with the words: the tablet of divine merits and sagely virtue of changling of the great ming. An inscription of 3000chinese characters is carved on the front side. It records the life story of emperor zhudi .The inscription of 30-line lament over the ming tombs on the back side was written by qing emperor qianlong.

　　The stone statues along the sacred way are altogether 36, with 24 stone animals and 12 stone human figures. There are 6 kinds of animals, 4 in each group. The first group of animal is lion in the front, followed by xiezhi, camel, elephant, qilin and horse. They are in pairs; one pair is standing and the other pair is kneeling down. The stone human figures are: 4 military officers, 4 civil officials and 4 meritorious officials. The stone statues were put here served as ceremonial guards.

　　Lingxing gate is also known as dragon and phoenix gate, it is located at the end of the road of the stone statues. The gate here represents the heavenly gate, it means by going through this gate he would be able to ascend to heaven. The 13 tombs are behind this gate.