题二：明十三陵概况及长陵(历史沿革;今日十三陵;明成祖朱棣;长陵布局;长陵祾恩殿;人殉制度) 　　The ming tombs are located in changping district, about 50 kilometers on the 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. In order to resist the raid by the remnant Mongolian forces and strengthen his control over 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 throne, so he decided to move the capital to Beijing.......详细信息

　　题二：明十三陵概况及长陵(历史沿革;今日十三陵;明成祖朱棣;长陵布局;长陵祾恩殿;人殉制度)

　　The ming tombs are located in changping district, about 50 kilometers on the 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. In order to resist the raid by the remnant Mongolian forces and strengthen his control over 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 throne, 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, known as yellow earth hill, formed a natural protection screen to the north. Dragon hill on the east, and tiger hill on the west, stood just like two generals guarding the gateway for the tomb area. 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, when empress xu was moved from nanjing and buried in the ming tomb area first.

　　Now we are going to talk about the emperor zhudi. Emperor zhudi was the 3rd emperor of the ming dynasty. He came to throne in 1402, died in 1424 at the age of 65. he ruled china for total 22 years. After he died, he was buried in changling together with his wife empress xu. During the 22 years of his reign, he made great achievements in political, military, economic, cultural and diplomatic fields. They were: yongle encyclopedia and sending zhenghe to trade with the west. Among china’s historical heritages sites listed by UNESCO, four of them made by emperor zhudi, they are: the forbidden city, the temple of heaven, the ming tombs in Beijing and the Taoist architectural complex in wudang mountain in hubei province.

　　The layout of the ming tombs is “the front court for state affairs and the rear palace as the living quarters”, So is changling. First we can see the front gate to the tomb, then the gate of eminent favor and the hall of eminent favor. They were considered the front court for the deceased emperor conducting state affairs and for the living emperor offering sacrifices. Behind the dragon and phoenix gate it was considered the inner court. The soul tower and the wall-encircled earth mount with the underground palace make the back part.

　　The hall of eminent favor is also called “sacrificial hall” where the sacrificial ceremonies were held by the later emperors for their ancestors. It is one of the largest wooden building in china, and it is supported by 60 wooden columns made of precious nanmu. Namnu is a special kind of wood coming from the mountains in the southern part of our country. All of the materials are made of precious nanmu wood with nothing painted on , just to maintain their natural color. This is rarely seen in the world. Today the hall is used as an exhibition hall for the historical relics from dingling.

　　Next let me give you an introduction of the system of human sacrifice. In the slave society, slaves were private property of their owners. They could be sold, given away as presents or even killed as human offerings. However, from the qin dynasty, the owner made human figures pottery as offering instead. But the cruel system was carried out from the first emperor zhuyuanzhang to the 5th emperor zhuzhanji. Zhuyuanzhang restored the system by having 46 imperial concubines buried with him in xiaoling. Also there are 16 imperial concubines buried in changling. This system was abolished by the 6th emperor yingzong.