The Ming Tombs were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in August 2003 along with other tombs under the 'Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties' designation.
Locating in Northern China, the Royal Mausoleum of Ming and Qing dynasty is the biggest and most completed among the mausoleums that still exist today in China for emperor and empress built in ancient time.
The Ming Tombs are located about 48 km (31 miles) northwest of Beijing at a carefully selected site, a small basin on the foot of Tianshou Mountain in Changping district.
The Ming Tombs site was chosen by the third Ming Dynasty emperor YongLe (1402 - 1424), who moved the capital city of China from Nanjing to the present location of Beijing. He is credited with envisioning the layout of the ancient city of Beijing as well as a number of landmarks and monuments located therein. After the construction of the Imperial Palace (the Forbidden City) in 1420, YongLe selected his burial site and created his own mausoleum.
From the Yongle Emperor onwards, 13 Ming Dynasty Emperors were buried in the area now known as the Ming Tombs. The tombs of the first two Ming Emperors are located near Nanjing (the capital city during their reigns). Emperor ChongZhen, who hung himself in April 1644, was the last to be buried here, but on a smaller scale than his predecessors.
The Ming Tombs form the most extensive burial complex of any Chinese dynasty and are one of the finest preserved pieces of 15th century Chinese art and architecture.
Construction of the tombs started in 1409 and ended with the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644. In over 200 years tombs were built over an area of 40 square kilometres, which is surrounded by walls totalling 40 kilometres. It consists of 13 tombs of Ming dynasty, such as Chang Ling, Xianling, Jingling, Yuling, Maoling, Tailing, Kangling, Yongling, Zhaoling, Dingling, Qingling, Deling, Siling, etc, which are generally known as "Ming Thirteen Mausoleum". Each tomb is located at the foot of a separate hill and is linked with the other tombs by a road called the Sacred Way. The stone archway at the southern end of the Sacred Way, built in 1540, is 14 metres high and 19 metres wide, and is decorated with designs of clouds, waves and divine animals.

Inside the big cemetery, there were ever 7 tombs for imperial concubines, one for court eunuch, one temporary imperial palace, and some other auxiliary construction such as enclosed breeding ground. Here is where 13 emperors and 23 empress of Ming dynasty were buried, together with many imperial concubines, princes, princesses, and many maids. There were big walls on all the four sides of the mausoleum, with the main gate opened towards south; on the two sides of the place, are two high mountains, Boa Mountain and Tiger Mountain, just like one tiger and one dragon guarding the gate. It had been appointed as forbidden area ever since Yongge 7th, Ming dynasty (1409), and was guarded by many soldiers.

Chang Ling
Chang Ling is the center of all the cemeteries, and there is a holy path started from the south gate up to Chang Ling. On the two sides of the 7000-meter long holy path, constructed stone tablets, shrines, stele pavilions, ornamental columns, stone figures, dragon wind gate, etc, these are not only the symbol of high authority, but also a essential atmosphere necessary for the mausoleum.

Chang Ling is the largest and best preserved of the 13 Ming Tombs near Beijing. Chang Ling, 4km (2 1/2 miles) from the entrance, is the tomb of Emperor YongLe (reign 1403-1424) and empress XuShi. In total, the structures at Chang Ling occupy an area of 120,000 square meters. The most striking point is Ling'En Dian, an immense hall in which the interior columns and brackets have been left unpainted, creating an eye-catching contrast with the green ceiling panels, which was constructed in 1427. It is built on the 3-floor stone platform, indeed grand and elegant, 9 houses in width and 5 houses in depth, occupying 1956 m2; there are 32 pillars inside the palace, among which the biggest one has a 1.17-meter diameter, and 14.3 meters high. All the supporting material, such as the ridge, pillar, rafter, etc, are made of precious wood, although having experienced more than 500 years, they are still as strong and fragrant as before. This is the biggest wood palace in the country.

Ding Ling
Dingling was built in 1590. Emperor Shen Zong and the empress were buried there in 1620. It is the only one that has been excavated for archeological purpose. So it always appears as a must tourist place for people both home and abroad. The most attractive part of Dingling is the underground palace.
The underground palace consists of five spacious halls: an antechamber, central hall, rear hall and left and right annexes. The vaulted halls are built of stone. A stone door stands between the antechamber and central hall. At the end of the central hall is the rear hall. On both sides of the central hall are tomb passages and stone doors opening to the left and right annexes.
The underground palace occupies a total of 1,195 square meters. The vaulted halls are built of stone, without a single beam or column. To avoid damaging the marble floor, the surface from the antechamber to the rear hall was covered with thick planks for the hearse to roll on when it entered the underground palace, thick planks that can still be seen today.

In the central hall are three white marble thrones, arranged with one in front and the other two on each side and slightly behind the first. In front of each throne is a set of five glazed pottery altar-pieces (consisting of two pricket candlesticks, two beakers and an incense burner), a blue-and-white porcelain jar of oil, and an "everlasting lamp," a bronze bowl with a wick, floating on its surface. The lamp was lit when the emperor was buried, but once the tomb was closed, the flame soon died from shortage of oxygen.

The two annexes are similar to the antechamber and central hall. Each contains a white marble dais evidently intended for a coffin. The rear hall, the largest of the five chambers is the main part of the underground palace. At the center is a dais on which is placed the coffin of Emperor Shen Zong (Zhu Yijun), with the coffins containing the First Empress on his left and the Second Empress on his right. Each coffin was surrounded by pieces of jade, porcelain vases and twenty-six red lacquered wooden boxes filled with precious funeral objects.

The Dingling tomb contained a very large number of precious objects buffed with the emperor. About three thousand burial objects have been excavated, including cloth woven in beautiful patterns, clothes, small and exquisite gold jewelry, and exquisite gold, jade and porcelain articles. All these are art treasures contributing to an understanding of the technology of the Ming Dynasty.

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