
English: 
The Forbidden City Palace, Beijing
One of the world's largest royal residents
original build in Ming dynasty (1368-1644)
During the 272 years of Ming dynasty, 13 generations of emperors were ruling China inside the palace
after they died, they were buried in this valley at the north direction of Beijing
The Ming Tombs
World's largest royal cemetery
Like another Forbidden City of Ming dynasty
buildings inside the cemetery are all follow the style of the Forbidden City Palace
Each tomb surrounded by tall stone walls and grandeur offering palaces

English: 
During the mid-1950s
an archaeological activity once tried to discovered all the secretes of the Ming Tombs
While only one underground tomb was opened
Dingling Tomb
China's first and the only emperor's tomb which was opened by archaeologists
the owner of the tomb is a mysterious emperor
He spend thirty years of his life in the Forbidden City completely reclusion
and finally had peace in the more silent underground palace
Based on the theory of Taoism, ancient Chinese believed human soul would live in another world after death, that world

English: 
a world similar to the world of living
ancient people call the world of dead as "Ying Jian"
The imagination of the world of dead made ancient people particularly importance the building of their tombs
Its not only the custom of the commons but also for the imperial families, as honourable as the emperor
most of Chinese emperors started building their tombs shortly after they came to the throne
(the tomb of the first emperor)
The famous terracotta warriors
discovered by accident in 1974
archaeologists found large amount of terracotta solider and hoser statues
the huge size of terracotta military already shocked the nation
while this is only a corner of the whole cemetery of first emperor
Qin Shi Huang (translated as the first emperor)

English: 
during the over two thousands of years after the death of first emperor,
generations of emperors left large amount of huge tombs on the landscape of China, just like Qin Shi Huang did
The Ming Tombs are one of those imperial tombs, and well protected till today
the Ming tombs, built in 15-17 centuries
by Ming dynasty, one of the greatest dynasties in Chinese history
The Italian missionary, Ricci, once traveled to this great dynasty during 17th century
although what he saw was the end of the great era

English: 
while he still compromised this country for its vast territory and rich products in his "China Journal"
Today, most part of the famous Great Wall, were actually constructed during the Ming dynasty
The Ming Tomb
also a great legacy of Ming dynasty
Its original builder is the third emperor of Ming dynasty, Zhu Di
Ming's first capital was not Beijing, but Nanking, located the east south region of Yangtse River

English: 
Nanjing still kept the city wall built in Ming dynasty
and the tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of Ming dynasty
After the death of Zhu Yuanzhang, he made one of his grandsons to be his successor
and this action made Zhu Di, his forth son in great rage
soon, he launched military mutiny from his territory, Beijing
his military occupied Nanjing, after bloody massacre to his political enemies, he got the crown
the usurper moved to Beijing, and set Beijing as the new capital of Ming dynasty
he gathering millions of labours to construct the walls of Beijing city and palaces
before this huge construction work completed
Zhu Di started to look for a place near Beijing city, to build his tomb
This is the first tomb of the Ming Tombs, Changling

English: 
(Changling Tomb)
Zhu Di chose this place as the imperial cemetery for his dynasty
he chose this place by his own
they considered different places, and at the end, the emperor found a Feng Shui wizard from Jiangxi province
named Liao Junqin
he checked the place
and finally chose Huangtushan, this valley
why here?
you can see, this place has beautiful mountains at the back
and has water in front
Wenyun river
further in front, there are Dragon mountain and Tiger Mountain, just like two wings
the emperor and wizard thought this place is great
thus they chose here

English: 
in total 13 generations of Ming emperors were buried here,
by the end of the dynasty
the floor size of the cemetery has larger than the size of capital Beijing
the structure of the Ming Tombs looks like a tree
every each tomb looks like tree branches
the tree trunk is the "holy pathway"
the Holy Pathway locates the central of the cemetery, when burying the emperor, their coffins would pass this pathway

English: 
Zhu Di changed name of this place from Huangtushan (Soil Hill) into Tianshoushan (life ever lasting like the nature)
since that time, this valley became the royal cemetery of the Ming dynasty
include Zhu Di

English: 
there are 18 pairs of statues standing besides the pathway,
represents the power of monarchy and the honour for the dead emperors
those sculptures of civilians and military officers
represents no matter alive or dead, the emperors are always ruling the dynasty, those sculptures seems still protecting the emperors as they were alive
still prepare of sending the orders of emperors to the vast nation
Chinese emperors were so eager to be immortal
immortal constructions based on the hard work of labours

English: 
each tomb would cost many years to be completed
every year, tens of thousands of labours were engaging in the constructions, over the 200 years
construction here nearly never pause
by the policy of building imperial tombs, tomb should have the same style as the house for living people
therefore all the offering building in Ming Tombs are similar to the forbidden city palace'
the tomb surrounded by tall walls, inside the walls, there are grandeur palaces for offering and ceremony purpose

English: 
the tomb looks like a villa on the middle way of traveling, but this time, emperors were on a long journey.
at the back of each tomb, there will be a Ming Lou (like a castle tower), it is the symbol of the tomb, the gravestone was placed in the tower, with the name of the emperor written on it
the grave of the emperor locate behind the tower
look from outside, the grave just like a manmade mound hill
while under the mound hill, there is underground palace
coffins of emperors and empress are inside the underground palace

English: 
three hundred years after the collapse of Ming dynasty, there was no thief successfully open any one of the tombs
maybe, for the most experienced thief, those tombs are just too big to dig and explore
and now, the tombs are facing challenge from curious people
in the mid-1950s, the famous historian Wu Han, he was the mayor of Beijing, submitted a request to the central government to discovery the tomb of Zhu Di
Wu Han was specialised in researching the history of Ming dynasty

English: 
although there were criticism ideas, while his request was finally agreed by the central government
in the Spring 1956, the archaeologists entered the Ming Tombs, their original plan was to discover the tomb of Zhu Di
The tomb of Zhu Di is the largest tomb in the cemetery and well protected
Archaeologists thought there must be lots of priceless treasures inside the tomb
However, their research on Zhu Di's tomb was not went smoothly

English: 
after a few weeks, they did not find any clue
thus they decided to find another tomb as experimental discovery
if it succeed, then they could come back and discover Zhu Di's tomb
and they chose the Tomb of emperor Wanli at last
he is the 13th generation emperor of Ming dynasty
his tomb called Dingling Tomb
Emperor Wanli lived at the end of 16th century to the early 17th century
the emperor's real name is Zhu Yujun, as he use the word Wanli to record his reign, thus people also call him emperor Wanli

English: 
subtitles will appear till 21:45

English: 
when we removing bricks, there was thundering
but not much rains, it is very strange
old Bai was joking, maybe the emperor is going to wake up

English: 
and prevent us to dig into his tomb

English: 
once I came into tunnel, I was very nervous and scaring,
I remember when we continuing walking ahead, there was no more sound

English: 
when he came out of the tunnel, he said, what a relief! I guess he was really scared

English: 
it is the first people actually see the underground palace of an emperor's tomb
the palace was built with huge stones
there is a central line across the entrance to the end of the tomb
three big rooms are arranged alongside the central line
described as front room, middle room and back room

English: 
archaeologists entered the front room first, and found wood boards on the floor, they already rot
those wood boards were used to protect the floor tiles when the heavy coffins went through the front room to the back room
like underboardings
across the long and narrow front room, and entered the middle room
those thrones placed in the middle room shining in the dark
made by white marble
dragons are carved on the throne
the dragons represent the power of monarchy
while the owners of those chairs have already gone
in front of the chair are china for offering purpose

English: 
this big china was used to contain "ever lasting light", in the legend, people put whale oil inside as fuel, and the lamp can lightning forever
the emperors wish their tomb can be as bright as their palaces
while, this lamp which was lightened three hundreds years ago, has already died out long time ago
there are two small room beside the middle room, they supposed to be used for placing the coffins of concubines, but in fact they were never been used
in the forbidden city palace, chambers of concubines are distributed at the two sides of the emperor's chamber and empress chamber
the two small rooms are connected with the middle room though narrow tunnels
the two side rooms are all empty, never been used

English: 
at the end, archaeologists reached the back room,
the same with the forbidden city palace, the back room represents the emperor's chamber
before the exploration, historians already know emperor Wanli was buried with his two empress
the three coffins in the back room proved the historical records are correct
emperor Wanli
the longest reigning monarch in the history of Ming dynasty
his long reigning era full of tragedies
in the dark and deep underground palace
there is a sad romantic story buried with the dead together
the year 1572
at dawn

English: 
the father of emperor Wanli, the emperor Longqing, died
Wanli was only 10 years old when he came to the throne
his proud mother, the empress dowager, wished Wanli to be an outstanding emperor
which means emperor Wanli must devote lots of time in learning classics of Confucian
Wanli gradually grow up in a boring and stiffness environment
when he was experienced enough to fulfil his duty as an emperor
he was interfered by bureaucrats in many ways
the emperor became a prisoner of the palace
in the depressive court, a woman came into his life
samrt and caring
brought joy and pleasure
the concubine Zheng, who became emperor's most beloved women
Wanli wanted to make her son be the crown prince

English: 
but his decision was rejected by the entire bureaucrats
because the son of concubine Zheng is not his oldest son
(under the Confucian theory, younger sons are not permitted to heir his father when their older brothers still alive)
this was a huge strike to emperor Wanli
he could not change the tradition
so he chose an unbelievable way to show his rage
during his 48 years reign,
he was living reclusively inside the forbidden city palace for 30 years
during the last 20 years of his life, he almost refused to meet any of his officers,
became an invisible monarch
this is the most extraordinary moment in Chinese history,
the bureaucrats know the existence of their emperor, but they never see him
their letters, documents and the replies from the emperor were delivered to each other only via servants

English: 
in fact, lots of the documents were never replied by emperor Wanli, the governemnt was shut down
it seems emperor decided to give up his life very early
he began to build his tomb at the age of 21
it took 6 years to build his tomb, the Dingling tomb
total cost equals to the sum of 2 years agriculture tax income
when the tomb was about to complete, Wanli came to visit in person
he was staring at his final destination carefully
then came back to the forbidden city palace
he never took a step out of the forbidden city palace ever again
it seems this negative pessimistic man, was always waiting for his death

English: 
when he finally reached the end of his life, he has had a long period of reclusive live
in year 1617, the empress of Wanli died,
the emperor died soon after his empress
another empress who died in the earlier years, her coffin was also carried into the Dingling tomb
Concubine Zheng,
died 10 years later
the bureaucrats class defined she as evil women who brought disaster to the country
they against the Wanli's will, refused to bury her into Dingling tomb,
Wanli, at the end, could not rest in peace with his only beloved wife
he was destined to continue his loneliness after death

English: 
the archaeologists did not open emperor's coffin immediately, because there are lots of grave goods distributed beside the coffin
the wooden boxes for containing grave goods already rot
goods were exposed
after three hundred years
many goods still shining
their life are stronger and longer than their owners
coffins were decayed
archaeologists still hope the body of the emperors and empress remained, like the Mawangdui case

English: 
we expected, if the body remains,
so we contacted the academy of medicine
we even prepared a huge wood container to place the body, if it remains
after preparation, archaeologists removed the heavy lid of the coffin
this is the first Chinese emperor, and still the only emperor, who was explored out of coffin by archaeologists

English: 
after we opened the coffin
its not flat
on the surface, there is a gold embroidery quilt,
but it also partly decayed, collapsed,
so we can see the shape of some goods under the quilt
beside the edges, there goods distributed
some of the silk
gold and silver coins,
were under the dead body
so we removed all the goods level by level
the rich grave goods surprised the archaeologists

English: 
until they removed the goods from the 11th level,
they finally found the dead body of the emperor
the body was completely rot, only bones remained
nobody can immortal, even for the emperor who had the whole empire
after hard work
all the grave goods in the underground tomb were organised
there are in total over 3000 pieces of grave goods
a few religion goods for ceremony purpose,
most of them are household goods

English: 
these treasures, buried underground as grave goods,
are for the dead to continue luxurious life in another world,
they are expensive, beautiful and elegant
while they did not bring lots of pleasure to their owners
during the last years of Wanli, he was hiding inside forbidden city, dissipated and suffered from illness
it was those beautiful wine sets, accompany him for the long time
the crown
called Mian
hang 12 bunches of pearls both in front and at the back,
they are used to remained the emperor keep manner in important occasions,
the pearls will shake when making big moves, thus the emperor will remember to keep his body still
in important ceremonies, the emperor is just prop or tool

English: 
during the second half of Wanli's life, he no longer attend any ceremonies,
this drinker and hermit refused to be a tool in  ceremony
Wanli once wanted to be hero, but his officers  never allow him to go to battle
those armour, bow and sword, the emperor may never actually use them
these are the best china at that time

English: 
china, the oldest creation of Chinese
from Ming dynasty, Jingdezhen town in Jiangxi province, was producing china for the imperial families
the most precious china found in Dingling tomb is this big vat
used as the container of lamp
the words on it shows it was made during the reign of Wanli's grandfather, the emperor Jiajing
which means the large sized china was very hard to produce during Ming dynasty, Wanli himself doesn't have one

English: 
the golden crown
made by gold filament, as thin as hair
completed through very complicated craft technics
the craftsmen in Ming dynasty were exquisite
empress crown
four empress crown were found in the grave
decorated by gold, pearls, jade and jewels,
one of the empress crown was decorated by in total 3500 pearls

English: 
and another 195 pieces of jewels
the custom of Beijing opera, based the cloth of Ming dynasty
now on the stage of Beijing opera, we still can see this type of tiara
but this crown found in Dingling tomb, is the original one, a real one
lots of silk were found in the tomb
people never found such large amount of Ming dynasty silk before
these extraordinary silk are all for the court
this emperor's cloth was used in important ceremonies

English: 
the technique used on this cloth called Kesi, it is very expensive and complex
if to finish this cloth by only one person, will cost 10 years
this cloth was for empress to wear in festivals,  the technique been used here is embroidery
on this cloth, 11 different kinds of embroidery methods were applied
on the cloth, there are many children patterns
to wish the emperor has lots of offsprings

English: 
it is ironic for emperor Wanli, the struggle of throne between his sons brought endless troubles for him
Ming dynasty at that time
without doubt,
was the richest country in the world
but corruption finally collapsed this great and powerful empire
when the emperor Wanli having his reclusion life in the forbidden city
at the north of Great Wall,
a strong minority was growing
and fast expanding to the south
The Manchus

English: 
two years before the death of emperor Wanli, Manchu troops had already began to attack Ming dynasty
but the cause of collapsing was from inside
twenty years after the death of emperor Wanli,
a rebellion rased
almost rolled up entire North China
and broke the gate of Beijing eventually
before entering Beijing city, angry revolt peasants burst into Dingling tomb and burned the offering palaces into fire
after entered into Beijing, peasants soon divided apart due to the disagreements between the major leaders
Manchu troops took the chance and defeat revolt troops, occupied Beijing
The Qing dynasty built by Manchurians became an new dynasty.
