Page:Peking the Beautiful.pdf/42

 A Royal Cemetery N A VAST amphitheater formed by converging hills, which are supposed to bring all good influences to a focus, repose the ashes of thirteen emperors of the last Chinese dynasty." This beautiful cemetery, known as the Ming Tombs, lies a little more than ninety li from the gates of the capital, and is considered one of the most interesting sights in the vicinity of Peking. Emperor Yung Le, the second of the Mings, and perhaps the greatest statesman and builder that China has ever known, was the one who chose this enchanting spot as the site for his temple and tomb. Perhaps the most striking feature of these imperial tombs, which before the downfall of the Ming dynasty constituted "one of the largest and most gorgeous royal cemeteries ever laid out by the hand of man," is the magnificent approach more than three miles in length, designated in the Annals as "The Spirit's Road for the Combined Mausolea." This road begins with a massive memorial arch, which is here seen in all its beauty. The mammoth pailou, with its five exquisitely carved arches of polished marble, is over fifty feet high and more than eighty feet wide. It is said to be the finest and largest memorial arch in all China Through its wide portals we catch a glimpse of the long spirit avenue as it leads along through waving fields of kaoliang past graceful pavilions, over marble bridges, and up to the foothills that shelter this "vale of the dead" After passing the "Great Red Gate," we arrive at the "Tablet House," guarded by four marble "Pillars of Victory." Here we enter the "Triumphal Way," more than two Chinese miles in length. This royal road, paved throughout its entire length, is lined, as were the triumphal approaches of the Tangs and the Sungs, with attendant figures of men and animals. Beyond the last pair of kuge stone images, all of which have been cut from single blocks of marble, the road passes through the triple "Dragon and Phoenix Gate," and thence up the gently sloping hill that leads to the Mausolea, which are arranged in a vast semicircle, with the grave of Yung Le in the center, The majestic sacrificial hall, where for centuries the rites of ancestral worship have been performed in his honor, is the largest building in China. Two hundred feet across the front, and one hundred feet deep, with its massive double roof of "golden" tiles supported by forty huge pillars sixty feet in length, this wooden structure has withstood the storms for five hundred years, and "looks as if it might brave them for a thousand more." Behind this hall is the graceful "Soul Tower," containing a large tablet of pink marble inscribed with Yung Le's posthumous title. Immediately to the rear of this tower is the artificial hill, more than a half mile in circuit planted with somber pines. "Beneath this is the huge doned grave chamber where Yung Le's coffin, richly lacquered and inscribed with Buddhist sutras, reposes upon its jeweled bedstead amid rich treasures of precious stones and metals."