About one kilometer west of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Xiaoling lies the tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-1398) who founded the Ming Dynasty. Known to some as the ?Beggar Emperor? because of his poor family background and childhood poverty, he ascended the throne in 1368. Construction of his tomb began in 1381 and was completed two years later. In addition to the emperor, his empress Ma and two high-ranking imperial concubines were also buried here together with a number of maids of honor who were buried alive with the dead. Xiaoling is the biggest of all the Ming tombs, but most of its buildings were destroyed in wars. The remaining structures include the front gate, Merits and Virtues Monument (Gongdebei), Sacred Road (Shendao), Imperial Stone Tablet Pavilion (Yubeiting), sacrifice Hall (Xiangdian), Treasure City (Baocheng), and the cemetery.
Sun Quan Tomb:
In front of the Filial Tomb of the Ming Dynasty, there is hillock, former name Sun Ling Gang. Sun means Sun Quan, the founder of Wu Gou in the Three-kingdoms, whose two wives and his son Sun Deng were buried with him. This area was also the oldest imperial mausoleum for imperial family members and relatives of the former 6 Dynasties.
When Zhu Yuan Zhang, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, prepared to built his tomb, an officer in charge of the projects suggested him to move Sun Quan tomb away from here, Zhu Yuan Zhang said: "Sun Quan is a hero, why not to let him be the doorkeepers for me." So, when the Finial Tomb was built, only the stone-unicorn in front of the Zhu's tomb was moved to the other site, and Sun's tomb was almost remained the original appearance.
How to Get There: Tour bus 2, 3 and bus 20 are accessible.
Ticket: 15 yuan (US$2)
Open Time: 7:00-17:30
(china.org.cn February 21, 2003)
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