Nanjing Ming Tomb (third day)

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Today I headed back to the Zhongshan Mountain area to see the final attraction: the tomb of the Ming Emperor. Naning - the name literally means 'South capital' was the capital of China under the Ming dynasty, before it was changed back to Beijing - which, I found out, literally means 'North capital', such an anticlimax!

The Ming tomb as it stands now is, you'll be stunned to learn, a reconstruction. You can visit the original site which still lies just off the path of the new tomb area.

The tomb itself was fairly unimpressive, to be brutally honest. What makes the whole trip worth it, is the lead-up to the tomb and the scenic area around the tomb. The entrance leads over a carved wooden bridge to a now-roofless hall with a doorway pointing in each cardinal direction and a giant tortoise (much like outside the Beamless Hall in the Linggu temple area) with an inscription. The tortoise and the inscription was a dedication to the buried prince's father. It's called the Tower of the Tablet of Great Merits, designed to immortalise the dynasty by listing the achievements and merits of the late emperor.

You then follow a woodland path to what was, for me, the main attraction: the Sacred Way. A paved path leads slowly towards the tomb, winding through various stone carvings representing guardians of the tomb. The first part of the Sacred Way is lined with animals. Some of them are mythical, like the unicorn (which in China, apparently, has scales) and the Xiezhi or bear-eyed unicorn, and some just exotic, like the elephants and the camel.

As well as guarding the tomb, the animals represent virtues that can be associated with the dead emperor's reign - uprightness, wealth, power, military might. According to legend, the unicorn only appears during the reign of a wise and benevolent emperor (yet strangely it is associated with most emperor's tombs...).

The second part of the Sacred Way has human guardians: two warriors, two clercs and two priests, as far as I could see. I was impressed at how detailed the armour and accoutrements of each figure was, and how well the stone had lasted given its exposure to the elements.

At the end of the Sacred Way lies the Golden Water Bridge, which supposedly has nine dragons carved on it. This is the entrance to the tomb area proper, although the tomb itself is a building at the top of a rise, preceded by the Imperial and Civil Gate, the Imperial Tablet Hall and the Sacrificial Hall.

All three of these buildings (reconstructions all) are impressive, with the same red walls and yellow ceramic roof tiles as the Forbidden City or the Summer Palace in Beijing. All of them are also fairly empty, which made them seem slightly hollow.

The gardens behind the sacrificial hall were beautiful, with small paths and raised areas covered with trees. Around the base of the Sacrificial Hall were the ruins of the old hall. These were, next to the Sacred Way, my favourite as it was nice to see something that actually looked ancient, rather than modern reconstructions.

Behind the tomb is a forest area climbing steeply uphill to the Treasure Mound. I baulked at the climb and instead headed back through the Civil and Military Gate and the East, walking past the original site of the tomb and up to the Zhenggi Pavillion. I got lost about twice as the way wasn't terribly clearly marked (and outside of the main tomb attraction, nothing is in English) but finally found the pavillion, which was a small structure, brightly painted red and blue, with a half-dressed man in a hammock (who seemed terribly startled to see me - oops).

I didn't linger, but headed back downhill to the Zixia Lake, which is also called the Purple Lake because the light reflected off the mountains behind it gives the water a purplish glow. The lake was really beautiful, and framed well by the forest and mountains around it. It was full of swimmers, despite all the signs of "warning, danger of drowning, do not swim". Nobody drowned and I was sorely tempted to go in myself. Had it been warmer, I may well have.

Tragically, as I left the lake (no, no-one drowned!) I came across what was clearly an old swimming pool area, with pools of various sizes and depths - all now abandoned and covered in green slime. I think it's such a pity that they don't re-open the pools since the area is really stunning.

Continuing downhill, I came across the Dinglin Villa which was.. well, weird. It was set out like a Roman villa (calling back strange memories of the Getty Villa in Malibu) but the architectural flourishes (the roof, the tiles, the windows) were entirely Chinese. Inside, it contained a series of small courtyards, with corridors and walkways either side. Half-empty rooms divided the courtyards and there was a small rockery garden running around the outside of the whole structure. Evidently this is not one of the main sites, but it was definitely worth a quick detour to explore.

I left the Ming Tomb area and took the bus back into town. I trudged briefly through the weird and wonderful collection in the Nanjing Museum - eclectic doesn't even begin to cover it. But I didn't really look as my goal was a cafe and a hot cup of tea, rather than cultural artefacts (phillistine!).

Having refuelled on tea, I continued into the centre of town (now in the pouring rain) to find the remains of the Ming Palace. The ruins are in two parts. The first part is more of a park with an isolated chunk of archway in the centre, which I dutifully walked round.

The second part is larger and mostly filled with odds and ends - column bases, bits of statues, bits of stairs. This area has also been turned into a park. The main event, however, at the furthermost end of this park is a two storey structure, with stairs intact. The bottom floor seemed to be a storage area of sorts and the first floor some sort of hall, dotted with columns of which only the stumps remain. The effect is curious: a large open ball-room area, with stumps of columns, and a commanding view over the other remains. It was fun to climb up, however, especially since ruins such as these are rare in China.

Finally defeated by the cascading rain, I retreated to food and packing - this having been my final day in Nanjing, for this trip, at least.

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Photos

Lion Statue
The lion wears a collar - just like the lion statues outside the great hall in the Forbidden City.

Xiezhi, the bear-eyed unicorn
According to legend, the xiezhi can identify an evil person in a fight by hitting him with its horn (or quiff). Placed outside the tomb it stands for uprightness.

Chinese unicorn
It incorporates features from the tiger, lion, ox and dragon (scales, a mane and hooves, not sure about the tiger part). Not quite the same as a European unicorn, then.