The Sacred Way, Beijing

We visited the Sacred Way after the Ming Tombs and I was not excited to see it.  That was a mistake--if you want to skip the tomb, that would be acceptable, but the Sacred Way is spectacular.  It is also free of charge and one of the few tourist sights near Beijing that was not completely packed with people.  

So do not miss it!  As you can see from the photo above, there are paired statues along the way.  There are animals at first and then the closer to the tomb you get, men appear.  There are increasingly important military figures lining the path.  These are very interesting to look at individually and as a group. 


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.. is