BEIJING TO FULLY OPEN MING TOMBS TO TOURISTS TO FURTHER SHOWCASE MING DYNASTY CULTURE

The Ming Culture Forum 2024 was recently held in the district of Changping in Beijing. With the theme of “The Splendid Age of the Colorful Ming,” it is composed of forums, one international academic seminar, cultural relics exhibitions and cultural activities, with more than 30 of them in total which will be held throughout the year. More than 100 national treasures were unveiled at the opening ceremony.

The event on the whole has reached a new height in terms of scale, embodies a broader cultural perspective, gathers a wealth of cultural relics of the Ming Dynasty, and features a series of wonderful activities. It aims to give full play to Changping’s abundant Ming cultural resources, do a good job in the protection and inheritance of the Ming Tombs, a world cultural heritage site, and help enhance Beijing’s reputation as a famous historical and cultural city.

The event brought together more than 600 Chinese and foreign experts and scholars to share their wisdom on the Ming culture. In the international dialogue session of the main forum held on July 13, Lyu Zhou, professor and doctoral supervisor of Tsinghua University and director of Tsinghua’s National Heritage Center, and Marie-Noël Tournoux (French), project director of the World Heritage Institute of Training and Research for the Asia and Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO, exchanged ideas on the theme of “Inheritance and Mutual Learning: The Contemporary Value of Ming Culture,” and shared their understanding of the Ming culture. The dialogue laid a solid foundation for cooperation between the two sides, promoted two-way friendly exchanges, and helped explore a new path for the development of Ming culture.

Image 1: At the main forum, Chinese and foreign guests talking about the contemporary value of Ming culture

During the main forum, at the “Magnificent Ming Dynasty Treasures” exhibition dedicated to the cultural relics of Ming Dynasty, more than 100 pieces of national treasures were on display, including Emperor Wanli’s golden mesh crown, the empress’ phoenix coronet, authentic calligraphy works by Dong Qichang, a gold box from the Royal Archives Center, and a copy of the Jiajing era’s Yongle Encyclopedia. All of them are national treasures rarely seen by the general public.

Image 2: The empress’ phoenix coronet featuring the design of six dragons and three phoenixes unearthed from Dingling (Tomb of Emperor Wanli)

The main forum also released a number of major plans, including the comprehensive opening plan of the Ming Tombs, the call for designs of the culture-museum-tourism complex featuring the Ming culture, and the study tour routes at the Ming Tombs Scenic Area, with the aim to promote tourism development through cultural research and development.

It is learned that the Ming Tombs Scenic Area will gradually open more tombs to the visitors, and all of them by 2030. This will be done in three phases from 2024 to 2030. The first phase is from 2024 to 2025, to open Siling (Tomb of Emperor Sizong) and Yongling (Emperor Shizong); the second phase, from 2026 to 2028, to open Maoling (Emperor Xianzong), Tailing (Emperor Xiaozong), Deling (Emperor Xizong) and the ruins of the New Imperial Residence; the third phase is from 2029 to 2030, to open Xianling (Emperor Renzong), Yuling (Emperor Yinzong), and Qingling (Emperor Guangzong). After all the tombs are open to tourists, physical cultural relics will be displayed as they are with signs and explanations, including not only ancient buildings, tombs, and the Sacred Way, but also cultural heritage elements such as the former architectural sites and the Sacred Way, to comprehensively represent the whole construction process of the Ming Tombs, and their architectural characteristics and construction skills.

In addition, the Forum issued a call for designs of a culture-museum-tourism complex featuring the Ming culture. The complex will be located in Shisanling Town of Changping, with abundant cultural and tourism resources, business services and scientific research industries, including the Ming Tombs, Juyongguan Great Wall, Baifuquan Site, and Badaling Outlet.

Upon completion, it will become a world-renowned international exchange base dedicated to Ming culture, China’s most influential exhibition area of Ming culture, and a cultural, museum and tourism business zone based on the world cultural heritage site in the northwest of the capital.

At the main forum, two study tour routes featuring the ruins and relics of the Ming Dynasty were announced: one is from the Park of the Ruins of the Grand Canal Source, to Changling (Tomb of Emperor Yongle), Dingling and then the Visitor Center of the Ming Toombs Scenic Area, and the other from the Juyongguan Great Wall to Yongling or Siling and other mausoleums not yet open to the public.

It will take two days to complete both routes, and visitors can spend the night in hotels nearby or camping at Juyongguan to enjoy the starry night and immerse yourself in the splendor of Ming culture.

On the opening day of the main forum, the imperial guard-of-honor welcome ceremony and the grand archery ritual typical of Ming Dynasty were held at the Ming Culture International Exchange Center. The performers were dressed in exquisite official uniforms, holding huban (representing government officials of Ming Dynasty), Xiuchun Dao (a single-edged sword representing the Imperial Guard of Ming Dynasty), flags featuring the pattern of dragon, tiger, bird, and tortoise respectively, and qilin-pattern flags, among other ceremonial utensils. The ceremonial demonstrations, soundtrack performances, costume displays, and competitive performances fully showed the solemnity and grandeur of the grand archery ritual of Ming Dynasty.

Meanwhile, Changping has planned four modules of activities: “Ming Gift,” “Ming Joy,” “Ming Color” and “Ming Rhyme,” and will successively launch more than 30 cultural activities including music concerts, air tours, the parade in ancient ceremonial dress, Li Shizhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Cultural Festival, and the Ming-style fashion, to attract more tourists and improve the popularity and influence of Ming culture.