Ancient emperors of China would order their people to build huge tombs. The tomb would be a complex. Among these tombs, sacred way or divine road was an important element. Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs is the most well-preserved one among ancient emperors’ tombs in China.
The Sacred Way is usually set at the very front part of the imperial necropolis. The Way starts from so far that people viewing it would think of walking toward heaven on it. However, it was the way just for the emperor, known as the Son of the Heaven. The imperial ideology believed that emperors came from heaven through the Sacred Way, also would return to heaven through it. Thus, the road could only occupy by the emperors themselves. Treading on the plate of the Way would make you be punished before the collapse of Dynasty Qing.
The Sacred Way is lined with stone statues of many kinds. These statues are decorations, and more than that, they are guardians of the necropolis. There are usually human figures (including the general, civil officials and meritorious officials) and animals which are elephant, camel, lion, qilin (one of the four "divine animals, the other three are dragon, phoenix and tortoise), xiezhi (a mythological unicorn), and horse. Different gestures of the statues show their different meaning, such as lion with solemnity, elephant with power, camel with durability, horse with speed and xiezhi with judgment. There would be 4 of each of these statues, with two standing and two squatting. It is believed by locals that these statues would change guard position at midnight. All of these statues make the Sacred Way of Ming Tombs an abundant road, with many cultural factors on its two sides.
The Sacred Way of Ming Tombs was constructed in 1540, serving as the biggest stone archway still existing in China in modern times. Walking through the Dagongmen (the front gate), you will find the Shengong Shengde Stele Pavilion in front of you. Inside the pavilion, a 50-ton tortoise statue carrys a stone tablet. Four Huabiao (ornamental pillar) decorated with dragons and phoenixes are positioned at each corner of the pavilion area. Beyond Huabiao, there is the road accompanies by the human and animal statues. The statues were sculpted with whole stones, and the sizes were much bigger than life sizes, making the Sacred Way much more solemn and quiet. At the end of statues, comes the Dragon and Phoenix Gate. From here, the main part of tombs can be detailed observed.
The Sacred Way was originally built to lead to the Changling mausoleum, the main tomb of the third emperor of Dynasty Ming, Emperor Yongle (Zhudi). Afterwards, more and more emperors of Ming set their tombs in the area, making the Way a common one for all of the emperors.
You will spend approximately ten-minute bus ride from the beginning of Sacred Way to the front gate of Changling. From the time being used, you can see how long the Sacred Way is.