Dingling (Royal Security)
On your left at the foot of the hill stands the Underground Palace of Dingling amidst pines and cypresses. Dingling (royal security) is the tomb of Emperor Wanli, the 13th Ming Emperor. He was born in 1563, and was chosen and named crown prince when he was six years old. He ascended the throne at the age of 10 and ruled for 48 years until he died in 1620.
Dingling is the only one of the Ming Tombs excavated so far.  Excavation work took more than two years from 1956 to 1958.  You may find the following background information interesting. Emperor Wanli (1563-1620; reigned 1573-1620) had two wives.  The first wife empress Xiaoduan died only a few months before his death. The second wife Empress Xiaojing died in 1612, eight years before and was buried in a nearby tomb reserved for imperial concubines.
The first wife had no son while the second wife had one.  He succeeded Emperor Wanli and died 29 days after his succession. He left the throne to his son. As Xiaojing was the second wife, she was not entitled to the privilege of sharing the Emperor's tomb.  When her grandson became emperor, she was promoted to the rank of Empress Dowager. And it was decided that her body be moved into the tomb.
The construction of the tomb and the underground palace started in 1584 when Emperor Wanli was only 22 years old.  Six years and 8 million taels of silver (250,000 kilograms of silver) were spent on it.  The bricks were brought from Shandong Province, the stone from the nearby district of Fangshan, Southwest of Beijing and the wood from the southern provinces.
In 1644 when the Ming Dynasty collapsed, the buildings were damaged in a peasant uprising and were not restored until the reign of the Qing emperor
Qianlong. They were burned down again at the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1956, a decision was made by the Chinese Government to open up the tomb. It was the first time that an imperial tomb was excavated in China in a scientific way.
Dingling is now a museum made up of three sections: the Underground Palace and two exhibition rooms. The objects on display are mostly originals. The trip to the Ming Tombs certainly gives us a better understanding of the Ming dynasty art, the tomb structure and the emperor's extravagance in building the tomb.
I'll tell you more as I show you round. Thank you for your attention. Here are two sketch maps. One shows the Underground Palace of Dingling and the other gives you a panorama of the 13 Ming tombs.
We just passed through the gate of Dingling. We are now here at the sketch maps. The two exhibition rooms are here, one on each side. That's the soul tower, behind it is the tomb mound.  Beneath the mound lies the Underground Palace.
This map shows the 13 Ming tombs in this area. The soul towers show the location of the tombs. This one is Dingling and that one is Changling, the first
Ming tomb built in Beijing for the third emperor, but not yet opened up.
 When you pay a visit to the Ming Tombs area you will definitely be impressed by the beauty of the location and the tranquiUity of the surroundings. It is now a favourite picnic spot for overseas residents in Beijing, and if you go there on a weekend you will find many families sitting on the grass under the old pine trees that dot the grounds.