Dingling Mausoleum, being one of the Ming Tombs in Beijing, has been excavated and is now open to the public, including its underground palace. Indeed, people who visit the Ming Tombs always have a wish to tour their underground palaces on their own. Dingling Mausoleum is one of the best palaces to visit.

More than 40 years ago when the stone gate of Dingling’s Underground Palace was opened, the world was shocked. In the magnificent underground palace the excavators found large numbers of extremely rare gems and cultural relics. However, the moment the underground palace was opened, the news was not immediately announced to the public due to many different reasons and so not many people knew the underground palace had been excavated until two years later, when the news was released to the public.

Dingling Mausoleum is the tomb for the 13th emperor Zhu Yijun (1573 - 1620) of the Ming Dynasty and his two queens, initially constructed in the 12th year of Emperor Wanli’s (Wanli was the title of Zhu Yijun’s reign) reign (1584) and accomplished in the 18th year of the emperor’s reign (1590). The government spent 6 years and 8,000,000 liang of silver building this mausoleum, and the cost of building this mausoleum was equal to two years of tax revenues of the empire that time. The tomb covers an area of 180,000 square meters. In the beginning many different kinds of ancient buildings specially designed for an emperor’s tomb could be found, but what we can find today are only two buildings named Baocheng (Treasure City) and Minglou (Ming Pagoda).

Between 1956 and 1958 the government of the People’s Republic of China appointed archaeologists to excavate Dingling Mausoleum and found nearly 3,000 items of treasures, among which many are extremely rare gems. In 1959, the government erected a museum on the site and since then, Dingling Mausoleum has been open to the public.

Admission: 40 yuan (off-peak season); 60 yuan (peak season)

Opening hours: 8:00 - 5:30 (peak season); 8:30 - 5:00 (off-peak season)

Getting there: Take Subway Line 13, get off at Ming Tombs Scenic Area (十三陵景区; Exit B), walk about 1.2 km to Jiantoucun, Changping District (昌平涧头村站), take Bus No. 872 or 314 to Dingling (定陵), and walk 930 meters to the site.

Please click on the map below to learn the detailed information to go there: