导游词

北京英语导游词(3)

时间:2020-12-02 08:26:21 导游词 我要投稿

北京英语导游词范文

  Now we are going to Dinging. Dingling is located at the east foot of Dayu Mountain. Buried here are the 13th Ming Emperor Wanli (Zhu Yijun) and his two empresses Xiaoduan and Xiaojing. Zhu Yijun was the longest on the throne of the Ming Emperors. (He was emperor for 48 years). He was the greediest and laziest emperor in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yijun ascended the throne at the age of 9. After he came to power, he was supported by the chief minister Zhang Juzheng. At this time, various aspects of society gained development.

  Later ,Zhang Juzheng died of illness. Not long after Wanli managed state affairs on his own, he used the chance to select the location for his tomb site when he went to pay homage to the ancestors' tombs. He spent eight million taels of silver (250,000 kilos of silver) and six years to build a high quality tomb Dingling. After the Dingling was completed, Zhu Yijun personally went to inspect it, and felt very satisfied with the result. He went so far as to hold a grand banquet in the Underground Palace, which was unheard of in history.

  Zhu Yijun was a typical muddle-headed emperor. Reflecting on his reign, he did not pay attention to state affairs for 28 out of his 48 year rule. The state organ was effectively semi-paralyzed during his reign. Later generations commented that the fall of the Ming dynasty was caused by this emperor.

  Zhu Yijun had two empresses. Empress Xiaojing was originally a maid of Wanli's mother Cisheng. Later she gave birth to a son of the emperor. That son was the one-month emperor Guangzong (Zhu Changluo). She died of illness 9 years earlier than Shenzong died. She was buried as a concubine at Pinggangdi, around the east pit, at the Heavenly Longevity Mount. After Xiaojing was conferred the title of “grandmother of the emperor”, her body was moved to the Underground Palace of Dingling, and buried together with Emperor Wanli and Empress Xiaoduan on the same day. Xiaoduan was conferred the title of empress, but she could not give birth to either a son or a daughter to the emperor. Xiaoduan died of illness. A hundred days later, Emperor Wanli (Zhu Yijun) died too. Empress Xiaoduan, Emperor Wanli, and Empress Xiaojing were buried together in the Underground Palace.

  The tablet in front of Dingling has no words on it. It is called the wordless tablet. There is a pair of coiling dragons along the top and a pattern of sea waves carved on the bottom. Its base is composed of a tortoise (Bixi). It is said that the dragon has nine sons. In twelve of the Ming Tombs, excluding Changling, all the tablets are wordless. Originally there were no tablet houses in front of the Tombs, but later the tablet houses and steeles of the first six tombs were completed. But the emperor Jiajing at the time indulged in drinking, lust and searching for longevity pills, so he had no time to pay attention on the inscriptions. Consequently the six tablets are wordless. And in keeping with this tradition, that’s why the tablets later on are also blank.

  Now we are arriving at The Gate of Eminent Favor and the Hall of Eminent Favor of Dingling, The Hall of Eminent Favor is also called Hall of Enjoyment. It was the place where the emperor and his entourage held grand sacrificial rites. They were mostly destroyed when the Qing soldiers came. And they were destroyed again later, so now only the ruins remain.

  Moving on, this is the exhibition rooms that were built after the excavation of the Underground Palace. The exhibition explains in detail the history of the tomb master and introduces the tomb excavation process. The exhibition rooms are divided into two parts, the south and the north. In the south room, on display are the sacrificial objects of Emperor Wanli unearthed from the Underground Palace. In the north room, on display are the sacrificial items of the two empresses. All of then are fancy and invaluable.

  Now we arrive at The Soul Tower, this is the symbol of the tomb. It is a stone structure with colorful painted decorations. The Soul Tower and the Precious citadel of Dingling have never been damaged seriously. The Soul Tower is the best preserved architecture above the ground of Dingling. On top of the yellow, glazed tiled roof of the Soul Tower sits a big stone tablet. Two Chinese characters----Dingling, are carved on the tablet. Inside the Soul Tower, on top of another stone tablet, there are two big characters----'the Great Ming' written in seal characters. On the body of the tablet, seven Chinese characters-----'Tomb of Emperor Shenzong Xian' are carved. The Soul Tower is connected with the Precious Citadel. The Precious Citadel is a large round wall built with bricks. The Precious Citadel wall is 7.5 m high, and lower part is thick while the upper part is thin. The round wall's perimeter is over 800 meters, and inside the wall is a large artificial mound, the emperor's tomb mound, known as Precious Top.

  Dingling is the only Ming Tomb to be excavated. Formal excavation work started in May 1956 and ended in 1958. First, the working personnel discovered an exposed gateway at the side wall to the southwest of the Precious Citadel of Dingling. So they dug the first tunnel facing the position of the gateway. At the bottom of the tunnel, they discovered a tunnel made of bricks. Three months later, along the direction of the tunnel, to the west of the Soul Tower, they dug the second tunnel. During the digging, they encountered with a stone tablet which inscribed the words ' from here 48. 8m forward and 10. 7m downward lies the precious wall'. Therefore it gave the correct direction of opening up the Underground Palace.

  According to the direction of the stone tablet, after digging the third tunnel, they found a stone tunnel. At last they got to the precious wall. Thus they opened the precious wall with a square stone room. To the west end of the room, lay two marble doors. The working personnel used a wire and wood plank to remove the ' self-acting' stone bar, which was against the back of the door. With this method, they opened the entrance of the Underground Palace.

  The palace has no beam which was built according to the principles of geomancy Altogether there are five chambers. The chambers are separated by seven marble doors. The Underground Palace is 27 meters deep, covering an area of 1,195 square meters. There is a same structure stone door in between the front, middle and rear chambers. The door is made of marble. The biggest marble door is 3. 3 meters high, 1.7 meters wide, 4 tons in weight. It looks heavy, but it is reasonably designed. The pivot of the stone door is inclined to the door axle, so the door is easy to open and close. On top of the door is a lintel (made of bronze) tube weighing about 10 tons to prevent the door from falling. Carved on the front of the marble door are 9 rows of 81 knobs and strange animals with rings in their mouths. Located on the reverse side, opposite the animals, is a protruding section that holds the door's 'self-acting' stone bar.

  The front and middle chambers are 7. 2 meters high and 6 meters wide. The floor is covered with gold bricks. According to records, the gold bricks are smooth and durable. The more you polish them, the brighter they become. There are no decorations in the front and two annex chambers. In the middle chamber, there are three marble thrones for Emperor Wanli and his two Empresses, known as the precious thrones. In the front of the thrones, there are five yellow glazed offerings and one blue-and-white porcelain jar of Jiajing Year's style with a cloud-and-dragon design. It is about 0.7 meters in diameter. Originally there was sesame oil in the jar. On the surface of the oil was a copper tube with a wick inside. It is called the 'everlasting lamp'. Due to the lack of oxygen, the light went out so the oil had not been used all.

  The rear chamber is the biggest of the three. It is 9.5 meters high, 31 meters long, 9.l meters wide, the floor is paved with polished stones. In the rear chamber, there is a coffin platform edged with white marble. Placed on the platform are the coffins of Emperor Wanli and his two Empresses as well as 26 vermilion boxes filled with funeral objects.

  In the middle of the coffin platform, there is a rectangular hole filled with soil called Gold Well. Putting jade stone around the coffin or inside the coffin or in the mouth of the deceased is called being ' buried with jade. ' Ancient people believed Gold Well was the pit of geomancy. It could prevent the body from decay for a long time. Being 'buried with jade' on a Gold Well was the highest standard of entombment one could receive in the feudal era.

  Originally the empress's coffin should have been placed in the rear chamber. Then why were the coffins of the two empresses also in the same chamber as the emperor's? In 1620, first empress Xiaoduan died in April, then in July Emperor Wanli also died. After that, the son of Zhu Changluo died 29 days after his succession. In only a few months, two emperors and one empress had died in succession. In addition they had removed Empress Xiaojing's coffin to Dingling. All the burdens of the funeral burials fell on the just enthroned Emperor Zhu Youjian. The preparation work was done in a hurried fashion (this was clearly recorded in historical documents). The rainy season had already arrived before the funeral could occur and the passage leading to the empress' annex chamber may not have been convenient to open. So the coffins of the emperor, empresses all entered the Underground Palace through the front entrance. After the coffins entered the Underground Palace, since the passage to the annex chambers were narrow, the coffins of the empresses would not fit through it. So they had to put all the three coffins together into the rear chamber.

  Now please follow me out of the underground palace. And our tour for today is completed. I hope you have found our time together informative and enjoyable. We now have half an hour for a rest, and then we will get together here at 4:00pm. Thank you.