Zhaoling Tomb

Basic information

Chinese name:昭陵

Ticket price: CNY30

Opening time: 8:30-17:00


The Merit & Virtue pavilion
Tortoise supporting a stele, inside the Merit & Virtue pavilion.
Stone bridges and the Merit & Virtue pavilion.
One of the stone bridges near the rear of the Merit & Virtue pavilion.
The Gate of Eminent Favor (Ling'en Gate).
Gate of Eminent Favor(Ling'en hall).
Hall of Eminent Favor (Ling'en hall).
Interior of the Hall of Eminent Favor.
Triple gateway behind the Hall of Eminent Favor.
The Ling Xing gate.
Tunnel through the base of the Soul Tower.
Spirit Wall at the rear of the tunnel, to prevent evil spirits from reaching the tomb. Spirits were traditionally believed to only be able to travel in straight lines--hence, they could not maneuver around the wall.
East side of the crescent shaped space between the Soul Tower and the perimeter tomb wall.
As in other Ming tombs, trees grow from the sides of the stairs leading up to the Soul Tower. It is unclear how this was accomplished.
A portion of the perimeter wall which runs in a circle around the tomb mound.


Zhaoling Tomb is located in the east of Dayu Mountainand is the tomb of the twelfth Emperor Muzong and his three wives. Zhaoling is the largest repaired tomb and also one of the officially open tombs.

Zhaoling Tomb’s building area is 35 thousand square kilometers. The Ling’en Gate, Ling’en Palace and the East and west Palace are well preserved. Also Fang City, Bright Building and Bao Roof are in good condition. The twelfth Emperor Muzong and his three wives were buried here. Emperor Muzong (1537-1572), was an average emperor among the 16 emperors in the Ming Dynasty. He didn’t care about government affairs when he was in power. Although he didn’t care about it, he didn’t object to suggestions from ministers. The Longqing negotiated peace in 1571, from then on the national between Han and Mongolian didn’t fight for more than 20 years. Turtle tombstone is Emperor Muzong’s tomb with no words, maybe because of it is hard to say whether he was a successful emperor or not. Tourists that went there always touch the turtle tombstone for there is a legend: touch the head of the turtle and you will not have to worry about your whole life and touch the buttock of the turtle and you will never be ill.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Zhaoling Tomb was destroyed twice. In 1644 AD, the Bright Building was burned. On March 5th, 1696 AD, it rained heavily and Ling’en Palace and Wupei Palaces were burned by thunder strikes. Many people tried to put out the fire, the two Wupei Palaces were unharmed but the Ling’en Palace burnt down. As the years passed, the two Wupei Palace and Ling’en Gate were destroyed. From 1785 to 1787, Qing government repaired the Ming Dynasty Tombs to release the national conflicts. Zhaoling was included. From the analysis of the relics, just the Bright Building, Ling’en Gate and Ling’en Palace were repaired. At this time the tomb was rebuilt, although the system of the tomb was more complete, the original building regulations were changed.

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