南京景点英文导游词(2)
时间：2021-08-31南京景点英文导游词二
The 600-year-old Ming Tomb, lying at the southern foot of the Purple Mountain, is the tomb for Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty from 1368 to 1398.
Born into a poor peasant family in Fengyang County, Anhui Province in 1328, Zhu Yuanzhang lost his parents in his childhood and became a monk at Huangjue Temple. In 1352, he joined the Red Turban Army led by Guo Zixin. He married Guo Zixin’s adopted daughter and became the commanding general later. Zhu Yuanzhang took over Nanjing in 1356 and made it the capital in 1368 when he conquered the rest parts of China and established the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang began to have his tomb built in 1381 when his wife died. The empress was buried in the tomb in 1383. But Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang died in 1398 and was buried here in the same year.
Now we are reaching the tomb gate, known as Grand Golden Gate. Ming Tomb is divided into two parts. The first part is from Horse Dismounting Arch Gate to Linxin Gate, 1800 meters long, serving as the tomb avenue. The second part is the tomb itself. There was originally a grand red wall, 22.5 kilometers long, enclosing the whole tomb area. The tomb complex was very large with many splendid buildings. 100000 pines were planted and 1000 deer raised inside. Unfortunately, this large group of buildings was ruined during the wartime, once between the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the other time when Taiping Peasant Army was suppressed by the Qing Dynasty army. All the wooden structures were destroyed. However we can still see the exquisite stone carvings from the stone bases and imagine how it looked like 600 years ago.
At the Horse Dismounting Arch Gate, the inscription can be seen "All the officials must dismount from their horsebacks here". This shows the absolute dignity of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang at that time.
Here we are at the square city, also called the stone tablet house. Its top is gone but the surrounding walls and four archways are still remaining, just like a castle. The Great Ming Dynasty Wonderful Achievements and Merits Tablet, 8.78 meters high, built in 1413 by the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is the highest ancient tablet in Nanjing. There are altogether 2746 Chinese characters on the tablet, which praise Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang for his deeds and merits by his fourth son who made himself the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Why did Zhu Di, the third emperor erect this stone tablet? Zhu Yuanzhang had 26 sons. His first son died in 1392, so his first grandson, then 16, was nominated to be the successor to Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. In 1398, 22-year-old Zhu Yunwen became the second emperor after his grandfather’s death. However his uncle Zhu Di was then in Beijing and found some excuse to launch a war against him. The four-year-long war ended with the uncle's victory. Zhu Di grabbed the power and became the third emperor. When Zhu Di praised Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, he was actually praising himself. Originally, Zhu Di planned to have a 72-meter-high stone tablet carved out of Yangshan hill in the eastern suburb of Nanjing. Since it was too heavy to be moved, he gave up his plan and had this small one made.
The stone animal under the tablet looks like a tortoise. It is actually the first son of the dragon, well known for its strength. Its name is Bi Xi and he is always put there to carry imperial tablets. According to the legend, when the stone tablet was carved, the chief mason could hardly have it mount on the back of Bi Xi because it was too heavy. He was very worried and did not know what to do. One day he had a dream, in which he was told that only when the tablet and Bi Xi did not see each other, he would make the mounting possible. Clever as he was, he covered Bi Xi with mud and pushed the tablet onto the back of Bi Xi as you can see now.
When we pass the imperial bridge, we can see the sacred path lined with 24 animals. There are six kinds of animals, one pair standing and the other kneeling. The standing pair is working and the kneeling resting. They work on two shifts. The significance of these animals is to show the country's power and emperor's influence, to drive away the evil spirits and guard the tomb. The first 2 pairs of animals are lions, king of the beats. The second 2 pairs of animals are called Bi Xie, a mythical animal, suggesting justice. The following pairs of animals include camels, elephants, unicorns and horses. The camel is known as boat in the desert and symbol of prosperity. Each elephant weighs 80 tons and symbolizes peace. The unicorn represents good luck while Horse loyalty.
You may wonder how these heavy stone animals were moved to this place. The fact is in the cold winter, workers splashed water on the ground and pushed the stone animals to the present locations on the freezing ice.
Two 6.25 meter-high stone pillars serve as altars for the sacrificial offerings. The sacred avenue makes a right turn here just because the Plum Blossom Hill stands in the way. The hill is the tomb for Sun Quan, the first emperor of Eastern Wu Kingdom. When Ming Tomb was constructed, some people suggested that Sun Quan's tomb should be moved away. But Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang commented that Sun Quan was a good fellow and should stay. This showed the emperor’s modesty. Among the 8 stone figures, four are ministers and the other are warriors.
When we cross the imperial bridge and walk a short distance, we reach the tomb itself. The arch gate, imperial stone tablet pavilion, the grand hall, square city, grand terrace, treasure city, treasure top are all on the north-south axis, a typical layout of the ancient Chinese architecture.
The arch gate has 5 doorways, with yellow glazed tiles, red walls and doors. But this gate was rebuilt in 1999.
In the stone tablet pavilion built in early Qing Dynasty, we can see an inscription by Emperor Kang Xi, the second emperor of Qing Dynasty, "Running the state as prosperously as Tang and Song Dynasties". Since Qing rulers were Manchurians, Emperor Kangxi was worried that the Han people wouldn't follow him. This stone tablet indicated Emperor Kang Xi's desire to be peaceful with the Hans. He made 6 trips down to southern China from Beijing and visited Ming Tomb for 5 times. This tablet was erected here in 1699 during his third visit. We can tell from this tablet that Emperor Kang Xi was no wonder a great emperor.
The tomb is at the foot of Purple Mountain. It has not been excavated because of the technical reasons of preservation.
The tomb site was selected by Zhu Yuanzhang himself. However there had been a Buddhist temple here. Zhu Yuangzhang paced up and down and looked upset each time when he was here. The wise abbot in the temple felt it and suggested to the emperor that the temple should be moved because his teacher told him so in his dream. The emperor was happy when he heard this and had the temple rebuilt to the east of his tomb.
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