The Mausoleums of the Ming and Qing Dynasties 明清皇家陵寝

明清时代（公元1368～1911年）是陵寝建设史上的一个辉煌时期。明朝的开国皇帝朱元璋对陵寝制度作了重大改革。他将地上的封土堆由以前的覆斗式方形改为圆形或长圆形，又取消寝宫，并扩大了祭殿建筑。清代沿袭明代制度，更加注重陵园与周围山川形胜的结合，注重按所葬人辈分排列顺序，还形成了帝后妃陵寝的配套序列，在祭祀制度上也更加完善、合理。
The Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 to 1911 A.D.) were periods of splendor and glory in the history of Mausoleums. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, made a major reform of the Mausoleums, wherby the sealing mound was changed in form from the previous one of the dip upside down to the round or oblong one, without the residential palace, and had the worshipping hall enlarged. Continuing the system of the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty attached greater importance to the integration of the mausoleum and the surrounding landscape, to the array of the buried according to their hierarchical order of generation, and invented an associated order of prioritizing the emperor, the queen and the concubine(s), thereby making the worshipping system perfect and rational.
明陵综述
An Overview of the Mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty
明朝，从太祖朱元璋推翻元朝政权，建元洪武（1368），到崇祯十七年（1644）被李自成领导的农民起义军推翻，统治时间277年，其间经历了16位皇帝。其中，除惠帝朱允炆因“靖难之役”，下落不明，没有营建陵园外，其余15帝，都依帝制建造了陵园。
The Ming Dynasty, spanning a period of 277 years, counted from the year 1368 when Zhu Yuanzhang, the First Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to the 17th year through the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, underwent the rule of 16 emperors, 15 of whom had their mausoleums built according to the royal scheme with the exception of the Goodness Emperor, i.e. Zhu Yunwen, who was missing due to the Rebellion Quenching Campaign, and so was without one.
太祖朱元璋死后埋葬在南京钟山脚下，称孝陵；景帝朱祁钰，因英宗复辟遇害，初以王礼葬北京西郊金山，成化年间恢复帝号，又将王坟稍扩其制，改为帝陵，世称景泰帝陵。其余的13位皇帝均葬于北京昌平县境的天寿山一带，通称明十三陵。
Zhu Yuanzhang the First Emperor was buried at the foot of Mount Zhongshan in Nanjing, and has been referred to as Xiaoling or The Mausoleum of Piety; Emperor Jing or Zhu Qiyu was murdered as a result of Emperor Yingzong uprising in an attempt to restore his throne, was buried first at Mount Jin in the western suburbs of Beijing in a royal ceremony, was restored of his emperorship during the Period of Chenghua when his tomb was enlarged to the status of an emperor’s mausoleum which has since been referred to as the Emperor Mausoleum or the Emperor Jingtai Mausoleum in general. The remaining 13 emperors were buried in Mount Tianshou meaning Mount Heavenly Longevity within the bounds of County Changping in Beijing, and are referred to as the Thirteen Mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty.
此外，明代还有生前没有当过皇帝，死后被追尊为帝的，也营建了陵园。朱元璋的父亲朱五四（朱世珍），被追尊为仁祖淳皇帝，就安徽凤阳原墓建为皇陵；朱元璋的祖父朱初一，被追尊为熙祖裕皇帝；曾祖父朱四九，被追尊为懿祖恒皇帝；高祖父朱百六，被追尊为德祖玄皇帝；因德、懿二祖葬址不详，遂就江苏盱眙熙祖原葬处建陵葬三祖帝后衣冠，陵名祖陵；嘉靖皇帝朱厚熜的父亲朱祐杬，原为兴献王，朱厚熜入继大统后，追尊其父为睿宗献皇帝，将湖北钟祥原王坟扩建为显陵。
Furthermore, there were also mausoleums built for those who were not emperors in their life, but who were honored as such after death. Zhu Wusi or Zhu Shizhen, father of Zhu Yuanzhang, was honored Forefather Kindness the Honest Emperor and had his tomb enlarged to a mausoleum in Fengyang County, Anhui; Zhu Chuyi, grandfather of Zhu Yuanzhang, was honored Beatific Forefather the Emperor of Abundance after death; Zhu Sijiu, great grandfather of Zhu Yuanzhang, was honored Forefather Virtues the Eternal Emperor; Zhu Bailiu, his great-great grandfather, was honored Forefather Goodness the Abstruse Emperor; as the sites of burial of Forefathers Goodness and Virtues were not found out, the clothing and headwear of their queens and concubines as well as those of Beatific Forefather’s were collectively buried with abundant belongings at the former burial site of Beatific Forefather in Xuyi, Jiangsu, and the site was named the Ancestors’ Mausoleums; Zhu Youyuan, father of Emperor Jiajing or Good and Peaceful was first King Reviving Sage, but was honored Forefather Wise the Sagacious Emperor after Zhu Houcong had taken the throne, and had his father’s burial site at Zhongxiang, Hubei enlarged to the status of a conspicuous mausoleum.
清陵综述
An Overview of the Qing Dynasty’s Mausoleums
满族人建立的清朝（1644－1911）是中国最后一个封建王朝。自清太祖努尔哈赤开基至辛亥革命后宣统皇帝退位，共历经12帝，统治295年。清代帝王陵寝，从建陵年代和地理位置，可分为清初关外三陵、清东陵和清西陵三个陵区。清东陵和西陵的陵墓从规划建制到建筑造型均仿照明朝，采用集中陵区的手法，安排总入口，从正红门开端，经统一的神道石像生、碑亭及华表，然后分达各陵区。
The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was the last feudal dynasty in China. It lasted for 295 years through the reign of 12 emperors in total, from the time when the First Emperor Nurhachi founded the empire to Emperor Xuantong declaring his own dethroning in the May Fourth Movement. With regard to their time of construction and locations, Qing Dynasty’s mausoleums may be divided into those three beyond the Pass, the East and West Mausoleums. The East and West Mausoleums, modeling on the Ming Dynasty’s scheme in both their organizations, structures and shapes wher the mausoleums were concentrated with a general entrance, starting from the Front Red Gate, through a general path, stone statues, steles and pavilions, and then to the individuals mausoleum sections.
其布局顺序为：五孔石券桥、牌楼、碑亭、三孔券桥，大月台、宫门、隆恩殿及左右配殿，而后为石平桥、月台、琉璃门、五供、方城（上立明楼）、月牙城、宝城、宝顶。皇帝、皇后、亲王、公主、嫔妃的陵制级别相当严格，形成了一套程式化的规则。
The outlay goes in the order of five-arch stone bridge, decorated archway, stele pavilion, three-arch bridge, the big terrace, gate to the palace, Profound Kindness Hall and Right and Left Accessory Halls, and then there were stone flat-faced bridge, terrace, glazed gate, five arches, square city above which there’s a building, crescent-shaped city, the gem city and the gem top. The configurations for the mausoleums of the emperor, empress, prince, princess, concubines, etc., are constructed strictly to their respective schemes as a result of prototyped systems of rules.