Ming Tombs and 2nd week of sch

1 more day till the end of the work week. I can't wait for it to come! School rocks my world here. I've never missed school so much till I came to Beijing.

Alright, so its back to the posting on the Sacred Way Museum of Ming Tombs aka 神道 and Ding Ling, aka 定陵.

To be honest, there was nothing to see at the Sacred Way. Personally I felt it was a cheap rip-off as you pay 10rmb (if i don't rem wrongly) to walk along the path that the emperors walked. Its so sacred that even the emperor has to dismount from his horse and walk on foot for 7km. Almost every tourist attraction that we've been to revolves around the emperors. Haha. There wasn't anything interesting. Just stone paths all the way with the various statues guarding the path as you walk through it. That's all. Walk and walk and walk and walk..... walk... walk.... walk some more. Till you reach the end of it. There are 9 different statues along the way guarding the path and these 9 statues comes in 2 different forms; standing and sitting. So technically, there are 18 different statues on each side. That's all for the Sacred Way. Fast right?

Entrance to the sacred pathI wonder where the camel came about...

So moving onto Ding Ling which houses is actually the 13th tomb. Out of the 16 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, only 13 had proper burial in the Lings (陵). The reason why this tomb is famous is due to the fact that it was the only tomb to be fully excavated. However, during the excavation process, many precious artifacts were destroyed or damaged and so what we saw were actually not the replicas. How sad. Other tombs were earmarked to undergo the same fate as Ding Ling but as the government decided against further excavations after witnessing the results of excavation. In order to see the tomb, you have to climb up a slight slope before climbing down 6-8 levels down underground. Sadly, it was a little disappointing for me as there wasn't much to see. The tomb is divided into a few chamber but the main chamber houses the coffin of the emperor and empress. One very interesting fact to note is that he actually had 2 empress and I think they were sisters?? Their names were slightly similar, 李端and李靖! I think he was the only one who had that honor though. Sitting in front of his very own throne of death were 2 seats of the same layout stating that it was for the empress. Hm, how very interesting. I wonder if they fought with against each other back then. Hmmmm. I hope no one blames me as I don't really know the history. So if you do know, please correct me.

the coffins

overall layout of the chambersat the end of the visit, you're required to pass through this gate and shout “我回来了” meaning, i'm back! to ward off the bad spirits or to bring your soul back. Not 100% sure of the significance

Although the tomb has nothing much to offer in terms of history and artifacts and felt like another cheap rip-off. I remind myself of the man hours needed to create such a tomb and the efforts gone into excavating and preserving it. Oh well, I guess that's what you call a piece of history.


2nd week of school still rocks although we experienced our most stressful lesson of all with Mr 赵宝忠. His lesson was on “如何学好普通话” or simply "Learning Mandarin the Proper Way". He's just way too professional when it comes to teaching. That means we can't slack in class or fall asleep cause he's always on the prowl for his next target to call; to stand up and recite the words on the screen. His mandarin rocks but its way too much for me to handle. I didn't know speaking mandarin had so much tricks to it. His ending phrase was so powerful, it read; 让我们展开双臂一起拥抱这个春天吧！Ask anyone who attended his class, they should have a VERY GOOD idea on what I mean exactly.

We had lunch at this fast food restaurant in school. You judge for yourself. Haha. You tell me what it reminds you of yea? I hope I don't get embroiled into any law suits for posting this up. I mean no harm.
Its relatively cheaper compared to the other but still more expensive compared to the food in the school canteen. They have many canteens on campus but the one we always go to has 4 levels of food and escalators. Can you believe it? HUGE. Food in school is not fantastic but lets not complain about quality cause they do compensate you with quantity. Just be careful of what you order and its usually fine. I guess that's all for now. Next entry will be on the Temple of Heaven.