Imperial Tombs of the North Song Dynasty

Situated in the west of Gongyi City in Henan Province and 130 kilometers from Kaifeng City, Imperial Tombs of the North Song Dynasty or Mausoleum of Song Dynasty is a series of over one thousand tombs for seven emperors in North Song Dynasty (960-1127), together with their empresses, princes, princesses and ministers. Only the emperor Huizong and Qinzong, who were robbed by the invasion of Jin Dynasty and were humiliated to death outside the north desert, were not buried here. Starting from 963 and lasted for 160 years, the mausoleum is like an open-air museum with thousands of stone carvings.

Layout of the Mausoleum

Each of the emperor’s mausoleums has similar layout and consists of four parts: the sacred wall, tomb terrace, side tower and sacred gate. Originally, the mausoleums were surrounded by temple, pine and cypress. Each of the mausoleums has a sacred way.

Stone Sculptures

On both sides of the sacred way, there is a complex of stone-carved figures including civil official, military officer, stone beast and stone column. Although many of them have disappeared or been destroyed, there are still 941 stone figures left. These figures are the only stone-carved complex of Song Dynasty and many of them have inscriptions by famous calligraphers in ancient China. They are precious sources on the study of carving and calligraphy in Song Dynasty.

Four Mausoleum Areas

Imperial Tombs of the North Song Dynasty is composed of four mausoleum areas, namely Xicun Mausoleum Area, Caizhuang Mausoleum Area, County Mausoleum Area and Baling Mausoleum Area.

Xicun Mausoleum Area is 15 kilometers from the Gongyi City and Yongan Mausoleum (tomb of Zhao Hongyin, father of the founding Northern Song Emperor Zhao Kuangyin), Yongchang Mausoleum (tomb of the founding Northern Song Emperor Zhao Kuangyin), ten empress tombs and over 140 prince and princess tombs are located at here.

Caizhuang Mausoleum Area 3 kilometers northwest of Xincun area include the Yongding Mausoleum and tombs of famous ministers such as Bao Zheng, an upright officer in Song Dynasty who are still praised by people in today, and Kou Zhun, a famous minister of the dynasty. Stone Sculptures in this area are best preserved. The sacred way is lined with 48 stone sculptures and each side has 14 human statues, two sheep, two tigers, two horses, a unicorn, a phoenix, an elephant and an ornamental pillar.

County Mausoleum Area is at the north end of the Imperial Tombs of the North Song Dynasty. Yongzhao Mausoleum and Yonghou Mausoleum are within this area and the two mausoleums are 200 meters from each other.

Baling Mausoleum Area is 15 kilometers from the town and tombs here are Yongyu Mausoleum and Yongtai Mausoleum. Now, forty-nine stone sculptures remain in front of the Yongtai Mausoleum.

Among the four mausoleum areas, only the Yongzhao Mausoleum in County Mausoleum Area has been restored and opened to the public now as a park, other areas are isolated from the city and going there is a little tricky. You can take a bus to Gongyi and then get a taxi to the area.

Yongzhao Mausoleum

This mausoleum in the city center of Gongyi is the tomb for the forth emperor of Northern Song Dynasty. Among the emperors in the dynasty, he has the longest governing time, 42 years and is one of the wise kings in the dynasty.

The mausoleum area is composed of three parts, namely the emperor’s mausoleum, the empress’s mausoleum and the down palace. Layout of this mausoleum is similar with others and on both sides of the sacred are symmetrical stone sculptures of 13 pairs of stone human statues, two pairs each of sheep, tigers, horses, and a pair each of stone unicorns, phoenixes, elephants and ornamental pillars.