The Ming Tombs are 50km northwest of Beijing, cite of tombs for 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, built from 1409 to 1644. The emperors wanted to bury themselves in a manner befitting their splendorous self image, presumably contributing to the quality of their afterlives. Anyway, they built the tombs, with tens of thousands of laborers, and sealed them so no one would see them. Supposedly the workers who sealed the actual tombs were killed so they wouldn't reveal their exact location. Anyway, the Communists opened them up, as historical relics and tesimony to the "exquisite craft of Chinese ancient laboring people" (from the back of the ticket). They are pretty far underground, and no pictures are allowed inside, so these are only a few pictures of the grounds.
