Ming tombs beijing spirit way animal figures

Standing in the Spirit Way at the Ming Tombs looking back towards the entry gate. Photo taken by Richard Chambers on AAA Yangtze Sampler Tour, May 2004.

This photo was taken on a walk from the Ming Tomb site back towards the front gate. There appeared to be two main sections of statues along the walk way, the first section from the front gate contains figures of animals and the second section from the front gate nearest to the tombs contains figures of people. The figures of people appear to be of generals and imperial assistants.

The figures are in sets of two identical figures, one on each side of the walkway. It appeared that the animal figures are arranged so that there is a set of an animal standing and a second set of the same type of animal kneeling or sitting.

Along the walkway there is a presentation of the restoration of the area that was started in the early 1920's by a French museum. This photograph shows the current beauty of the walkway but from the photos of the presentation, the area was a wasteland when the French restoration project was started.

Some of the figures show repaired damage. The tour guide said the damage was from the time of the Cultural Revolution en: Cultural_Revolution .