Qianling Mausoleum (Series of Shaanxi Nature and Culture Tour)

Author: Wang Xiaoru, Fan Yingfeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-10-01
Features: Starting from the head gate of Qianling Mausoleum and walking up the stone staircase, there are 537 steps with a vertical difference of 81.68 meters. After completing the steps, there is a flat and wide road leading to the "Tang Emperor Gaozong's Mausoleum" monument, which is called the "Simadao" (Imperial Way). On both sides of the road, there are currently a pair of stone pillars, a pair of winged horses, a pair of ostriches, five pairs of stone horses, and ten pairs of stone officials (Wengzhong). There are two stone steles: the Uninscribed Stele on the east and the Stele Recording the Deeds of the Sage on the west. There are 61 stone figures of court guests, a pair of stone lions, and 17 accompanying tombs around them. The intricately carved winged horses seem to silently narrate the magnificent stories of the tomb's journey between the human world and the heavens as they catch your eye; the striking stone figures of foreign ministers remind you of historical legends; the majestic stone lions guarding the mausoleum enhance the sense of its sacred and inviolable dignity; the towering Stele Recording the Deeds of the Sage, the enigmatic Uninscribed Stele of Qianling Mausoleum, a miracle in the history of Chinese mausoleum architecture—its grandeur, its magnificence, will forever remain in the annals of history.