About 38 million yuan has been allocated to repair the World
Cultural Heritage List site Qingling Tomb, one of the 13 Ming
Emperors' Tombs located in the capital Beijing.
Chen Qiusheng, senior official with the Ming Tombs Area
Administration said that the face-lift work for Qingling Tomb began
on Tuesday.
According to Chen, systematically repairing the Ming Emperors'
Tombs will better showcase Beijing's long history and culture to
overseas tourists during the 2008 Olympics Games. The Qingling Tomb
is the third Ming Tomb under repair, following Deling Tomb and
Kangling Tomb.
The Qingling Tomb was built for Zhu Changluo, the 14th emperor
of Ming Dynasty and his three wives.
According to historical records, the emperor was on the throne
for merely 29 days and then died. Therefore, it took only four
months to complete his tomb which occupied 27,600 square meters in
area and cost 1.5 million taels of silver.
With the passage of time, the Qingling Tomb was in a dangerous
situation and in urgent need of repair.
The whole repair project is expected to be completed next year.
Prior to 2008, another five Ming Emperors Tombs will also be
repaired.
(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2003)