What I meant by Ozymandian, and my search for it
For years I tried to wrap my head around how all the relics in the Stone Inscription Garden came to be found around Changping, just abandoned for centuries, but then eventually collected in our public park. It wasn't hard to imagine what it might look like, especially since I have seen images of the Spirit Way in the last one hundred years. The Spirit Way is now a well-tended, groomed and gardened tourist attraction, but not too long ago it was just large stone carvings in the middle of farmers' fields. I just couldn't visualize the process---it what state these found and then brought to the park.
This last spring, we spent a few weekend afternoons finding and visiting Ming Tombs we hadn't previously. None of these were open to the public, but have in recent years been secured to prevent vandalism and theft. When I was googling to find more information about the Ming Tombs, I stumbled upon this website by a man who did a rather thorough exploration around Changping a few years back. It was particularly helpful for me when we saw a few things we did not expect when we were looking for Siling. These other structures were among the Ming concubine tombs.
Looking around the website, I was intrigued by many of his pictures. For instance, at one of the concubine tombs he found some of the large stone pieces, including sacrificial altars still standing where buildings no longer were. Wouldn't it be cool to see these things for ourselves?
We returned to the road that led to Siling. It appeared, though, my hopes to have a near-Ozymandian experience were dashed. The remains of this tomb, for instance, the guy behind mingtombs.eu found in the middle of a grove of fruit trees. Sometime recently, though, it has been cleaned-up and gated.
The altar is 'way back there.
More after the jump
We had better luck at another tomb, as only the surrounding wall was restored, but we still didn't experience anything startling.
There were a few immovable stone parts of the tomb easily seen. Like this, which looks like part of a small set of steps. If it were, the steps would be under the dirt.
The paths inside the walls were littered with colorful fragments of the old decorative tiles.
If we weren't looking for them, we would have missed these nearly-buried plinths.
In the middle of this orchard was this large stone thing, covered with branches. Was this the altar I sought? Or some other pedestal? Or plinths that had been unburied?
I want to take at least one more try at seeing these concubine tombs before they are all restored, if that is even a plan. Besides, I think at the very least Wanniang Fen Village isn't going anywhere.
This last spring, we spent a few weekend afternoons finding and visiting Ming Tombs we hadn't previously. None of these were open to the public, but have in recent years been secured to prevent vandalism and theft. When I was googling to find more information about the Ming Tombs, I stumbled upon this website by a man who did a rather thorough exploration around Changping a few years back. It was particularly helpful for me when we saw a few things we did not expect when we were looking for Siling. These other structures were among the Ming concubine tombs.
Looking around the website, I was intrigued by many of his pictures. For instance, at one of the concubine tombs he found some of the large stone pieces, including sacrificial altars still standing where buildings no longer were. Wouldn't it be cool to see these things for ourselves?
We returned to the road that led to Siling. It appeared, though, my hopes to have a near-Ozymandian experience were dashed. The remains of this tomb, for instance, the guy behind mingtombs.eu found in the middle of a grove of fruit trees. Sometime recently, though, it has been cleaned-up and gated.
The altar is 'way back there.
More after the jump
We had better luck at another tomb, as only the surrounding wall was restored, but we still didn't experience anything startling.
There were a few immovable stone parts of the tomb easily seen. Like this, which looks like part of a small set of steps. If it were, the steps would be under the dirt.
The paths inside the walls were littered with colorful fragments of the old decorative tiles.
If we weren't looking for them, we would have missed these nearly-buried plinths.
In the middle of this orchard was this large stone thing, covered with branches. Was this the altar I sought? Or some other pedestal? Or plinths that had been unburied?
I want to take at least one more try at seeing these concubine tombs before they are all restored, if that is even a plan. Besides, I think at the very least Wanniang Fen Village isn't going anywhere.
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