The first photos are of the Sacred Way leading to the Valley of the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming emperors. The remaining photos are of Dingling, the tomb of Emperor Wanli, the only one which has been excavated and opened to the public. The Thirteen Tombs, about 45 km NW of Beijing, contains tombs of [...]
The Temple of Heaven is where the Ming and Qing emperors performed the annual sacrifice to insure an abundant harvest. Except for a few taken in 2006, these photos were all taken during the National Week holiday celebration, on October 2, 2008. Photos by Gary L. Todd, Ph.D., Professor of History, Sias International University, Xinzheng, [...]
The Summer Palace was designed by Jesuits to look like the great European palaces. It was built by Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) and destroyed by the British & French in 1860 during the Second Opium War. The ruins were left in place as a reminder of western imperialism. During the regency of Empress Dowager Cixi in [...]
This is my Forbidden City photo album of 2008 and 2009, taken after most of the pre-Olympics renovation was finished. I’ve also included special exhibits of the Palace Museum: artifacts of the Imperial concubines, artifacts from the Last Emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi, National Treasures of the Qing Dynasty, and the bronze, jade, and porcelain galleries. [...]
Forbidden City was started by Emperor Yongle (1403-1424) of the Ming Dynasty. Emperors ruled from there until the Revolution of 1911. Drum & Bell Towers lie directly north of the palace. Beihai Park is northwest & features a Tibetan-style White Pagoda. Jingshan Park (Coal Hill), directly north of the palace, was made from dirt removed [...]
I spent the summer of 1991 teaching in Chengdu. Some photos were taken then. They are poor copies of slides which I intend to replace this summer (2011). The rest were taken during Spring Festival in 2008. I have posted additional albums from a 2010 visit to Chengdu, including the Provincial Museum, Dufu’s Cottage & [...]
Zhengzhou was the penultimate capital of the Shang Dynasty, c. 1400 BC, with a portion of the original walls still standing. The capital was supposedly transferred to Yin (Anyang) after a devastating flood of the Huanghe (Yellow River). Today Zhengzhou is a major railway center. It was the site of a massacre by the warlord [...]
Founded in 495 AD, Shaolin is where the Chan (Zen) school of Buddhism was born, along with the martial art of gongfu (kung fu). It was destroyed by a warlord in 1928, and rebuilt in the 1980s, inspired by the success of a Jet Li movie. The Forest of Pagodas consists of 246 pagodas housing [...]
Kaifeng was the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 AD) as well as the Wei kingdom, 4 of the Five Dynasties, and the later part of the Jin. The current palace was rebuilt in 1743 on the ruins of the ancient one. The Iron Pagoda (named because brick tiles look like rusted iron) was [...]
Longmen Grottoes consists of over 100,000 Buddhist images carved in caves during the Northern Dynasties, Sui Dynasty, & Tang Dynasty, c. 500-900 AD. Highlight is the Grand Buddha Niche, of which the central figure represents Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future. It was commissioned by China’s only female emperor, Wu Zetian, and supposedly is based [...]