Monday, November 23, 2009

A Stone Guard on the Shen Dao



(This picture can be enlarged by clicking on it.)

One of the places I visited in 1987 on my first trip to China was the Ming Tombs. Thirteen of the sixteen Ming dynasty emperors are buried in a box canyon near Beijing. The entrance to the tombs (a shen dao or spirit way) is lined with guardian animals and officials. This fierce fellow was one of the guards along the shen dao.

The picture above was scanned from a slide.

7 comments:

rainfield61 said...

It is very interesting to read and get to know the Chinese history on every each dynasty.

Busy Bee Suz said...

He is fierce indeed!!!!
What a great piece of history George.

EG CameraGirl said...

It's in great shape! I guess this guard hasn't had too many problems doing his job.

Sunny said...

I would not like to be on the bad side of that guard!
Sunny :)

penny said...

Well now I am the one who is jealous, George. Not only do you live in the beautiful mountains, you also took a wonderful trip to China.
Thanks for sharing, George :)

Kirigalpoththa said...

impressive statue!

Hilda said...

It's easy to understand why the emperors wanted guardians like this guy. He looks so fierce!