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Ping Pong by The Ithacan

Brian Pulling/The Ithacan

pingpong 71.jpg by Van Nguyen

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ping pong by USAG Italy

Participants work on control during the Table Tennis clinic at the Teen Center Aug. 6-10. To find out about upcoming classes, call 0444-71-6151.

ping! zine by dougfl07

Ping! Zine editor Keith Duncan talking to a booth visitor.

ping kong by Qwik6!

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I was board at work, so...I decided to doodle on the wall by the ping pong table

Ping'An Bell by Neil Noland

I guess the third time's the charm. The first two times I came to Wangjian Mu (Yongling Mausoleum), I didn't have a terribly good impression. If it weren't so close to my apartment (less than a ten minute walk), I don't know that I would have bothered coming back.

The mausoleum/museum really has three sections. On the corner of Yongling Rd. & Xi'an Rd., there is a tomb (or at least statue) commemorating Wang Jian (847-918). Behind the statue, in a circular formation are 24 women playing different, traditional Chinese instruments. (On the tomb itself inside the mausoleum, there are carvings of 24 musicians playing instruments, with what is considered to be a lifelike statue of Wang Jian directly behind it.)

The second section of this area is Yongling Park -- that curves around the east and north side of the mausoleum. This is a free park, and it is quite small. The first two times I came, this is all I had seen because the third section -- the actual mausoleum -- was under renovation for most of the first 15 months I lived in Chengdu.

The third section, the mausoleum, has an admission price of 20 RMB. Admission allows you inside the tomb, though it's quite dark, and hard to see (and harder to photograph). However, it is quite interesting to actually see the original tomb -- the "casket" was about 2 meters wide and maybe 4-5 meters long. I couldn't tell, though, of Wang Jian is still interred here or not.

Regarding Wang Jian, he was a king of the Shu kingdom (outside of traditional dynastic history, as this was during the late Tang Dynasty). From what I can tell, he probably appointed himself king since the area was apparently outside of the rule of the Tang Dynasty -- at least for a while.

What really happened, I don't know. However, this is what I do know: The mausoleum here is the only one with an above ground tomb chamber that has been discovered in China.

Outside the tomb, with its south-facing entrance, are two halls on each side of the tomb. One (on the west side) is a museum that displays the 20th Century discovery, excavation, and renovation of the mausoleum (including lesser tombs in the nearby area). I didn't enter the hall on the east; it didn't look to have any displays. Facing south from the mausoleum's entrance is the main gate to the grounds on Yongling Rd.

From the tomb, walking counterclockwise around the mausoleum, you pass the "Yongling Palace," (which I put in quotes because it's essentially a really nice hall that was built in 2015 -- why the grounds were under renovation, I suppose -- which they claim is as authentic a replica as could be made from the historical record). It's an attractive building, and practically empty.

Past the "palace," you come to the rear entrance to the grounds (which exits into Yongling Park and an exhibition center that I never went to). Continuing around the grounds of the mausoleum is the Du'an Well in the northwest corner and the Ping'an Bell (cast in 2009) in the southwest corner.

All told, the mausoleum, to me, was worth the 20 RMB admission. It was a good way to spend an hour. If someone were to come to the grounds and skip the mausoleum and only visit the park (a la my first two visits), they would probably be unimpressed, so I'd recommend going to the mausoleum for that alone.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know. As always, thanks for visiting my site!

ping pong by USAG Italy