NANJINGNOW

After exiting the outer wall of the tomb, walk calmly down the cedar-line pebble walkway, across a small bridge called Golden Water Bridge 金水桥 [jin1shui3qiao2] which is circled in red below.

Weng Zhong Road Statues:

Upon crossing small bridge, make a right and soon you’ll hit a significant part of the Sacred Way called Weng Zhong Road 翁中路 [weng1zhong1lu4].

Along this stretch, you’ll see a pair of stone pillars called 望柱 [wang4zhu2], 2 pairs of civil officials and 2 pairs of generals. Ten structures in all. Of course they are guarding the path to the tomb, but what’s significant is the design of the pair of stone pillars, which in this Ming Dynasty era, were done differently from those of the Tang and Song era.

Instead of putting Tang and Song lotus flowers on the top of these pillars, they now have Ming clouds and dragons. Wow, some improvement, isn’t it?
An aside: an easy way to remember the chronology of the most recent imperial dynasties is “Tang Song Yuan Ming Qing.”

Note that you’re actually walking away from the tomb, and so will see the pair of stone pillars last.

* * *

At the end of Weng Zhong Road 翁中路 [weng1zhong1lu4], you’ll have a choice to make. Either walk along another important part of the Sacred Way, the Stone Animal Walkway; or get out of Ming Xiao Ling via a convenient exit.

1. Walk the Stone Animal Walkway:

This stone animal walkway is This is where animals - instead of generals and civil officials - line the pathway. There will be 12 pairs of stone statues of 6 species of animals.
To go and check out this stone animal walkway, look left and start walking that way. This is how it will look on a clear autumn day…

Yes, that’s me with the elephant on a cool wintry morning…

When you’re done, the easiest way out is still to retrace your steps and exit this way… (read on)

2. Exit Ming Xiao Ling:

Otherwise, if you’ve already expended all your walking energy, like we did, you can make a right and take the easy way out…

Yes, what you see above is the one of the entrance/exits of Ming Xiao Ling. Get past the barricade of gates and go grab a cab home. They may be cabs waiting there for you, but if there aren’t, then turn right after the exit to make your way toward the big main road. Or if you’re still interested, you could check out the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.