Try a hike and tomb-tour combo: a moderately easy hike in the foothills of “Big Black Mountain”, followed by a tour of Chang Tomb, the largest of Beijing’s Ming Tombs.

Big Black Mountain hike

We have a hike that starts near here, but we hadn’t previously hiked up to the top of Big Black Mountain and its fire warden tower.

The scratchy old fire wardens’ trails have been fixed up with paved tracks and boardwalks that circle the mountain, with an up-and-back section that takes you up to the top via a bunch of steep stairs. We’ll stick to the lower parts of the trails for this visit.

The hiking trail

The hike starts and finishes near the village car park of an internet-famous countryside café and BBQ restaurant, and we’ve planned it to be an easy 7km loop with views of lovely countryside scenery—actively farmed walnut and chestnut orchards, pine forests, rolling hills—and a quick look at some local village life.

After walking out of the village, we’ll follow a wide concrete road up into the hills, with swathes of chestnut and walnut orchards on either side.

As we get closer to Big Black Mountain the trail goes into a valley and we start our climb up into the foothills, with the peak of the mountain looming above us. It’s a steady climb up the valley, gaining 125m of elevation before we reach the highest point of the easy version of the hike.

Up to the top … or not

When we reach the highest point of the easy version of the hike, we’ll offer the option to climb all the way up to the peak. And why not? It’s not that much further, and the views are spectacular. Back in the day, there was just a lonely fire-wardens hut up top there. The hut is still there, and now there’s a nice viewing platform as well. If it’s a clear day, we should be able to spot Great Wall (Huanghuacheng, Jiankou, Mutianyu), and we should also be able to see all the way back to Beijing.

But also: it is quite a difficult climb, with an elevation gain of around 400m over a distance of 1.7km. That would turn this hike into a Level 4.

So we’re making that part optional!

Today we’re not going to try the big climb, and we’ll hike on along the easy trail with a long and slow descent through a forested valley. We’ll pass some more chestnut orchards before arriving on the outskirts of Nanzhuang Village, which is the start point of our old Triangle Hike.

We won’t continue on the Triangle Hike today. Instead, we’ll walk through the backstreets of the village and then out into the hills and orchards again, crossing over a small hill and then completing the loop by walking back to the beginning of the hike.

And that’s the end of the hike part of the day.

Grab a coffee?

Feel free to visit the fancy café before we head on to the Ming Tombs … or don’t—a visit to the café is also optional.

Chang Tomb tour

The guides will take you around the main spots at Chang Tomb, the largest of the Ming Tombs in Beijing. The highlights are the huge gates and halls, in size second only to the Forbidden City for Ming Dynasty architecture. We’ll spend about an hour to look about.

Chang Tomb is the second of the Ming Tombs, the first to be built in Beijing, and it is the burial site of the third Ming Emperor. Perhaps a little confusing, but let us attempt to explain!

We’ll start with the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

The third emperor of the Ming Dynasty was Zhu Di, who reigned from 1402 to 1424 under the title of ‘Perpetual Happiness’. He was buried in Chang Tomb.

The first emperor of the Ming was Zhu Yuanzhang, titled ‘Vastly Martial’. His three eldest sons had passed away while he was still ruling, and Zhu Di – the fourth son – should have been next in line for the throne. But the ‘Vastly Martial’ emperor named his grandson to be the second emperor.

‘Perpetual Happiness’ did not agree. In his opinion he should have been the second emperor, being the eldest surviving son of the first emperor. A civil war began around 4 years after the death of the first emperor. Zhu Di, who had been based around Beijing, conquered Nanjing, winning the civil war, and moved the capital up to Beijing.

While Zhu Di pronounced himself the second emperor of the Ming, later dynasties acknowledged the first emperor’s choice of successor, and since then Zhu Di has been known as the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Now for the ‘second of the Ming Tombs but first in Beijing’.

The first of the Ming Tombs is found in Nanjing, which was the capital at the time of the first Emperor. The official second emperor – ‘Establishing Civility’ Zhu Yunwen – had no time to build a tomb. And after moving the Ming capital to Beijing, Zhu Di had his tomb – Chang Tomb – built in Beijing.