黃帝陵英文導游詞

　　黃帝陵

　　good morning, ladies and gentlemen. today we are going to visit the yellow emperor mausoleum, known as "the first chinese mausoleum". the tomb places at qiaoshan, huang ling, yan'an, china. the yellow emperor mausoleum area was archaeologically proved to be a primitive clan settlement, for unearthing pottery and stone tools with evident yangshao culture features. it is one of the key historical site under state protection of china.

　　in order for everyone to have a profound understanding about the yellow emperor mausoleum, i will introduce huangdi first. huangdi is a legendary chinese sovereign and cultural hero who is considered in chinese mythology to be the ancestor of all han chinese, one of the legendary five emperors. according to ancient records, huangdi was the son of shao dian, the grandson of fu xi. his name was gongsun. because he resided in the xuanyuan hill, he was referred to as xuanyuan. for advocating agricultural production, he was also known as "huangdi". huangdi has been credited with the invention of the principles of traditional chinese medicine, the huangdi neijing (inner canon of huangdi).the legend of his victory in the war against emperor chi you at the battle of zhuolu is seen as the establishment of the han chinese nationality. (黃帝)

　　we are now in the xuanyuan square. here is the starting point of worshiping the mausoleum. the xuanyuan square ground used natural pebbles from qinling range, a total of 5000 pieces which represents 5000 years long history of the chinese nation. in front of us was printing pool. legend has it that the pool was huangdi’s pen washing place. printing pool came from river zu which is regarded as the ancestor of the river. when night comes, there will be a beautiful landscape above the river.(印池)

　　now, we are through the bridge xuanyuan. the bridge used granite stones, and it was known as the "the first modern chinese stone bridge". the path links xuanyuan bridge and temple courtyard has 95 steps, representing huangdi’s lofty status. ascend the stairs, we can see a broad square. in recent years, rituals mostly are held here. now please look back at the xuanyuan square again, i believe you can feel the grand、solemn and primitive ambience. (軒轅橋)

　　xuanyuan temple is located in the north of zu water. please follow me into the holy place. it is said that the ancient temple,which aimed to worship the yellow emperor ,was originally built at the west foot of bridege hill in the han dynasty.but in the song dynasty,it had been moved here . consisting of four yards,the temple has doors of hisarchitectural style of han dynasty,decorated with hip rooftops , white walls and black glazed tiles.so it looks tall and terrifying,simple and splendid. and the three chinese characters of xuanyuanmiao was written by mr jiang dingwen.(軒轅廟) entering the gate of xuanyuan temple , we can see a towering cypress is greeting us on our left hand. the old tree is about 4700 years old. legend has it that the cypress was personally planted by huangdi. in 1982, the british forestry experts, including peel came here after examining 27 countries of the world. they exclaimed that this cypress was the father of world cypresses. in 1998, the tree was identified as one of chinese one hundred fomous trees".(黃帝手植柏)

　　this pavilion is called stone pavilion. there are four steles. the first stele on the right is a inscription written by sun yat-sen when he was the temporary president of r.o.c. the second one was wrntten by chiang kai-shek in 1942. on the left side, the first stele was written by chairman mao in 1937 when the kuomintang and the communist party worshiped huangdi together. the second stele on the left side was written by deng xiaoping(碑亭)

　　leaving the pavilion and continuing to walk in, we can see an engraved block on the left side. the stone engraved with a pair of huge huangdi footprints. it is said that there are three pairs of huangdi footprints. one pair is in henan, another is in shandong, and the last one is here. according to local people, if someone hits the big toe with a coin across the fence, he will be lucky.(青石塊)

　　there is a cypress in left front of xuanyuan. every year before the tomb-sweeping day, the tree hole will overflow juice like a teardrop. after the tomb-sweeping day, juice stops overflowing. because of this, the cypress is known as "the most unusual one among all cypresses".(古柏)

　　now, the architecture in front of us is xuanyuan palace. the palace was built in ming dynasty. going into the hall, the demirelief huangdi statue came into our view. the icon of our nation’s ancestor is based on the picture of the east temple hanwu beam and was enlarged and sealed upon the approval of state administration of cultural heritage. the new ancestor worship hall was built in and lies in the north of xuan yuan temple. on the tomb-sweeping day of , for the first time the national etiquette ebo ceremony was held here. huangdi temple inherits han tang style, and it is a combination between ancient traditions and the new era. before the house of ancestors are granite pavement. the square covers an area of more than 10000 square meters which makes it can accommodate 5000 festival activities.(軒轅殿)

　　there is another monument before the burial, engraved with "qiaoshanlongyu" meaning that it is the place where huangdi go the the heaven. legend has it that huangdi lived more than 100 years old. the god was moved by his great achievements. he sent a dragon help with his ascension. huangdi was surround by people who did not want him to leave completely. the dragon leaped and carried huangdi to the heaven. people tore down huangdi's skirt, boots and sword in chaos. people buried huangdi's boots sword and clothes as a memorial.

　　according to shih chi,all emperors worship huangdi here, so this place is undoubtablely recognized as huangdi’s mausoleum. before the stele”qiaoshanlongyu”, there is another stele engraved with “huangdi temple” written by guo moruo in 1958. (黃帝陵)

　　ok, everyone, so much for this today. we still have some free time. so next, you may look around and take some pictures. we’ll leave at 11o’clock, so please don’t be late. you know i will miss you. and i’ll stay here, if you have any question, please ask me. by the way, watch your step please! so next, it’s your turn. enjoy yourself and thank you for listening.