A 107-square-km Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) seignior graveyard and its underground tomb chambers on the outskirts of Guilin, south China, has been planned as a tourist site after over 10 years of excavation.

Based on a restoration blueprint provided by archeologists, the State Development Planning Commission approved a 20 million yuan budget for the country's well-preserved graveyard last year.

Renovation of the main structure of the Jingjiang Seignior Graveyard, which contains 11 seignior tombs and over 300 tombs of lower-ranking officials and their relatives, will be finished within two years, according to the office in charge of the graveyard.

The Jingjiang Seignior was nominated by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty, to administrate the southwest part of the empire.

Some 5 million yuan was spent on the excavation and repair work over the past few years. A large variety of relics were unearthed from the site.

A relic-theme park will be built in the Yaoshan Mountains scenic spot near the graveyard, which is a part of the whole plan to add more charm to the archeological site.

The graveyard is expected to be another popular tourist spot in the renowned tourist city of Guilin, famed for its limestone landscape.

(People’s Daily 02/15/2001)