China, circa 1900
Unidentified Photographer

The Emperors of China (rulers from 221 BC to 1912) were considered «Sons of Heaven» so it was fitting that the path leading up to their final resting place, called the Sacred Way (or « the road leading to Heaven »), would return them to their origins. This photograph, taken by an unidentified photographer, shows one of the granite elephants lining the Sacred Way to the Ming Tombs (the necropolis of 13 of the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty).