Why was Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb designed as the Big Dipper?

As the mausoleum of the founding emperor, the mausoleum palace and Shinto layout of the Ming Tombs created a new system. Zhu Yuanzhang's mausoleum site is carefully selected, with strict geomantic topography. There are Qinglong in the east, white tiger in the west (Jiuhua Mountain extends to Liangqingshan as the white tiger elephant), Meihua Mountain as the suzaku elephant in the south, and Mount Qomolangma on which Baocheng relies as the Xuanwu elephant. The "Four Elephants" of East Qinglong, West White Tiger, South Suzaku and North Xuanwu reflect China's mausoleum architectural thought of "divine right of monarch" and "taking images from the sky" since ancient times. We should not only avoid the tomb of Sun Quan, but also embody Zhu Yuanzhang's thought of harmony between man and nature. Liu Ji devoted his life to designing a seven-star and a big dipper. The layout of the Ming Tombs is in the shape of the Big Dipper. Specifically, the magnificent Golden Gate and the seven main buildings, such as the Monument Pavilion, Wang Zhu, Lingxingmen, Jinshui Bridge, the middle gate of Linggong, the Temple of Appreciation and Baocheng, form a Big Dipper. The ancients in China especially worshipped Beidou, and Sima Qian in the Western Han Dynasty said that Beidou was "transported in the central government and unified in the four townships." In ancient tombs, "astrological" pictures can also be seen everywhere, but Zhu Yuanzhang is more courageous than previous emperors. He changed the mausoleum from a square to a circle and made the mausoleum palace into a rectangle, which truly realized what he said in his poem: "The sky is the blanket of the tabernacle, and the sun, the moon and the stars sleep with me."

Zhu Yuanzhang pays attention to the celestial geomantic omen, which is also reflected in his imperial city architecture. He regards Fugui Mountain as the "town mountain" of his palace. This palace is called the Forbidden Machine, and its meaning is taken from the astronomical phenomena. The word "purple" means "Emperor of Heaven". The architectural design of the Forbidden City embodies the concept of "harmony between man and nature" everywhere. There are three stars in the south of Taiwei wall in the sky, which are regarded as three doors, called end door, left door and right door. In order to correspond to the astronomical phenomena, there are end doors in front of the Forbidden City, and left and right doors are set on the east and west sides of the meridian gate. There is a Jinshui River between Wumen Gate and Fengtianmen Gate, which symbolizes the Milky Way in the Heavenly Palace. The layout of the Ming tombs discovered by archaeological excavations adopts the "Big Dipper" schema, which reveals the profound cultural connotation and unique design ideas of the Ming tombs.