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The Dingling Mausoleum (commonly known as the "Underground Palace") is the first and only imperial tomb among the Ming Dynasty Tombs that has been excavated. With approval from the State Council, excavation began in mid-May 1956 using the "trial trench method" and lasted for a year. On September 19, 1957, the 14-ton stone gate of the underground palace was opened. The underground palace consists of a front chamber, middle chamber, rear chamber, left annex chamber, and right annex chamber, constructed with stone strips forming arches. The front chamber has a vaulted tunnel in front of it. The total area is 1,195 square meters, and over 3,000 artifacts were unearthed. The cleaning of the site was completed in July 1958. On May 24, 1958, the coffin of Emperor Wanli was opened. On September 30, 1959, the Dingling Museum was established on the original site, with the name inscribed by Guo Moruo. The museum officially opened to the public on October 1, 1959. However, this excavation stands as one of the most significant lessons in archaeological history. Due to the backward technical level at the time, many unearthed artifacts could not be preserved, and the excavated silk fabrics became hard and decayed. Zheng Zhenduo and Xia Nai submitted a petition to the State Council, requesting an immediate halt to further approvals for the excavation of imperial tombs. Premier Zhou Enlai agreed with their proposal. The Dingling excavation became a major tragedy in Chinese archaeological history, and the proactive excavation of imperial tombs has since become a taboo in the Chinese archaeological community. Furthermore, during the Cultural Revolution that began in 1966, the Dingling Mausoleum suffered severe damage. The remains of Emperor Wanli and his empresses, preserved in the Dingling artifact warehouse, were dragged out by the Red Guards under the slogan "Down with the leader of the landlord class, Wanli." On August 24, 1966, the remains of Emperor Wanli and his two empresses, along with a box of their portraits and photographic materials, were paraded and then burned in front of the Dingling Museum gate. Starting from 1956, over 3,000 burial items of the Ming Emperor Shenzong and his empresses were unearthed from Dingling. These artifacts were stored in several rows of single-story houses above ground, which could not maintain constant temperature and humidity, causing significant damage to the artifacts. In 2012, the Ming Tombs invested over 30 million RMB to construct an underground artifact storage facility with a building area of 2,435 square meters. By the end of 2014, these over 3,000 artifacts were transferred to the underground storage facility.
