The Western Qing Tombs near Beijing
The Qing Dynasty is buried at two separate sites. The Western Qing Tombs are about 80 miles southwest of Beijing, in the Yongning Mountains of Hebei Province. The site was once the capital of the Yan Kingdom. Four Emperors, three empresses, seven princes and unnumbered concubines are buried in these tombs. The largest tomb at the site is that of Emperor Yongzheng (1723-35). Yongzheng is remembered in part for the slaughter that ensued when he ascended the throne; he had his brothers and many of the imperial ministers imprisoned or executed to consolidate his power. Yongzheng's father, the Emperor Kangxi, willed the empire to a younger son; Yongzheng was a usurper… Yongzheng began the Western burial grounds because he did not want to be buried near his father after having ascended the throne in a questionably legal manner. Yongzheng died in 1735 - two years before his tomb was completed. His wife and his concubine, both of whom preceded him in death, were buried with him. Like the tomb of the Ming Emperor Yongli, Yongzheng's tomb includes a Gate of Eminent Favours and a Hall of Eminent Favours. And like the tomb of the Ming Emperor Wanli, one of the rooms in Yongzheng's tomb houses three thrones. Just west of Yongzheng's tombs is that of Emperor Jiaqing. The tombs are very similar. Jiaqing's tombs was completed in 1803 but he did not occupy it until 1821. The Emperor Qianlong decreed that Qing emperors after Yongzheng would be buried alternately in the Eastern tombs and the Western Tombs. The Tomb of Emperor Dauguang is about three miles west from Yongzheng's. Dauguang built a tomb in the Eastern Tombs but it filled with water. The tomb is decorated with panels of carved dragons. The dragons represent dragons thought to have been disturbed in the building of Dauguang's first, Eastern Tomb. Three miles east of Yongzheng's tomb is that of Emperor Guangxu. It was started in 1909, after Guangxu's death, and is the last of the imperial tombs. Hong Kong entrepreneur Zhang Shiyi is now selling burial lots in this fengshui-enhanced vicinity – so you can be buried with royalty (for a price)…Comments
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