Western Qing Tombs
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The Western Qing Tombs (Chinese: 清西陵; pinyin: Qing Xi líng; lit. Western Tombs of the Qing Dynasty) are located some 140km (87 miles) southwest of Beijing in Hebei province near the town of Yixian. The Western Qing Tombs is a necropolis that incorporate four royal mausoleums where seventy-eight royal members in all are buried. These include four emperors of the Qing Dynasty and their empresses, imperial concubines, princes and princesses, as well as other royal servants.
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[edit] History
Construction of the Western Qing tombs was initiated by Emperor Yongzheng who broke with tradition and refused to be buried in the Eastern Qing Tombs. Some have speculated; though not proven; as Yongzheng had illegally usurped the throne by eliminating his brothers and his motives to relocate his tomb to the Western Qing tombs was that he did not wish to be buried alongside his father the Kangxi Emperor. Later on his son, the Qianlong Emperor decided that he should be buried in the Eastern Qing tombs and have dictated that thereafter burials should alternate between the eastern and western sites, although this was not followed consistently.
The first tomb, the Tai Ling, was completed in 1737, 2 years after the Yongzheng reign. The last imperial interment was in 1998, when the ashes of Aisin Gioro Puyi, the last emperor, were moved to a commercial cemetery here.
[edit] Main Tombs
The four tombs in Western Qing Tombs are:
Tailing for Emperor Yongzheng(1678-1735, the 3rd emperor)
Changling for Emperor Jiaqing (1760-1820, the 5th emperor)
Muling for Emperor Daoguang (1782-1850, the 6th emperor)
Chongling for Emperor Guangxu (1871-1908, the 9th emperor)
[edit] Tourism
Although the Western Qing tombs offers much attraction it is not as well known as the Ming Dynasty Tombs. The Chang Ling (tomb of the Jiaqing emperor) and Chong Ling (tomb of the Guangxu emperor) are opened to the public.
