Western Qing tombs: Difference between revisions

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Western Qing tombs" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi
Reference	1004
Inscription	2000 (24th Session)
Extensions	2003; 2004
Coordinates	39°22′06″N 115°20′43″E / 39.368395°N 115.345159°E / 39.368395; 115.345159

The Western Qing Tombs (Chinese: 清西陵; pinyin: Qīng Xī Líng) are located some 140 km (87 mi) southwest of Beijing in Yi County, Hebei Province]]. They constitute a necropolis that incorporates 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.

Construction of the Western Qing Tombs was initiated by the Yongzheng Emperor who broke with tradition and refused to be buried in the Eastern Qing Tombs. Some have speculated, though not proven, that as Yongzheng had illegally usurped the throne by eliminating his brothers, his motive 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 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 1913, when the Guangxu Emperor was entombed in the Chong Ling.

The four tombs in Western Qing Tombs are:

• Tailing (泰陵) for Emperor Yongzheng (1678–1735, the 3rd emperor)
• Changling (昌陵) for Emperor Jiaqing (1760–1820, the 5th emperor)
• Muling (慕陵) for Emperor Daoguang (1782–1850, the 6th emperor)
• Chongling (崇陵) for Emperor Guangxu (1871–1908, the 9th emperor)

Although the Western Qing tombs offers much attraction it is not as well known as the Ming Dynasty Tombs.

• Eastern Qing Tombs
• Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Western Qing Tombs.

• China Travel Guide - Western Qing Tombs