Eastern Qing Tombs (Qing Dongling)

The largest imperial mausoleum complex in China, housing five Qing Dynasty emperors including Kangxi, Qianlong, and Empress Dowager Cixi, set in a forested valley 125 km east of Beijing.

The Eastern Qing Tombs complex in Zunhua County, Hebei Province, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most extensive of the Qing Dynasty imperial burial grounds. Five emperors are interred here — Shunzhi (the founding Qing emperor), Kangxi, Qianlong, Xianfeng, and Tongzhi — along with four empresses, including the formidable Empress Dowager Cixi, and numerous consorts. The complex encompasses 48 imperial tombs arranged over an area of approximately 80 km².

The complex follows the strict geomantic principles governing imperial burial: the Changruiling tomb of the Shunzhi Emperor marks the axis, with subsequent emperors and empresses arrayed symmetrically in relation to this founding mausoleum. A 5 km spirit road of stone-carved animals and officials leads to the Xiaoling (Shunzhi's tomb), one of the longest such avenues in China.

The most widely visited specific tomb is that of Empress Dowager Cixi. Her mausoleum, the Puxialing (formally Dingling East), is notable for the extraordinary quality of its decorative programme — the interior walls and ceilings are carved with Buddhist imagery in extreme relief, gilded, and extraordinarily well-preserved. Cixi was notoriously involved in the decoration of her own tomb during her lifetime and spent lavishly on it. The Qianlong Emperor's tomb (Yuling) is also remarkable: the burial chamber walls are incised with complete sutras in Tibetan and Sanskrit.

Both underground palaces (dìgōng) are open to visitors who descend into the burial chambers — a rare experience in Chinese imperial archaeology.