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Eastern Imperial Tombs
The concubine Yufei's cemetery lies half a kilometer west of Yuling. The
latter housed 35 remains, including those of Wulanala, Qianlong's empress.
Dingling Mausoleum
Located in Pinganyu, west of Yuling, is the tomb of Emperor Xianfeng. During
Xianfeng's reign from 1851-1861 the Qing government was on the verge of
collapse. The Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom Revolution (1851-1864) and the Second Opium
War took place during that time. On the 11th year of his reign (1861),
Emperor Xianfeng died at the Imperial Summer Resort in Chengde
, Hebei Province, at the age of 31, a victim of a life of dissipation. In the
fourth year of the Tongzhi reign (1865), Xianfeng was buried in Dingling;
Empress Xiaodexian was also buried in this underground palace. There are two
other empresses' tombs from the Xianfeng's reign: One is called Puxiangyu East
Dingling and another is Putuoyu East Dingling.
Puxiangyu East Dingling
This is tomb of Niuyoulushi, another of Emperor Xianfeng's empresses. She was
honored as the Empress Dowager Ci'an after Xianfeng's death. Together with
Empress Dowager Cixi, she attended to state affairs from behind a screen after a
coup d'etat in 1861, although military and political powers were retained by
Cixi. In 1881, Ci'an died in the Zhongcui Palace of unknown causes.
Putuoyu East Dingling
This is the tomb of Xianfeng's concubine, Nalashi. After
Xianfeng's death, Zai Chun, Nalashi's six-year-old son, succeeded him to the
throne under the reigning title Tongzhi. Nalashi was therefore promoted to
empress dowager with the title of honor, Cixi. In the 11th year of Xianfeng's
reign (1861) she worked with her brother-in-law Yixin to launch a coup d'etat,
wiping out her political enemies and directing state affairs from behind a
screen. Thus, Cixi became an unofficial empress during the reigns of Tongzhi and
Guangxu for 48 years. The Empress Dowager died in 1908; three years later, the
Qing Dynasty came to an end with the Revolution of 1911. Cixi's tomb was
exquisitely constructed in a unique style. It ranks as a top representation in
terms of construction details among the Qing Dynasty tombs. Railings around
Long'en Palace are replete with carved motifs of roaring waves, floating clouds,
dragons and phoenixes symbolizing auspicious omens. The stone steps in front of
the palace are carved with three-dimensional phoenixes and dragons playing with
pearls among clouds. According to tradition, the dragon symbolizes the emperor
while the phoenix stands for the empress; the dragon is therefore usually
located above the phoenix.
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