Qing Western Tombs (Qingxiling)

UNESCO World Heritage Site As Part Of The Imperial Tombs Of The Ming And Qing Dynasties, Inscribed 2000; Burial Place Of Four Qing Emperors Including The Last Imperial Tomb Built In China · Baoding, Hebei

Four emperors, nine empresses and a scatter of princes and concubines buried across a wooded valley in Yixian, about a hundred and forty kilometres south-west of Beijing, and the reason the Qing have two tomb complexes rather than one is a family argument. The Yongzheng emperor, who came to the throne in 1722 under a succession nobody has fully explained, declined to be buried near his father Kangxi at the Eastern Tombs and started a new site here in 1730. His successors then alternated between the two. What survives at Qingxiling is the most complete set of Qing imperial tomb architecture anywhere - spirit ways lined with stone officials and animals, triple marble bridges, stele pavilions, glazed-tile gates and burial mounds under old pines, spread over about eight hundred square kilometres of valley. Tailing is Yongzheng's and the grandest. Chongling, at the far end, holds the Guangxu emperor and was finished in 1915 after the dynasty had already fallen, which makes it the last imperial tomb ever built in China. UNESCO inscribed the whole thing in 2000.

Qingxiling Scenic Area, Yixian County, Baoding, Baoding, Hebei, China

Generally open daily, roughly 8:00-17:00 in summer and 8:30-16:30 in winter, with last entry about an hour before closing; some outlying tombs keep shorter hours or close seasonally. THE TOMBS ARE KILOMETRES APART - an internal shuttle runs between them and is effectively required, or come by car. A combination ticket covers the main tombs; single-tomb tickets are available. Real-name booking with ID is expected.

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