Xiaoling of the Empress Dowager

Xiaoling of the Empress Dowager

Xiaoling of the Empress Dowager is a cultural tourism attraction.

Xiaoling of the Empress Dowager is located on the east side outside the Dahongmen Gate of the Eastern Qing Tombs. It is the mausoleum of Empress Xiaozhuangwen, the wife of Emperor Huang Taiji of the Qing Dynasty.

The tomb faces south, and its architectural layout from south to north includes: the Dismounting Stele, the Spirit Way Tablet Pavilion, the East and West Side Halls, the East and West Duty Rooms, the Long’en Gate, three glazed flower gates, the East and West Crematories, the East and West Side Chambers, the Long’en Hall, the Tomb Gate, the Five Stone Altars, the Square Castle, the Ming Tower, the Precious City, and the Mound. Beneath the mound lies the burial chamber. On the east side in front of the tomb, there is a Divine Kitchen and Treasury used for preparing sacrificial offerings.

In the 26th year of the Kangxi reign (1687), Empress Xiaozhuangwen passed away. She left instructions to be buried near the Xiaoling Tomb. According to ancestral rules, she was supposed to be interred together with Emperor Huang Taiji in the Zhaoling Tomb in Shenyang (Mukden). However, neither did they wish to violate the ancestral system nor go against the grandmother’s will. As a result, they built a Temporary Resting Hall in the Eastern Qing Tombs, and relocated a hip-and-gable-roofed hall from the east side of the Cining Palace inside the Forbidden City — a residence the empress dowager loved during her lifetime — to the Qing Tombs to construct the Temporary Resting Hall, where her coffin was placed. Throughout the entire reign of Emperor Kangxi, the issue of Empress Xiaozhuangwen’s permanent tomb remained unresolved. In the 3rd year of the Yongzheng reign (1725), the emperor, citing national prosperity since the temporary resting of the empress dowager, the long reign and numerous descendants of his grandfather, deemed the site to be auspicious. Thus, he converted the Temporary Resting Hall into Xiaoling of the Empress Dowager. Construction began on the second day of the second lunar month in the 3rd year of Yongzheng, and on the tenth day of the 12th lunar month of the same year, Empress Xiaozhuangwen was laid to rest in the burial chamber.

Compared to other imperial tombs of empresses in the Qing Dynasty, the architectural design of Xiaoling of the Empress Dowager is highly unique: First, the Long’en Halls in other mausoleums all feature hip-and-gable roofs, while Xiaoling’s Long’en Hall has a hip-and-gable-with-flashing-hips roof. Second, other mausoleums have only one gate in front of the Long’en Hall, whereas Xiaoling has two gates, and accordingly, the mausoleum also has both inner and outer walls. Third, no horse trough ditches were dug in front of the tomb, and no three-arch bridge was built.

Empress Xiaozhuangwen is the highest-ranking individual buried within the Eastern Qing Tombs. Later generations held her in high respect. Every time an emperor visited the Eastern Qing Tombs, he would first pay homage here before proceeding to other mausoleums.

Address: Located on the east side outside the Dahongmen Gate of the Eastern Qing Tombs