The Western Qing Tombs are located some 140km (87 miles) southwest of Beijing in Hebei province near the town of Yixian. The Western Qing Tombs is a necropolis that incorporate 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.
The Imperial tomb site of Qing Dynasty were first selected at Zunhua, 125km (78 miles) east of Beijing.The first to be buried was Shunzhi -- the first Qing emperor to reign from Beijing -- in 1663. It is now called the Eastern Qing Tombs.Later on his son, the Qianlong Emperor decided that he should be buried in the Eastern Qing tombs and have 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 1998, when the ashes of Aisin Gioro Puyi, the last emperor, were moved to a commercial cemetery here.Tailing is the mausoleum of Emperor Yongzheng (reigned 1723-1736). It is the largest, earliest and most complete tomb among these and the centre of the Western Qing Tombs. It is said that the tomb was originally positioned in the area of the Eastern Qing Tombs, but Emperor Yongzheng thought the selected place geologically unsuitable and altered it to the present point, viewing this place as more favorable and blessed for an eternal kingdom.