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This narrow-mindedness is
counterbalanced by the largesse of the second Emperor to be buried at
the Western Qing Tombs, Emperor Jiaqing (r.1796-1820). Unwilling to
surpass and thereby call into question the glory of his ancestor,
Emperor Jiaqing thought it politic only to equal him. Except that he
took his idea to an unnecessary extreme.
His tomb, Changling, relinquishing all
individuality, is to every degree an exact copy of that of Emperor
Yongzheng. So much so that when we arrived there, our navigator bet
another friend 100 dollars that we'd taken the wrong turn and had, in
error, returned to Yongzheng's tomb. It was an easy mistake to make.
For the design of the bridges, the positioning of the well-preserved
outhouses, even the brown mule and the souvenir stalls in front of
the ticket office looked precisely the same - as if an age-old hoax
were being intentionally perpetuated to the present day. Our
bewilderment only intensified as, strolling though the tomb, we
confirmed its similarity to the tiniest detail.
Jiaqing's Empress, fortunately, had no
such pretensions to modesty. Her immaculate tomb next door, at
Changxiling (Western Changling), sports the only Echo Wall I have
ever had the joyful opportunity of testing. Indeed, as promised by
Chinese guides at Beijing's ever crowded Temple of Heaven, if a
message is whispered on one side of the circular wall, this will be
perfectly audible to someone standing on the other. And by altering
your position within the centre of the circular wall, you can adjust
the number of echoes returned to you. Great fun when it works.
 Having
spent two days exploring its curiosities, we were thoroughly charmed
by this 800 kmē Qing dynasty burial site. So pleasant is its setting
and so magisterial its tombs that we could deeply sympathize with
Emperor Puyi's last words, whispered to his wife, Li Shuxian, as he
lay dying of cancer in 1967. "Please, please bury my ashes at
the side of my adoptive father," he pleaded. It is wonderful
that, after so sad a life, his last wish came true.
As it could for you on down payment of
$40,000.
Getting there
The most direct route to the Western
Qing Tombs is to drive south west along the "Jingshi"
highway, which links Beijing to Shijiazhuang. After about 80km, on
arrival at Gaobeidian, head west for Yixian. The tombs are 16km west
of Yixian on highway 112. Expect the journey from central Beijing to
take over 3 hours.
(This article is contributed by
Imperial Tours - Editor.
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What is it that you, me and the last Qing dynasty Emperor, Puyi,
could all have in common? Absolute power at the age of two? Two
wives for our sixteenth birthday? A flawed come-back in our thirties?
Or maybe it's that now we can all be buried together.
After
comparing both sites, you will be in little doubt that Emperor
Yongzheng was as frenziedly competitive in death as he had been in
life. His tomb, the first at the Western Qing tombs, makes his
father's at the Eastern look penny-pinching by comparison. For
though Emperor Kangxi's tomb is expansive, his son's is built on an
altogether more massive scale, reminiscent of the imposing majesty
of the Forbidden City's southern courtyards. Its aesthetic merit
lies as much in its appealing form as it does in embodying the
unquestioning authority of its all-powerful occupant. Ironic then
that so great an achievement should be inspired by so petty an
ambition.