Cixi was the Western Empress Dowager of Emperor Xianfeng. Why was she buried to the east of him after her death?

As we all know, Ci'an and Cixi were the two concubines of Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty. Historically, Ci'an was called the East Queen Mother, and Cixi was called the West Queen Mother. The two palaces were respected simultaneously. After their deaths, they were buried together in the Qingdong Mausoleum in Zunhua City, Hebei Province. Since ancient times, China has said that the east is large and the west is small, and the east is the most valuable. As the official empress of Emperor Xianfeng, Ci'an was named the Queen Mother on the day that Emperor Xianfeng died, while Cixi was named the Queen Mother the day after Emperor Xianfeng's death. In the hierarchy of China's feudal society, Cixi's identity and status were inferior to Ci'an, and she should be buried in the west. But why are the positions of their tombs exactly opposite?

Researchers have put forward three theories about this phenomenon. The first theory is that Cixi secretly planned to seize the mausoleum site. According to legend, the Empress Dowager Ci'an was kind and cowardly, and she was tolerant of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Cixi was ruthless and had a strong desire for power, and she was unwilling to submit to the Empress Dowager Ci'an. Therefore, during Ci'an's lifetime, she set up a trap of "playing chess and gambling on the mausoleum" to take the original mausoleum of the Eastern Empress Dowager as her own, and finally planned to kill the Eastern Empress Dowager.

The second theory is that Cixi had a strong desire for power and a tough nature. She was unwilling to let Ci'an decide where she was buried, so she designed to kill the Empress Dowager Ci'an. After Ci'an died, she took over the power alone, regardless of her ancestral system and status, and forcibly buried Ci'an, the Queen Mother of the East, in the west. Although there were people in the court who remonstrated, Cixi was too strong and ultimately to no avail. She just grabbed the mausoleum on the east side.

However, the third theory is that it is impossible for the Empress Dowager Cixi to use tricks or seize Ci'an's mausoleum. First of all, ancient China attached great importance to funeral matters. Even if the Empress Dowager Cixi was domineering and dictatorial, she would not be able to modify the burial location without authorization. Second, the names of the East and West Queen Mothers are not determined by the location of the mausoleum, but by the location where they lived during their lifetimes. During her lifetime, Empress Dowager Ci'an lived in Zhongcui Palace in the East Sixth Palace of the Forbidden City, so she was called the East Queen Mother; Empress Dowager Cixi mostly lived in Chuxiu Palace and Changchun Palace in the West Sixth Palace, so she was called the West Empress Dowager, along with her mausoleum. The orientation has nothing to do with it. However, which of the above three statements is consistent with the facts? Everyone is still debating endlessly.