Why is the Western Empress Dowager Cixi buried at the east end of Dingtung Tomb, and the Eastern Empress Dowager Cixi is buried at the west end?

Cixi became the Queen Mother entirely because she gave birth to Emperor Xianfeng’s only son Zai Chun. After the death of Emperor Xianfeng, the throne could only be inherited by the prince Zai Chun. As Zai Chun's biological mother, Cixi was naturally promoted to the Queen Mother, and she and the Empress Dowager Ci'an, known as the Queen Mother, listened to the government behind the scenes.

Although both Cixi and Ci'an were empress dowagers, the political power was controlled by Cixi, and Emperor Tongzhi was also born to Cixi, but according to the feudal establishment law at that time, Ci'an was Tongzhi's aunt, and her status Higher than Cixi.

But Cixi was ambitious and could not tolerate Ci'an riding on her head. Ci'an passed away in 1881 AD. After her death, Cixi wanted to lower Ci'an's rank, but was opposed by the Qing faction represented by Weng Tonghe and had to give up.

There is a rumor that Cixi wanted the mausoleum to be at the east end of the Dongling Tomb, so she proposed to play chess with Ci'an. Whoever wins would choose the location of the mausoleum first. As a result, Ci'an lost in the chess game. Cixi, so the mausoleum Cixi chose is at the east end of Dongling Tomb, and Ci'an's mausoleum is at the west end of Dongling Tomb.

Another theory is that Cixi dreamed that she was killed by Ci'an, and Ci'an buried her in the west of Dingling in the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty. After waking up, she was very worried and didn't want to do anything. After his death, he was buried in the west of the mausoleum, so he insisted on being buried in the east of the mausoleum after his death.

In 1895, the second year after the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War in Guangxu, Cixi overhauled the Dongling Tomb in the name of being in disrepair and needed repairs. She spent a lot of money on the east end of the Dongling Tomb for herself. He built a mausoleum and stuffed a lot of gold and silver jewelry in his mausoleum, hoping to suppress Cian after his death.

Ci'an was called the East Queen Mother because the Zhongcui Palace where she lived during her lifetime was located to the east of the Forbidden City. Cixi was called the Queen Mother of the West because the Chuxiu Palace and Changchun Palace where she lived during her lifetime were located to the west of the Forbidden City.