Why was the Empress Dowager Cixi buried in the east?

The Empress Dowager Cixi is called the "Western Empress Dowager" by later generations, and the Empress Dowager Ci'an is called the "Eastern Empress Dowager". But why is the Western Empress Dowager Cixi buried in the east in the Dingdong Tomb of the Qing Dynasty Dingling Mausoleum? , where is the East Empress Dowager Ci buried to the west of Ci Xi?

Nowadays, when many people visit Qingding Dongling Tombs, they will definitely visit the tombs of these two queen mothers. Almost every tourist will have the above questions. Cixi's Ding Dong Tomb in Putuo Valley is in the east, and Ci'an's Ding Dong Tomb in Puxiang Valley is in the west. The two tombs are separated by a mancao ditch. See the distribution map below for specific locations.

(To the east is the Mausoleum of Cixi and to the west is the Mausoleum of Ci'an) Regarding this century-old question, there have been two kinds of rumors among the people: Rumor one:

Cixi's Putuoyu Mausoleum cost two taels of silver 2,275,800 taels, while Puxiangyu Mausoleum in Ci'an cost 2,665,700 taels of silver. Puxiangyu Mausoleum cost 390,000 taels more than Cixi's Mausoleum! During her lifetime, the Empress Dowager Cixi always felt that the Puxiangyu Ding Dong Tomb in the east had good Feng Shui.

How could the overbearing Empress Dowager Cixi tolerate her own mausoleum being inferior to others! So he became jealous and arranged a fake game to play chess with the Empress Dowager Ci'an. Whoever wins the Puxiangyu Mausoleum in the east will belong to him. As a result, Empress Dowager Cixi won two games and eventually exchanged mausoleums with Empress Dowager Ci'an. (This is a folk saying, not trustworthy) Rumor 2:

There are rumors in unofficial history that the relationship between the two queen mothers was very bad and they often had conflicts. In ancient times, people regarded the east as the most important, and the Western Empress Dowager Cixi was domineering. In order to consolidate her power, Ci'an, the Eastern Empress Dowager, was unprepared, and Cixi ordered someone to poison her to death. In this way, the mausoleum on the east side was captured.

Unofficial historians always like to ruin their relationship, saying that Cixi buried the Eastern Queen Mother in the west mausoleum and openly occupied Ci'an's mausoleum. In fact, the above two kinds of folk rumors are false and are framed words imposed on Cixi. In order to understand how the two tombs were located, we must understand the origin of the two titles of the East and West Queen Mothers.

(Empress Dowager Ci'an)

The Empress Dowager Ci'an lived in the Zhongcui Palace in the Forbidden City, in the East Sixth Palace; Cixi lived in the Changchun Palace in the Forbidden City, in the West Sixth Palace. In order to easily distinguish the two empress dowagers, it was agreed that Cixi would be called the "Western Empress Dowager" and Ci'an would be called the "Eastern Empress Dowager". The following is the answer with the most historical data:

In addition, according to the royal burial system of the Qing Dynasty, whoever is close to the emperor will have her tomb closer to the emperor. The distance between the burial place and the main burial place depends on the relative distance and superiority. Those who are closer or more respected will be buried closer to the main place, and vice versa.

(Qing Dingling Mausoleum)

Empress Dowager Ci'an was the empress of the middle palace during the reign of Emperor Xianfeng. At that time, Cixi was just a noble concubine. In terms of status, Ci'an The Queen Mother is much taller than Cixi. Therefore, Ci'an's Puxiangyu Mausoleum is closer to Emperor Xianfeng's Dingling Tomb, while Cixi's Putuoyu Mausoleum is slightly farther from Dingling. The Dingling Tomb of Emperor Xianfeng is located in the west, and the mausoleums of the two queen mothers are in the east. Therefore, from a geographical point of view, Ci'an's mausoleum should be to the west of Cixi's mausoleum.

This is the burial system of the Qing Dynasty. The location of the mausoleum depends on the status during life. Concubines with high status will be buried closer to the emperor after death, while concubines with lower status will be buried farther away from the emperor.