Sleeping with an Emperor

Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng

The Xūantǒng emperor, Aisin Gioro Henry Pǔyí (1906–67), was cremated and his ashes stored with those of common people at the Bā Bǎo Shān mausoleum just west of the city centre. They were then moved by Dèng Xiǎopíng to be with those of various heroes of the revolution at the same site on the grounds that in the last few years of his life he’d worked to be a model citizen and ‘served the people’. But in 1995 he was transferred to be with his ancestors in a small plot just northwest of the Chóng Líng.

At the entrance to the site new triple bridges have been constructed in imitation of the approach to the other tombs, although they are clumsily carved. Beyond these, in 1999, a vast páilou was erected at enormous cost. His grave, on the hillside behind, is a toy version of the other Qīng tombs, little more elaborate than the armchair graves of common people that stud the hillside of any rural area, but with a shoddily carved miniature huábiǎo and balustrade and a small concrete mound, two smaller stones to either side marking the graves of two consorts.

All this is said to have been funded by a Hong Kong businessman, and it’s run as a private cemetery within the perimeter wall of the Qīng enclosure. The official policy in China is that everyone should be cremated, saving valuable land. But those with enough funds can, as usual, buy their way out of this and even get themselves a plot near the emperor for a modest one-off fee originally quoted at ¥266,000 (about US$39,000), plus ¥14,600 (US$2150) for the first 20 years.

Poor Pǔyí: exploited even in death.

Next in Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond: Museum of the Western Hàn Tombs at Dàbǎotái
Previously: Western Qīng Tombs
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.

For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.