China set to spend hundreds of millions revamping Qing royal tombs

China is set to spend more than 700 million yuan in an effort to revamp the Eastern Qing Tombs, a royal mausoleum complex from the country’s last imperial dynasty northeast of Beijing, a report said on Wednesday.

The Beijing Times reported that the mausoleum 125 kilometres northeast of Beijing had been severely damaged in two major looting incidents, and the wooden structure and coffins in some of the tombs had been left open to the elements, Wang Zhaohua, deputy director of the Administrative Bureau of Cultural Relics at the mausoleum, told the newspaper.

The restoration project will cover the tombs of eminent Qing emperors, such as Kangxi and Qianlong, and Empress Dowager Cixi, whose corpse was ravaged when a warlord ordered a looting of the complex in 1920s.

Wang said the empress’s corpse, which was discovered intact, had now turned mummified. Her coffin, which was made of Pheobe zhennan – a rare and extremely durable wood, sealed and painted with 49 layers – was designed to protect her body from decay, but had begun to deteriorate when looters forcefully opened the underground tomb and exposed it to outside temperatures and humidity.

The project will aim to create an environment with low oxygen levels to restrain bacterial growth in a bid to preserve the coffin.

Emperor Qianlong’s tomb is also at risk, suffering from leaks and flooding, Wang said.