Empress Dowager Cixi is one of the most powerful women in Chinese history. She was the mother of Emperor Tung Chih.
On November 15, 1908, she died at Nghi Loan Palace. However, after her death, her body was not buried. It wasn’t until a year later, in November 1909, that the Qing court held the funeral for Empress Dowager Cixi.
One of the reasons is that even though her mausoleum was completed, the Empress Dowager thought that The building was not luxurious enough. In 1895, she asked to demolish it to rebuild.
When comparing the scale of the Queen Mother’s mausoleum, it was designed much more lavishly than the Emperor’s mausoleum. Therefore, at the time of Empress Dowager’s death, the mausoleum was not yet completed, so the burial had to be postponed.
The second reason Empress Dowager Cixi died just one day after Emperor Guang Although he had no power, Quang Tu was still the Emperor.
According to Qing Dynasty regulations, the Emperor’s funeral must be held before the Queen Mother. Then the court must wait November 9, 1909 is a good day to do it.
The Queen Mother was buried in Thanh Dong mausoleum, more than 100km from the Forbidden City. However, in July 1928, the infamous tomb robbery in modern history took place.
Led by Ton Dien Anh, he led a group of soldiers to violate Thanh Dong mausoleum. Here he and his accomplices entered Empress Dowager Cixi’s tomb, opened the coffin lid and stole many valuable treasures inside.
According to ancient documents, when opening the coffin lid, all The whole family was very surprised to see the Queen Mother’s body sleeping with no signs of decomposition.
In the book “Ton Dien Anh Dong mausoleum Bao” has a description of the body of Empress Dowager Cixi. The content is about the Empress Dowager holding a pearl in her mouth divided into 2 halves to form a sphere. When assembled, the pearl emits light. glowing green.
Since then, there have been rumors that the night pearl is the secret to protecting the Queen Mother’s body from turning black when exposed to the outside air again.
One of the most researched items is the last night pearl that was stolen by Ton Dien Anh, so the rumor has not been verified.
However, archaeologists pay attention to the details of the Empress Dowager’s body when Only when exposed to air does it oxidize. This means that Cixi’s body did decompose, but thanks to the sealed coffin, this process was limited. From here, experts questioned the special type of coffin placed her body.
According to ancient records, the wood used to make the coffin is not ordinary wood. This is a particularly rare and precious Kim To wood The characteristic is that no matter how long it is left, it will not rot or deform.
In addition, to make the coffin for the Queen Mother, the craftsmen also applied 49 layers of oil paint on the outside painted with gold.
Next, the inside of the coffin is lined with 13 layers of fabric. Each layer is handmade with high sophistication. It can be seen that this is one of the most expensive items brought to Thailand Hau returned to the “other side of the world.
It is thanks to this special coffin that helps separate the air from Ci Hi’s body. But experts continue to ask questions. Does the sealed coffin prevent the body from decomposing after about 20 years?
The history books in the palace recorded it on the second day after her 74th birthday. The Empress Dowager Cixi suffered from severe dysentery and even had bloody stools one day.
A week later, she became emaciated despite being treated wholeheartedly by the palace physician. And only 7 days later, the Empress Dowager passed away. Bacteria in the intestines and stomach were the cause of the corpses’ decomposition.
But this dysentery caused the bacteria in the Queen Mother’s intestines and stomach to decrease sharply A closed coffin that is not exposed to outside air is said to be an important reason why the body has not decomposed after 20 years.
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