Cixi’s life was very particular and luxurious

As the actual person in power in the late Qing Dynasty, Cixi began to drink expensive water since she came to power. This expensive water was supplied by the palace ladies. The dew collected from the outside early in the morning had to be boiled before it could be given to the Empress Dowager Cixi to drink. Cixi never drank ordinary water because she thought that water that even ordinary people could drink was too low of her status. The collected water should be boiled slowly over low heat to maintain the taste of spring water. The life of the Empress Dowager Cixi was so luxurious that she drank fresh breast milk every day to maintain her youthfulness.

(Empress Dowager Cixi)

Cixi lived such a luxurious life, and the tomb after her death also contained many rare treasures from her lifetime. But Cixi never thought that such a luxurious mausoleum would be stolen by Sun Dianying. What’s even more surprising is that there is no grass growing around Cixi’s mausoleum all year round!

In fact, for us ordinary people, green grass is a symbol of life. Even if there is some grass growing on the graves of deceased relatives, it is ordinary. But the Empress Dowager Cixi didn't think so. She believed that grass growing in front of the grave was something that only happened in ordinary graves. As the Empress Dowager, she couldn't have grass growing in front of the grave. Otherwise, how would she be different from ordinary people!

(There is still a little grass growing) Why doesn’t grass grow on Cixi’s Mausoleum?

So Cixi arranged for Prince Chun to be the minister responsible for building the mausoleum, and ordered him not to grow grass in front of the mausoleum. This errand stumped Prince Chun, so he found a very experienced old overseer. The old overseer was also a little embarrassed. It is very simple to prevent grass from growing in front of the grave for a short time, but it will not grow for hundreds of years. Grass is too difficult to grow, and only the legendary Xixia King's Tomb does not grow grass, but this technology has long been lost.

The old supervisor himself thought of a way to prevent grass from growing. He placed 100 large iron pots in front of Cixi's tomb, fried soil in these pots, and then asked the foreign envoys for herbicides. Mix the herbicide and fried soil together, stir well, and then spread it on top of Cixi's mausoleum. In this way, grass will never grow on Cixi's Mausoleum.

(Cixi’s tomb is located in the Dingdong Tomb in the Eastern Tomb of the Qing Dynasty) It is said that Cixi believed the rumor that grass falling in front of the tomb is a bandit. auspicious. Only then did Prince Chun come up with the idea to prevent grass from growing in front of the grave. However, with previous technology, even if some herbicides were used, some grass would still grow after being washed by rain.