Tomb of Fragrant Concubine (Xiangfei) Kashgar

The Fragrant Concubine is a figure in a Chinese legend who was taken as a consort by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty during the 17th century. People believe that she was deeply loved by the Emperor for her beauty and natural fragrance she smelled. The story became greatly popular during the early 20th century and has since been adopted into several plays, films, and books.

Resembling an imposing and luxuriant palace, the tomb of Fragrant Concubine (Xiangfei) is 40 meters (131 feet) high and is composed of five parts distinct sections. These are: the arch over gateway, small mosque, big mosque, religious scripture preaching hall, and coffin chamber. There is an exquisite gallery on the curved dome roof on the top of which is located a gold crescent, solemnly glittering and creating an awe-inspiring atmosphere. In the broad and spacious hall of the tomb, there is platform. On this platform there are 58 graves in proper order for 72 people of five generations in Xiang imperial concubine's family. Xiangfei's grave is set up on the northeast corner of this platform, in front of which her name is written both in Chinese and Uigur. Grave mounds are all covered in blue glass bricks. These are wrapped in a cloth with various patterns and figures. This expresses honor to the dead and meanwhile protects the graves. On the left of graves are built delicate Islamic mosques of all sizes.