On September 10, 1778, the Qianlong Emperor left his palace in Beijing, and about two months would pass before he would return to the imperial capital. The journey, known as an eastern tour (dogxun 東廵), would take him to the Qing imperial ancestral tombs located in the Greater Mukden area of Manchuria, near the border with Joseon, Korea. It would take the emperor and his entourage 27 days to travel the 900 km separating Mukden from the capital.This included going along the Great Wall, reaching the coast of the Bohai Sea, and progressing through the heartland of Manchuria. The daily progress of their journey was carefully recorded on the Map of the Day and Night Stations to Mukden (M. Mukden-i dedun uden-i nirugan) (Pegg 2014, 24-27; Rudnev, 1955).
The Route on a Modern Map