The complex's origins date to 1131, when Empress Meng, widow of the Northern Song (960-1127) Emperor Zhezong, died in exile during the dynasty's frantic southward flight from the Jurchen people in the north.

She was provisionally interred at the foot of a mountain in the city's Fusheng town. This unintended event marked the founding of what would become the most concentrated royal burial ground in Jiangnan, the region along the southern bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Seven years later, the Song court established its temporary capital in Lin'an (modern Hangzhou). Over the next 144 years, six subsequent Southern Song emperors and their empresses were buried here.

Notably, the first emperor laid to rest was Emperor Huizong, whose capture by the Jurchens led to the Northern Song's collapse. Huizong's posthumous return and burial here were a paramount concern for his son.