The mausoleums are located at the southern foot of Baoshan Mountain, Shangjiang village, Gaobu town in the south of Shaoxing County. Six emperors of Southern Song dynasty, Emperor Gaozong, Emperor Xiaozong, Emperor Guangzong, Empeorr Ningzong, Emperor Lizong and Emperor Duzong, were all buried here, thus the name "Six Song-Dynasty Mausoleums". In addition to the six imperial mausoleums, Emperor Hui Zong of the Northern Song Dynasty, a few queens and high-ranking ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty were also buried here. This is the largest imperial burial ground in the region south of the Yangtze River.  

Six tombs are each marked with a holly tree. The top parts of the graves were leveled and gravestones were taken away for other uses Between the 1930s and the 1970s.  

Since 1987, the county department of cultural relics has been making continuous efforts to protect the tombs by determining the protection area and setting up sculpted-stone protection marks. Measures have been taken to protect pine trees within the mausoleums area from termites. In 1994 The Shaoxing Cultural Relics Protection Department mapped out a plan to effectively protect this valuable historical and cultural resource and to build the Southern Song imperial tomb areas into a tourist attraction. According to the plan, while efforts would be made to further protect the mausoleums, the Yongsi mausoleum of Emperor Gaozong will be rebuilt together with an underground museum and a set of facilities.  

The six mausoleums have been on the list of cultural relics under county-level protection since 1961 and on the national protection list since 1989.