Guangxu
Guangxu (traditional Chinese: 光緒, simplified Chinese: 光绪, pinyin: Guāngxù, Wade-Giles: Kuang-hsü, AFI: [ ku̯ɑŋ˥ɕɨ˥˩ ]; August 14, 1871 - November 14, 1908), by Personal name Zaitian, he was the eleventh Chinese emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth to properly rule over China. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, although in practice, he ruled under the influence of Empress Dowager Cixi only from 1889 to 1898. He initiated the Hundred Days' Reform, but it was abruptly halted when the empress launched a coup in 1898, after which the Guangxu Emperor was placed under house arrest until his death. His regnal name means 'glorious succession'.
Accession to the throne and education
Zaitian was the second son of Yixuan, and his first wife Wanzhen, a young sister of Empress Cixi. On January 12, 1875, Zaitan's cousin, the Tongzhi Emperor, died without a son to succeed him. Breaking imperial custom in which a new emperor had to be one generation later than the previous emperor, candidates for the throne were considered to be from the Tongzhi Emperor's generation. Empress Dowager Ci'an suggested choosing one of Prince Gong's sons to be the next emperor, but she was rejected by her co-regent, Empress Dowager Cixi. In her place, Cixi nominated Zaitian (her nephew of hers). Finally the imperial clan agreed with the choice of him because Zaitian was younger than other adoptable children of the same generation.
Zaitian was named heir and successor to his late uncle, the Xianfeng Emperor, rather than his cousin and predecessor, the Tongzhi Emperor to uphold the law of father-son succession. He ascended the throne at the age of four and adopted the name "Guangxu", hence he is known as the "Guangxu Emperor". He was adopted by Cixi who remained as regent under the title of "Holy Mother, Dowager Empress"; (聖母皇太后) and by co-regent Ci'an called "Mother Empress, Empress Dowager" (母后皇太后).
Empress Cixi arranged for the emperor's education in an attempt to make him an acceptable candidate in the decadent imperial politics that China had experienced since the first Opium War. Beginning in 1876, the Guangxu Emperor was educated by Weng Tonghe, who had been involved in the Tongzhi Emperor's disastrous upbringing, though he had been somehow exonerated of all possible mistakes. Weng instilled in the Guangxu Emperor a duty of fidelity towards Empress Cixi and Ci'an.
In 1881, when the Emperor was nine years old, Empress Dowager Ci'an passed away unexpectedly, leaving Empress Dowager Cixi as sole regent for the boy. In Weng's diaries, during those days, Guangxu was reported to have puffy eyes, poor concentration, and seek comfort from Weng's guardian. Weng also expressed concern that it was Cixi who suffered from her health condition and not Cixi's. During this period the imperial eunuchs often abused his influence over the young emperor, who had begun holding audiences for him as an act of necessity.
Taking the reins of power
In 1887, the Guangxu Emperor was old enough to begin ruling in his own right, but the previous year, several courtiers including Yixuan and Weng Tonghe had asked Empress Dowager Cixi to postpone her retirement from the regency. Despite remaining as regent, by 1886 the Guangxu Emperor had begun writing commentaries on memorials to the throne. In the spring of 1887, he participated in his first field-ploughing ceremony, and by the end of the year he had begun to rule under Cixi's supervision.
Finally, in February 1889, in preparation for Cixi's retirement, the Guangxu Emperor was married. Despite the emperor's displeasure, Cixi selected her niece Jingfen, who would become known as Empress Longyu, and a pair of sisters, who became consorts Jin and Zhen, to be the emperor's concubines. The following week, with the emperor married, Cixi withdrew from the regency.
Years in power
Even after the emperor formally began to rule, Empress Dowager Cixi continued to influence his decisions and actions, despite residing several months of the year in the Summer Palace. According to Weng Tonghe's reports, he observed that while the emperor attended to everyday state affairs, in more difficult cases the emperor and the Great Council sought Cixi's advice. In fact, the emperor often traveled to the Summer Palace to pay her respects to her aunt and discuss state affairs with her.
In March 1891, the Guangxu Emperor received China's foreign ministers in audience at the 'Pavilion of Purple Light,' in what is now part of Zhongnanhai, something also it had been made by the Tongzhi Emperor in 1873. That summer, under pressure from foreign legations and in response to revolts in the Yangtze River valley directed at Christian missionaries, the emperor issued an edict ordering that Christians be put under state protection.
Guangxu always had a weak character, something partly logical in someone so young who had to face a declining Empire besieged by Western powers and especially by the growing Japanese empire that had already begun its expansion. Her relationship with Empress Cixi was always very close, as he loved her as a mother to her during her lifetime. Characteristic of his reign is the period of "the hundred days of reforms", in which Emperor Guangxu, influenced by ministers of a pro-Japanese tendency, carried out a whole series of reforms, many of them very radical and that they entailed a westernization of the empire, as Japan had done years before, a fact that led her aunt, Empress Cixi, to ally with ministers contrary to said laws and military orders and provoke an assault on power to arrest her nephew. Thus, Guangxu was relegated from power, locked up in his own palace, although it must be said that recent studies have shown that the emperor never hated his aunt for said coup, on the contrary, he was always very attached to her, as his protector.
Another feature of his reign was the Boxer Rebellion, based on a rebellion by members of the most conservative groups, unhappy with the great influence and power Western companies were taking in China. The Boxers staged violent movements and attacks against the delegations themselves. The most direct consequence was the siege of Beijing in 1900 by Western troops, which forced the Guangxu Emperor himself and his aunt to flee the Forbidden City to Xi'an for their lives.
Shortly after that, the emperor who was not even 40 years old, plunged into a deep depression and inconsolation due to his mental exhaustion due to everything that was happening in China, died. Minutes after his death, Empress Cixi chose a three-year-old member of the royal family, Puyi, as her successor to the throne.
The events of this time, from a Western point of view, were captured in the novel Men of God by Pearl S. Buck. In 2008, Anchee Min published The Last Empress, which clearly shows Emperor Guangxu's reign in the eyes of Empress Cixi and the kind of aunt-nephew relationship until the emperor's death..
Honorary Distinctions
Grand Cross Knight of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I (Kingdom of Hawaii, 1882).
Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle (Reino de Prussia, 22/06/1898).
Big Cross Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle with brilliants (Reino de Prussia, 22/06/1898).
Big Knight of the Supreme Order of Chrysanthemum (Japanese Empire).
