Tongzhi Emperor

Tongzhi Emperor 同治帝
10th Qing Emperor of China
Reign	11 November 1861 – 12 January 1875
Predecessor	Xianfeng Emperor
Successor	Guangxu Emperor
Regents	Sushun, Zaiyuan, Duanhua and 5 other officials (1861) Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi (1861–1875)
Born	27 April 1856 Forbidden City, Beijing, China
Died	12 January 1875 (aged 18) Forbidden City, Beijing, China
Burial	Eastern Qing Tombs, Zunhua, China
Spouse	Empress Xiaozheyi
Full name Chinese: Aixin-Jueluo Zaichun(愛新覺羅載淳) Manchu: Aisin-Gioro Dzai Šun Era name and dates Qixiang (祺祥) (not used) Chinese: Tongzhi (同治) Manchu: Yooningga dasan Mongolian: Burintu Zasagchi Khagan: 30 January 1862 – 5 February 1875 Posthumous name Emperor Jitian Kaiyun Shouzhong Juzheng Baoda Dinggong Shengzhi Chengxiao Xinmin Gongkuan Yi (繼天開運受中居正保大定功聖智誠孝信敏恭寬毅皇帝) Temple name Qing Muzong (清穆宗)
House	Aisin Gioro
Father	Xianfeng Emperor
Mother	Empress Dowager Cixi

Tongzhi Emperor
Chinese	同治帝
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tóngzhì Dì Wade–Giles T'ung-chih Ti

The Tongzhi Emperor (27 April 1856 – 12 January 1875), born Zaichun of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan,^[1] was the tenth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the eighth Qing emperor to rule over China. His reign, from 1861 to 1875, which effectively lasted through his adolescence, was largely overshadowed by the rule of his mother, Empress Dowager Cixi. Although he had little influence over state affairs, the events of his reign gave rise to what historians call the "Tongzhi Restoration", an unsuccessful attempt to stabilise and modernise China.

Life

The only surviving son of the Xianfeng Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi, the Tongzhi Emperor attempted political reform in the period of the Tongzhi Restoration. His first regnal name was Qixiang (祺祥; Manchu: Fengšengge Sabingga), but this name was later abandoned by Cixi in favour of "Tongzhi", a contraction of the classical phrase tonggui yu zhi (simplified Chinese: 同归与治; traditional Chinese: 同歸與治), which means "restoring order together". An alternate interpretation reads it as "mother and son co-emperors" (Chinese: 母子同治天下), which fits the state of affairs, as the empress dowager wielded real power and ruled behind the scenes. The traditional Chinese political phrase "attending audiences behind a curtain" (simplified Chinese: 垂帘听政; traditional Chinese: 垂簾聽政; pinyin: chuí lián tīng zhèng) was coined to describe Cixi's rule through her son.

The Tongzhi Emperor became emperor at the age of five upon the death of his father, the Xianfeng Emperor. His father's choice of regent, Sushun, was removed in favour of a partnership between his mother Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Dowager Ci'an, and his uncle Prince Gong.

While there had most likely been hopes that the Tongzhi Emperor would become a leader like the second ruler of the Qing dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor (who himself had succeeded to the throne as a child in 1661), those hopes would soon come to naught, as the Tongzhi Emperor grew up to become an obstinate and dissolute young man.

In the fall of 1872, the teenage emperor married Empress Alute and several concubines. The Tongzhi Emperor apparently had wanted to take up power immediately, prompting a quarrel at court regarding the dismantling of the regency and the timing of it. However, the two empress dowagers stuck by the intended date of February 23, 1873.^[2]

The day after the Tongzhi Emperor took up the reins of power, the foreign powers requested an audience with the teenage emperor. The request precipitated a sharp disagreement between the ministers at the foreign legations, who made it clear that they would not perform the ritual kowtow to the emperor, and the Zongli Yamen (foreign affairs ministry), regarding the protocol to be observed. The Qing government was also loath to hold the audience within the confines of the Forbidden City, eventually settling on the "Pavilion of Purple Light" at one of the lakeside palaces to the west of the Forbidden City, which is now part of Zhongnanhai.^[3] The audience was finally held on June 29, 1873. After the audience however, the foreign ministers made it clear their annoyance of being received at a hall initially used by the Qing emperors to receive envoys of tributary states.

In the fall of 1874, the Tongzhi Emperor got into a clash with his ministers, which included his two uncles, Prince Gong and Prince Chun, largely over the emperor's plans to rebuild the Old Summer Palace at a time in which the empire was bankrupt, and over his dissolute behavior. The emperor reacted by firing the ministers, but Empress Dowagers Ci'an and Cixi intervened, and he had them reinstated. That December, it was announced that he was ill with smallpox, and the empress dowagers resumed the regency. He died on January 12, 1875, leaving no sons to succeed him.

The Tongzhi Emperor's death left the court in a succession crisis, as, although he was childless, his empress was reportedly pregnant. Eventually, the empress dowagers designated the Tongzhi Emperor's three-year-old cousin, Zaitian, as the heir to the throne. Zaitian was biologically Prince Chun's son, but was "adopted" as the Xianfeng Emperor's son, hence he was eligible to succeed the Tongzhi Emperor. Zaitian was thus enthroned as the Guangxu Emperor, with Empress Dowagers Ci'an and Cixi resuming their roles as regents. The Tongzhi Emperor's empress died a few months later.

Family

• Father: Xianfeng Emperor
• Mother: Noble Consort Yi (Empress Dowager Cixi)

Consorts

1. Empress Xiaozheyi, (Chinese: 孝哲毅皇后) of the Alute clan (1854–1875)
2. Imperial Noble Consort Shushen, (Chinese: 淑慎皇貴妃) (1860–1905) of the Fuca clan.
3. Imperial Noble Consort Zhuanghe, (Chinese: 莊和皇貴妃) (1857–14 April 1921) of the Alute clan was the aunt of Empress Xiaozheyi.
4. Imperial Noble Consort Jingyi,^[4] (Chinese: 敬懿皇貴妃) (1856–1932) of the Heseri clan.
5. Imperial Noble Consort Ronghui, (Chinese: 榮惠皇貴妃) (1854–1933) of the Silin Gioro clan.

^[5]

Portraits

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Ancestry

Ancestors of the Tongzhi Emperor

16. Qianlong Emperor               8. Jiaqing Emperor                       17. Empress Xiaoyichun               4. Daoguang Emperor                             18. Hitara Horchingo               9. Empress Xiaoshurui                       2. Xianfeng Emperor                                   20. General Niuhuru Mujihabu               10. Baron Niuhuru Yiling                       5. Empress Xiaoquancheng                             1. Zaichun, Tongzhi Emperor                                         24. Yehenara Jilang'e               12. Yehenara Jingrui                       6. Yehenara Huizheng                             3. Empress Dowager Cixi                                   14. Fuca Huixian                       7. Lady Fuca

References

1. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~qing/WEB/TSAI-CH'UN.html
2. Seagrave, Sterling Dragon Lady: the Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China (Knopf, 1992), pg. 130-131
3. Seagrave, pg. 131
4. A daily routine of the concubine is recorded in a memoir of a palace eunuch. See: Forbidden City: The Great Within, Second Edition. May Holdsworth, Caroline Courtauld. ISBN 962-217-792-1.
5. The draft history of the Qing dynasty 《清史稿》卷二百十四．列傳一．后妃傳.

Sources

• The draft history of the Qing dynasty 《清史稿》卷二百十四．列傳一．后妃傳.
• Sterling Seagrave, Dragon Lady ISBN 0-679-73369-8.
• Daily life in the Forbidden City, Wan Yi, Wang Shuqing, Lu Yanzhen. ISBN 0-670-81164-5.
• Forbidden City: The Great Within, Second Edition. May Holdsworth, Caroline Courtauld. ISBN 962-217-792-1.

Further reading

• Jung Chang, Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, (2013) ISBN 978-0-307-27160-0.
• Mary Clabaugh Wright. The Last Stand of Chinese Conservatism: The T'ung-Chih Restoration, 1862-1874. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1957).