Guangxu Emperor
The Guangxu Emperor (August 14, 1871–November 14, 1908), born Zaitian (載湉), was the tenth emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled from 1889 to 1898. He initiated the Hundred Days' Reform, but was abruptly stopped when Empress Dowager Cixi launched a coup in 1898. His reign name means "The Glorious Succession".
Accession to the throne
Guangxu was born to Yixuan, Prince Chun, who was married to Empress Dowager Cixi's younger sister, and therefore he was Cixi's nephew. In January 1875, the Tongzhi Emperor died without a son. The Empress Dowager Ci'an suggested Prince Gong's son as the new Emperor, but she was overruled by Cixi. Instead, breaking the imperial convention that a new emperor must always be a generation after that of the passing emperor, Cixi suggested Prince Chun's son, Zaitian, and the imperial family agreed with this choice.
Guangxu ascended the throne at the age of four and was adopted by Cixi as her son. For her part, she remained as regent with the title of the Holy Mother Empress Dowager. During his childhood, Guangxu was taught by Weng Tonghe.
Years of power
Until age nineteen, Guangxu was "aided" in his rule by Cixi. Even after he began formal rule, Cixi continued to influence his decisions and actions, despite residing for a period of time at the Imperial Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) which she had ordered Guangxu's father, the Prince Chun, to construct, with the official intention not to intervene in politics.
After taking power, Guangxu was obviously more reform-minded than the conservative-leaning Cixi. He believed that by learning from constitutional monarchies like Japan, China would become more powerful politically and economically. In June 1898, Guangxu began the Hundred Days' Reform, aimed at a series of sweeping changes politically, legally, and socially. For a brief time, after the supposed retirement of Empress Dowager Cixi, Emperor Guangxu issued edicts for a massive number of far-reaching modernizing reforms with the help of more progressive Qing mandarins like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao.
Changes ranged from infrastructure to industry and the civil examination system. Guangxu issued decrees allowing the establishment of a modern university in Beijing; the construction of the Lu-Han railway; and a system of budgets similar to that of the west. The initial goal was to make China a modern, constitutional empire, but still within the traditional framework, as with Japan's Meiji Restoration.
The reforms, however, were not only too sudden for a China still under significant neo-Confucian influence and other elements of traditional culture, but also came into conflict with Cixi, who held real power. Many officials, deemed useless and dismissed by Guangxu, were begging Cixi for help. Although Cixi did nothing to stop the Hundred Day's Reform from taking place, she knew the only way to secure her power base was to stage a military coup. Guangxu was made aware of such a plan, and asked Kang Youwei and his reformist allies to think of a way to rescue him. They decided to use the help of Yuan Shikai, who had a very modernized army, albeit only 6,000-strong. Cixi relied on Ronglu's army in Tianjin.
Yuan Shikai, however, was beginning to show his skill in politics. The day before the staged coup was supposed to take place, Yuan chose his best political route and revealed all the plans to Ronglu, exposing the Emperor's plans. This undoubtedly raised Cixi's trust in Yuan, who thereby became a lifetime enemy of Guangxu. In September 1898, Ronglu's troops took all positions surrounding the Forbidden City, and surrounded the Emperor when he was about to perform rituals. Guangxu was then taken to Ocean Terrace, a small palace on an island in the middle of a lake linked to the rest of the Forbidden City with only a controlled causeway. Cixi would follow with an edict dictating Guangxu's total disgrace and "not being fit to be Emperor". Guangxu's reign had effectively come to an end.
House arrest
Cixi had Guangxu placed under house arrest in an environment of total isolation, to the point where even court Eunuchs were chosen to strategically serve this purpose. Although Cixi never forced Guangxu to abdicate, and his era had in name continued until 1908, Guangxu lost all honours, respect, power, and privileges given to the Emperor of the Great Qing other than its name. Most of his supporters were exiled, and some were executed in public by Cixi. Kang Youwei continued to work for a more progressive Qing Empire while in exile, remaining loyal to Guangxu and hoping to eventually restore him to power. Western governments, too, were in favour of Guangxu as the only power figure in China, replacing the Empress Dowager. A joint official document issued by western governments stated that only the name Guangxu was to be recognized as the legal authoritative figure, over all others. This only angered Cixi more.
There was dispute, for a period of time, over whether Guangxu should continue to reign, even if only in name, as Emperor, or simply be removed altogether. Most court officials seemed to agree with the latter choice, but loyal Manchus such as Ronglu pleaded otherwise.
In 1901, the Eight-Nation Alliance of Western powers and Japan entered China and occupied Beijing following a Chinese declaration of war which Guangxu opposed, but had no power to stop. Guangxu fled with Cixi to Xi'an, dressed in civilian outfits.
Returning to the Forbidden City after the withdrawal of the western powers, Guangxu was known to have spent the next few years working in his isolated palace with watches and clocks, which had been a childhood fascination, some say in an effort to pass the time until the death of the Empress Dowager. He still had supporters, whether inside China or in exile, who wished to return him to real power.
Guangxu died on November 14, 1908, a day before Cixi. Many suspect he was poisoned by the Empress Dowager. He was succeeded by Cixi's handpicked heir, his nephew Puyi, who became the Xuantong Emperor. His consort, who became the Empress Dowager Longyu, signed the abdication decree as regent in 1912, ending two thousand years of imperial rule in China. She died, childless, in 1913.
After the revolution of 1911, the new republic of China funded the construction of Guangxu's mausoleum in the Western Qing Tombs. The tomb was robbed during the Chinese civil war and the underground palace (burial chamber) is now open to public.
Historical Views
In 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen praised Guangxu Emperor for his educational reform package that allowed Chinese people to learn more about the western culture. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Communist historian Fan Wenlan (范文澜) called the emperor "the Manchu Noble who can accept Western Thinking". Some historians think that the emperor is the first Chinese leader to implement policies of modernization and capitalism.
Personal
Guangxu was married to Cixi's niece, who was given the honorific title Longyu and became a Dowager Empress (隆裕太后) after Guangxu's death in 1908. Her father was Cixi's brother. His favourite concubine was the Imperial Concubine Zhen (珍妃), better known in English as the "Pearl Concubine", who was thrown down a well at the order of Cixi after she begged the Dowager Empress to let the Emperor stay in Beijing for negotiations with the foreign powers. That incident happened as Cixi was preparing to leave the Forbidden City due to the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Like his predecessor, Tongzhi, Guangxu died without an heir. Some sources suggested he was impotent.