The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth

Emperor of the Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty (1636–1912) was a Manchu-led imperial Chinese dynasty and the last orthodox dynasty of China. It was officially founded in 1636 in what is now Northeast China, but only succeeded the Ming dynasty in China proper in 1644. The Q ...

, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over

China proper China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions pop ...

. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, without

Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...

's influence, only from 1889 to 1898. He initiated the

Hundred Days' Reform The Hundred Days' Reform or Wuxu Reform () was a failed 103-day national, cultural, political, and educational reform movement that occurred from 11 June to 22 September 1898 during the late Qing dynasty. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu E ...

, but was abruptly stopped when the empress dowager launched a coup in 1898, after which he became powerless and was held under house arrest until his death by poisoning. His

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of ...

, "Guangxu", means "glorious succession". The emperor died in 1908 and it was widely suspected at the time that he had been poisoned. A forensic examination on his remains confirmed in 2008 that the cause of death was

arsenic poisoning Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, bu ...

. The level of arsenic in his remains was 2,000 times higher than normal.

Accession to the throne and upbringing

Zaitian was the second son of Yixuan (Prince Chun), and his primary spouse

Yehenara Wanzhen Wanzhen (13 September 1841 – 17 June 1896), of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Yehe Nara clan, was a consort of Yixuan. She was one year his junior and the younger sister of Empress Cixi and the mother of Emperor Guangxu. Life Family backgr ...

, a younger sister of

. On 12 January 1875, Zaitian's cousin, the

Tongzhi Emperor The Tongzhi Emperor (27 April 1856 – 12 January 1875), born Zaichun of the Aisin Gioro clan, was the ninth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the eighth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign, from 1861 to 1875, which effectively laste ...

, died without a son to succeed him. Breaking the imperial convention that a new emperor must always be of a generation after that of the previous emperor, candidates were considered from the generation of the Tongzhi Emperor.

Empress Dowager Ci'an Empress Xiaozhenxian (12 August 1837 – 8 April 1881), of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Niohuru clan, was a posthumous name bestowed to the wife and empress consort of Yizhu, the Xianfeng Emperor. She was Empress consort of Qing from ...

suggested choosing one of

Prince Gong Yixin (11January 1833– 29May 1898), better known in English as PrinceKung or Gong, was an imperial prince of the Aisin Gioro clan and an important statesman of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in China. He was a regent of the empire from 1861 to 18 ...

's sons to be the next emperor, but was overruled by her co-regent, Empress Dowager Cixi. Instead, Cixi nominated Zaitian (her nephew) and the imperial clan eventually agreed with her choice 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 The Xianfeng Emperor (17 July 1831 – 22 August 1861), or by temple name Emperor Wenzong of Qing (), given name Yizhu (), was the eighth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigned from 1850 t ...

, rather than his cousin and predecessor, the

, so as to maintain the father-son succession law. He ascended to the throne at the age of four and adopted "Guangxu" as his

regnal name A regnal name, or regnant name or reign name, is the name used by monarchs and popes during their reigns and, subsequently, historically. Since ancient times, some monarchs have chosen to use a different name from their original name when they ...

, therefore he is known as the "Guangxu Emperor". He was adopted by Empress Dowager Cixi and Ci'an. Cixi remained as regent under the title "Holy Mother, Empress Dowager" (聖母皇太后) while her co-regent Empress Dowager Ci'an was called "Mother Empress, Empress Dowager" (母后皇太后). Beginning in 1876, the Guangxu Emperor was taught by

Weng Tonghe Weng Tonghe (; 1830–1904), courtesy name Shuping (), was a Chinese Confucian scholar and imperial tutor who lived in the Qing dynasty. In 1856, he obtained the position of ''zhuangyuan'' (or top scholar) in the imperial examination and was subs ...

, who had also been involved in the disastrous upbringing of the Tongzhi Emperor yet somehow managed to be exonerated of all possible charges. Weng instilled in the Guangxu Emperor a duty of filial piety toward the Empress Dowagers Cixi and Ci'an. In 1881, when the Guangxu Emperor was nine, Empress Dowager Ci'an died unexpectedly, leaving Empress Dowager Cixi as sole regent for the boy. In Weng's diaries during those days, Guangxu was reportedly seen with swollen eyes, had poor concentration and was seeking consolation from Weng. Weng too expressed his concern that Cixi was the one who had been suffering from chronic ill health, not Ci'an. During this time, the imperial

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

s often abused their influence over the boy emperor. The Guangxu Emperor had also reportedly begun to hold some audiences on his own as an act of necessity.Kwong, p. 54

Taking over the reins of power

In 1887, the Guangxu Emperor was old enough to begin to rule in his own right, but the previous year, several courtiers, including Prince Chun and

, had petitioned Empress Dowager Cixi to postpone her retirement from the regency. Despite Cixi's agreement to remain as regent, by 1886 the Guangxu Emperor had begun to write comments on memorials to the throne. In the spring of 1887, he partook in his first field-plowing ceremony, and by the end of the year he had begun to rule under Cixi's supervision. Eventually, in February 1889, in preparation for Cixi's retirement, the Guangxu Emperor was married. Much to the emperor's dislike, Cixi selected her niece, Jingfen, to be empress. She became known as

Empress Longyu Jingfen (; 28 January 1868 – 22 February 1913), of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Yehe Nara clan, was the wife and empress consort of Zaitian, the Guangxu Emperor. She was Empress consort of Qing from 1889 until her husband's death in ...

. She also selected a pair of sisters, who became Consorts Jin and Zhen, to be the emperor's concubines. The following week, with the Guangxu Emperor married, Cixi retired from the regency.

Years in power

Even after the Guangxu Emperor began formal rule, Empress Dowager Cixi continued to influence his decisions and actions, despite residing several months of the year at the

Summer Palace The Summer Palace () is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing dynasty. Inside includes Longevity Hill () Kunming Lake and Seventeen Hole Bridge. It covers an expanse of , three-quarte ...

. Weng Tonghe reportedly observed that while the emperor attended to day-to-day state affairs, in more difficult cases the emperor and the Grand Council sought Cixi's advice. In fact, the emperor often journeyed to the Summer Palace to pay his respects to his aunt and to discuss state affairs with her. In March 1891, the Guangxu Emperor received the foreign ministers to China at an audience in the "Pavilion of Purple Light", in what is now part of

Zhongnanhai Zhongnanhai () is a former imperial garden in the Imperial City, Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City; it serves as the central headquarters for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council (central government) of China. Zhongn ...

, something that had also been done by the Tongzhi Emperor in 1873. That summer, under pressure from the foreign legations and in response to revolts in the Yangtze River valley that were targeting Christian missionaries, the emperor issued an edict ordering Christians to be placed under state protection. The Guangxu Emperor, while growing up, apparently had been instilled with the importance of frugality. In 1892, he tried to implement a series of draconian measures to reduce expenditures by the

Imperial Household Department The Imperial Household Department (; mnc, , v=dorgi baita be uheri kadalara yamun) was an institution of the Qing dynasty of China. Its primary purpose was to manage the internal affairs of the Qing imperial family and the activities of the inn ...

, which proved to be one of his few administrative successes. But it was only a partial victory, as he had to approve higher expenditures than he would have liked to meet Cixi's needs. 1894 saw the outbreak of the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...

. During the war, even though the Guangxu Emperor was nominally the sovereign ruler of the Qing Empire, officials often ignored him and instead sent their memorials to Cixi for her approval. Eventually, two sets of Grand Council memoranda were created, one for the emperor and the other for the empress dowager, a practice that continued until it was rendered unnecessary by the events in the autumn of 1898. Following the Qing Empire's defeat and forced agreement to the terms of the

Treaty of Shimonoseki The , also known as the Treaty of Maguan () in China and in the period before and during World War II in Japan, was a treaty signed at the , Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing China, ending the Firs ...

, the Guangxu Emperor reportedly expressed his wish to abdicate. The emperor and the Qing government faced further humiliation in late 1897 when the German Empire used the murders of two priests in Shandong Province as an excuse to occupy

Jiaozhou Bay The Jiaozhou Bay (; german: Kiautschou Bucht, ) is a bay located in the prefecture-level city of Qingdao (Tsingtau), China. The bay has historically been romanized as Kiaochow, Kiauchau or Kiao-Chau in English and Kiautschou in German. Geogra ...

, prompting a "scramble for concessions" by other foreign powers. Following the war and the scramble for concessions, the Guangxu Emperor came to believe that by learning from constitutional monarchies like Japan, the Qing Empire would become more politically and economically powerful. In June 1898, the emperor began the

, aimed at a series of sweeping political, legal and social changes. For a brief time, after Cixi's supposed retirement, the Guangxu Emperor issued edicts for a massive number of far-reaching modernizing reforms with the help of more progressive officials such as

Kang Youwei Kang Youwei (; Cantonese: ''Hōng Yáuh-wàih''; 19March 185831March 1927) was a prominent political thinker and reformer in China of the late Qing dynasty. His increasing closeness to and influence over the young Guangxu Emperor spar ...

and

Liang Qichao Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超 ; Wade-Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu'') (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political activist, journalist, and intellectual. His thou ...

Changes ranged from infrastructure to industry and the civil examination system. The Guangxu Emperor 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 Western governments. The initial goal was to make China a modern constitutional empire, but still within the traditional framework, as with Japan's

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. The reforms, however, were not only too sudden for a China still under significant

neo-Confucian Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, and originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) in t ...

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 the Guangxu Emperor, begged her for help. Although Cixi did nothing to stop the Hundred Days' Reform from taking place, she knew the only way to secure her power base was to stage a military coup. The Guangxu Emperor became aware of such a plan, so he asked Kang Youwei and his reformist allies to plan his rescue. They decided to use the help of

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...

, who had a modernized army, albeit only 6,000-strong. Cixi relied on

Ronglu Ronglu (6 April 1836 – 11 April 1903), courtesy name Zhonghua, was a Manchu political and military leader of the late Qing dynasty. He was born in the Guwalgiya clan, which was under the Plain White Banner of the Manchu Eight Banners. ...

's army in Tianjin. Guangxu Emperor 光绪皇帝

Ronglu also had an ally, General

Dong Fuxiang Dong Fuxiang (1839–1908), courtesy name Xingwu (), was a Chinese general who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He was born in the Western Chinese province of Gansu. He commanded an army of Hui soldiers, which included the later Ma clique gene ...

, who commanded 10,000 Muslim

Kansu Braves The Gansu Braves or Gansu Army was a unit of 10,000 Chinese Muslim troops from the northwestern province of Kansu ( Gansu) in the last decades of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Loyal to the Qing, the Braves were recruited in 1895 to suppre ...

, including generals such as

Ma Fuxiang Ma Fuxiang (, Xiao'erjing: , French romanization: Ma-Fou-hiang or Ma Fou-siang; 4 February 1876 – 19 August 1932) was a Chinese military and political leader spanning the Qing Dynasty through the early Republic of China and illustrated the po ...

and

Ma Fulu Ma Fulu ( Chinese: 马福禄, Pinyin: Mǎ Fúlù, Xiao'erjing: ; 1854 – 1900), a Chinese Muslim, was the son of General Ma Qianling and the brother of Ma Fucai, Ma Fushou and Ma Fuxiang. He was a middle born son. In 1880, Ma Fulu went to Be ...

, stationed in the Beijing metropolitan area. Armed with more advanced firearms and artillery, they sided with Cixi's conservative faction during the coup. The day before the staged coup was supposed to take place, Yuan Shikai revealed everything to Ronglu, exposing the Guangxu Emperor's plans. This gained Yuan Shikai the trust of Cixi, as well as the status of lifetime enemy of the Guangxu Emperor as well as the emperor's younger half-brother,

Zaifeng Zaifeng (12 February 1883 – 3 February 1951), also known as Tsai Feng, Prince of Ch'ün, formally known by his title Prince Chun, was a Manchu prince and regent of the late Qing dynasty. He was a son of Yixuan, the seventh son of the Da ...

. Following the exposure of the plot, the emperor and empress dowager met, and the emperor retreated to the Yingtai Pavilion, a palace on a lake that is now part of the Zhongnanhai Compound. Lei Chia-sheng (雷家聖), a Taiwanese history professor, proposes an alternative view: that the Guangxu Emperor might have been led into a trap by the reformists led by

, who in turn was in Lei's opinion tricked by British missionary

Timothy Richard Timothy Richard (Chinese: 李提摩太 ''Li Timotai'', 10 October 1845 – 17 April 1919) was a Welsh Baptist missionary to China, who influenced the modernisation of China and the rise of the Chinese Republic. Biography Richard was born on ...

and former Japanese prime minister

Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the ''genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated samu ...

into agreeing to appoint Itō as one of many foreign advisors.Richard, Timothy
''Forty-five Years in China: Reminiscences''
publ.

Frederick A. Stokes Frederick Abbott Stokes (November 4, 1857 – November 15, 1939) was an American publisher, founder and long-time head of the eponymous Frederick A. Stokes Company. Biography Stokes graduated from Yale Law School in 1879. He worked at Dodd, Mea ...

(1916) British ambassador

Claude MacDonald Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, (12 June 1852 – 10 September 1915) was a British soldier and diplomat, best known for his service in China and Japan. Early life MacDonald was born the son of Mary Ellen MacDonald (''nee'' Dougan) and ...

claimed that the reformists had actually "much injured" the modernization of China. Lei claims that Cixi learned of the plot and decided to put an end to it to prevent China from coming under foreign control.

Under house arrest after 1898

The Guangxu Emperor's duties after 1898 became rather limited. The emperor was effectively removed from power as emperor (despite keeping the title), but he did retain some status. The emperor was kept informed of state affairs, reading them with Cixi prior to audiences, and was also present at audiences, sitting on a stool to Cixi's left hand while Cixi occupied the main throne. He discharged his ceremonial duties, such as offering sacrifices during ceremonies, but never ruled alone again. In 1898, shortly after the collapse of the

, the Guangxu Emperor's health began to decline, prompting Cixi to name Pujun, a son of the emperor's cousin, the reactionary Prince Duan, as heir presumptive. Pujun and his father were removed from their positions after the Boxer Rebellion. He was examined by a physician at the French Legation and diagnosed with chronic nephritis; he was also discovered to be impotent at the time. During the Boxer Rebellion, Emperor Guangxu fiercely opposed the idea of using usurpers as a means to counter foreign invasion. His letter to then

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

is still preserved in U.S. government archives. On 14 August 1900, the Guangxu Emperor, along with Cixi, Empress Longyu and some other court officials, fled from Beijing as the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance marched on the capital to relieve the legations that had been besieged during the Boxer Rebellion. Returning to the capital in January 1902, after the withdrawal of the foreign powers, the Guangxu Emperor spent the next few years working in his isolated palace with

watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached b ...

es and

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and t ...

s, which had been a childhood fascination, some say in an effort to pass the time until Cixi's death. He also read widely and spent time learning English from Cixi's Western-educated lady-in-waiting, Yu Deling. His relationship with

, Cixi's niece (and the Emperor's own first cousin), also improved to some extent.

Death

The Guangxu Emperor died on 14 November 1908, a day before Cixi's death, at the age of 37. For a long time there were several theories about the emperor's death, none of which was accepted fully by historians. Most were inclined to believe that Cixi, herself very ill, poisoned the Guangxu Emperor because she was afraid he would reverse her policies after her death. ''China Daily'' quoted a historian,

Dai Yi Dai Yi () (born September 1926) is a Chinese historian who primarily focuses on the Qing dynasty's history. He is a professor at Renmin University of China. He is also the honorary director of the university's Qing dynasty's history institute as we ...

, who speculated that Cixi might have known of her imminent death and worried that the Guangxu Emperor would continue his reforms after her death. Another theory is that the Guangxu Emperor was poisoned by

, who knew that if the emperor were to come to power again, Yuan would likely be executed for treason.Mu, Eric
Reformist Emperor Guangxu was Poisoned, Study Confirms"
''Danwei''. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 2 November 2011. There were no reliable sources to prove who murdered the Guangxu Emperor. In 1911, Cixi's former eunuch

Li Lianying Li Lianying (; 12 November 1848 – 4 March 1911) was a Chinese imperial eunuch who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He was a eunuch during the regency of Empress Dowager Cixi, who was the ''de facto'' ruler of China from 1869 to 1908 throu ...

was murdered, possibly by Yuan, implying that they had conspired in the emperor's murder. This theory was offered by

Puyi Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...

in his biography; he claimed he heard it from an old eunuch. The medical records kept by the Guangxu Emperor's physician show the emperor suffered from "spells of violent stomachaches" and that his face had turned blue, typical symptoms of

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, ...

poisoning. To dispel persistent rumors that the emperor had been poisoned, the Qing imperial court produced documents and doctors' records suggesting that the Guangxu Emperor died from natural causes, but these did not allay suspicion. On 4 November 2008, forensic tests revealed that the level of arsenic in the emperor's remains was 2,000 times higher than that of ordinary people. Scientists concluded that the poison could only have been administered in a high dose at one time. The Guangxu Emperor was succeeded by Cixi's choice as heir, his nephew

, who took the

"Xuantong". In January 1912, the Guangxu Emperor's consort, who had become

Empress Dowager Longyu Jingfen (; 28 January 1868 – 22 February 1913), of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Yehe Nara clan, was the wife and empress consort of Zaitian, the Guangxu Emperor. She was Empress consort of Qing from 1889 until her husband's death in ...

, placed her seal on the abdication decree, ending two thousand years of imperial rule in China. Longyu died childless in 1913. After the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a ...

of 1911–1912, the Chinese Republic funded the construction of the Guangxu Emperor's mausoleum in the

Western Qing Tombs The Western Qing tombs (; ) are located some southwest of Beijing in Yi County, Hebei Province. They constitute a necropolis that incorporates four royal mausoleums where seventy-eight royal members are buried. These include four emperors of th ...

. The tomb was robbed during the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

and the underground palace (burial chamber) is now open to the public.

Appraisal

In 1912, Sun Yat-sen praised the Guangxu Emperor for his educational reform package that allowed China to learn more about Western culture. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, historian Fan Wenlan (范文瀾) called the Guangxu Emperor "a Manchu noble who could accept Western ideas". Some historians believe that the Guangxu Emperor was the first Chinese leader to implement modernizing reforms and capitalism. Imperial power in the Qing dynasty saw its nadir under Guangxu, and he was the only Qing emperor to have been put under house arrest during his own reign.

Honours

Domestic honours * Sovereign of the Order of the Peacock Feather * Sovereign of the Order of the Blue Feather * Sovereign of the

Order of the Double Dragon The Imperial Order of the Double Dragon () was an order awarded in the late Qing dynasty. The Order was founded by the Guangxu Emperor on 7 February 1882 as an award for outstanding services to the throne and the Qing court. Originally it was aw ...

Foreign honours * : Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (military), ''18 July 1898'' * : Knight of the

Order of the Black Eagle The Order of the Black Eagle (german: Hoher Orden vom Schwarzen Adler) was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg (who became Friedrich I, King ...

, in Diamonds, ''28 June 1898'' * : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Kamehameha I, ''1882'' * : Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Chrysanthemum is Japan's highest order. The Grand Cordon of the Order was established in 1876 by Emperor Meiji of Japan; the Collar of the Order was added on 4 January 1888. Unlike its European counterparts, the order may be conferred posthumously. Apart fr ...

, ''29 April 1899'' * : Grand Cross of the

Sash of the Three Orders The Sash of the Three Orders ( pt, Banda das Três Ordens, or ''Banda da Grã-Cruz das Três Ordens'') is a decoration that combines the insignia of the Grand Crosses of the Military Orders of Christ, Aviz and St. James of the Sword. It is the ...

, ''1904'' * :

Order of St. Andrew The Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called (russian: Орден Святого апостола Андрея Первозванного, translit=Orden Svyatogo apostola Andreya Pervozvannogo) is the highest order conferred by both the ...

Family

The Guangxu Emperor had one empress and two consorts in total. The emperor was forced by

to marry her niece (his cousin) Jingfen, who was two years his senior. Jingfen's father, Guixiang (Cixi's younger brother), and Cixi selected her to be the Guangxu Emperor's Empress Consort in order to strengthen the power of her own family. After the marriage, Jingfen was made empress and was granted the honorific title of "Longyu", meaning "auspicious and prosperous" () after the death of her husband. However, the Guangxu Emperor detested Empress Longyu, and spent most of his time with his

favorite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated si ...

concubine,

Consort Zhen Imperial Noble Consort Keshun (27 February 1876 – 15 August 1900), of the Manchu Bordered Red Banner Tatara clan, was a consort of the Guangxu Emperor. She was five years his junior. She was known to foreigners as the Pearl Concubine. Legend ...

(), (better known in English as the "Pearl Consort"). Rumors allege that in 1900, Consort Zhen was drowned by being thrown into a well on Cixi's order after Consort Zhen begged Empress Dowager Cixi to let the Guangxu Emperor stay in Beijing for negotiations with the foreign powers. That incident happened before Empress Dowager Cixi was preparing to leave the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...

due to the occupation of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900. Like his predecessor, the

, the Guangxu Emperor died without issue. After the Guangxu Emperor's death in 1908, Empress Dowager Longyu reigned in cooperation with Zaifeng (Prince Chun). ---- Empress * Empress Xiaodingjing, of the

Yehe Nara Nara ( Manchu: , Wade-Giles: nara hala, Chinese: , or ) is a clan name shared by a number of royal Manchu clans. The four tribes of the Hūlun confederation () – Hada (), Ula (), Hoifa () and Yehe () – were all ruled by clans bearing th ...

clan (孝定景皇后葉赫那拉氏; 28 January 1868 – 22 February 1913), first cousin, personal name Jingfen (靜芬) Imperial Noble Consort *

Imperial Noble Consort Wenjing Imperial Noble Consort Wenjing, also known as Dowager Imperial Noble Consort Duankang (6 October 1873 – 24 September 1924), of the Manchu Bordered Red Banner Tatara clan, was a consort of the Guangxu Emperor. Life Family background Imperial ...

, of the Tatara clan (溫靖皇貴妃他他拉氏; 6 October 1873 – 24 September 1924) * Imperial Noble Consort Keshun, of the Tatara clan (恪順皇貴妃他他拉氏; 27 February 1876 – 15 August 1900)

Ancestry

References

External links

scholarly studies
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guangxu 1870s in China 1871 births 1880s in China 1890s in China 1900s in China 1908 deaths 1908 murders in China 19th-century Chinese monarchs 20th-century Chinese monarchs 20th-century murdered monarchs 20th-century murders in China Child rulers from Asia Chinese dissidents Chinese people of the Boxer Rebellion 3 3 3 Male murder victims Murdered Chinese emperors Murdered royalty Qing dynasty emperors Unsolved murders in China Deaths from arsenic poisoning