The short life of young emperor Guangxu (1871-1908), descendant of the famous Manchu-Qing (or Ch’ing) dynasty, is inextricably linked to that of the powerful Empress Cixi (1835-1908). Perhaps even their deaths, which occurred approximately twenty-four hours apart, could be linked. In fact, new studies claim that Guangxu died from poisoning and it was Cixi who killed him.
From concubine to empress
Cixi was born in Xipo, in the province of Shanxi, into a family of small nobility of Manchu origin. Her parents gave her the name Yehonala. At the age of four, after the death of her mother, she was sold by her father to a farmer from Shangqiin, who resold her, eight years later, to the prefect of the city of Luì’an. The latter adopted her and gave her the name Yulan.
The girl, endowed with great beauty and charm, was noticed by imperial officials, looking for new concubines for the Palace. In 1851 the future Cixi was invited to participate in a real selection, together with dozens of other young people, to enter the harem ofEmperor Xianfeng. She was chosen and moved to the Forbidden City between 1851 and 1852.
The concubines imperials lived by observing strict hierarchical rules. When Cixi arrived among them she was but one of the lowest ranking women. Between 1853 and 1855 he undertook an extraordinary rise. The real turning point, however, came in 1856, when the young woman gave birth to Tongzhi, the emperor’s only surviving son.
In August 1861, after the Second Opium War (1856-1860), Xianfeng died, leaving a court divided between conservatives and progressives in favor of an opening towards the West (Cixi belonged to the latter group, but her idea of the Westernization of China was rather moderate). Little Tongzhi was not yet of the right age to reign so power was entrusted, as Storica National Geographic recalls, to an extremely traditionalist regency council.
Contrary to the political line of the regents, the future sovereign and Zhenthe empress dowager, would have plotted a real coup d’état: first they convinced the members of the council to use the two imperial seals to sign the new government documents. These seals belonged to Tongzhi, who naturally could not use them, given his young age and, a very important detail, they were kept by his mother and Zhen.
At a later stage the two allies asked the assembly to be able to take part in political decisions. The regents, scandalized by what for them was just an act of arrogance (remember that, at the time, women in China had no rights) began to scream. Tongzhi, who was present, was frightened. This was exactly what Cixi and Zhen wanted: using the new emperor’s reaction to their advantage, they accused the council of treason and dismissed it, starting to use the seals already in their possession. From that moment Cixi influenced the fate of the China for almost fifty years as regent and empress regnant.
Tongzhi and Guangxu
Cixi and Zhen stepped back in 1873, when Tongzhi he reached the age to reign. This, however, does not mean that from that moment on the two suddenly stopped being interested in issues concerning China. On the contrary, they would continue to have a notable influence, albeit indirect, on the fate of the people and to always be informed of everything that happened thanks, also, to a well-tested network of spies. Tongzhi, on the other hand, would never have been particularly suited to politics. He didn’t even have much time to try to learn how to rule.
In 1875 he died of smallpox, leaving no heirs. Despite the advice and warnings of her trusted Zhen who, however, died in 1881, Cixi chose as the new emperor Guangxu (1871-1908), only four years old, son of her sister Rong and Yixuan, known as Prince Chun. He adopted it, became its regent and, consequently, obtained the title of “Dowager Empress”.
The decision was a clear infringement of the rules of succession to the throne, which required that the new sovereign be chosen from among males of the same generation as the predecessor, or of the following generation. The Prince Chunin fact, was the brother of Emperor Xianfeng (and they were sons of Emperor Daoguang, who reigned from 1820 to 1850). For this reason, Guangxu, despite his age and kinship with Tonghzi, was considered a member of the previous generation of rulers, and therefore not suitable for the role.
In any case, the empress would not have made a far-sighted choice (at least if we look at the facts from her point of view): when the new sovereign reached the right age to reign, in 1889, it was immediately clear to everyone that he would not divide the power with Cixi, nor would he have passively accepted her interference in state decisions. At the basis of this hostility there were two mentalities in stark contrast: that of the empress, as we have seen more open to progress and the West, albeit with some reservations and a lot of prudence, and that imbued with granitic Confucianism of Guangxu.
Important clarification: these two very different ways of thinking must not lead us into the mistake of attaching irremovable labels to the work of Cixi and Guanxu. That is, the fact that the latter was more traditionalist does not imply that he was also completely closed to the idea of China’s modernization, as we will see. Likewise, the empress had a less conservative attitude than her adopted son, but this does not mean at all that she did not jealously guard the identity of her country (a fact evident during the failed Boxer Rebellionwhich occurred between 1899 and 1901, when the empress supported the popular rebellion against foreign presence and influence in China).
That of Cixi and Guangxu was a policy with many facets (some controversial), which was also affected by the historical moment, their interests and relations with foreign powers. Cixi’s image, among other things, was heavily affected by the judgment of those who didn’t love her at all, and didn’t forgive her for being a woman and, what’s more, ambitious and capable from a political point of view. In any case, both Guanxu and her adoptive mother had two strong personalities that conflicted immediately. The friction continued, becoming more and more bitter, until it reached the breaking point.
Reforms and conspiracies
In 1898 Guangxu, as documented by the Encyclopedia Britannica, initiated the “Hundred Days Reform”. This great project of renewal of the country, however, was not only inspired by Western societies, but also and perhaps above all by Japan. The philosopher helped the emperor in this undertaking Kang Youwei (1858-1927). The latter had studied a sort of rather tight reform agenda, with very structured ideas, but perhaps too radical. In theory, the project could have been valid, but it was planned without evaluating its concrete application to the Chinese reality.
The empress would not have been against the principle of making China more competitive (after all, in the last years of her life she made several reforms: for example in 1902 she abolished the tradition of foot binding of girls and in 1906 favored the birth of a constitutional monarchy), but feared that all these profound transformations in such a short time could weaken the nation, making it easy prey for Japan. The population had not been given a wide margin to implement them, furthermore, according to the empress, it was necessary to give a solid bureaucratic basis to modernization.
Not only that. As Storica National Geographic reported, it appears that Kang Youwei and Guangxu had planned Cixi’s assassination. So the sovereign, against her adopted son’s policy and fearing for her life, prepared a coup d’état. On September 21, 1898 he had Guangxu arrested, Kang Youwei sentenced to death (who found asylum in Japan) and assumed the title of regent.
At this juncture, perhaps, Cixi committed two fatal errors: she did not deprive theemperor of his title and did not publicly accuse him of attempted murder, probably to avoid sullying the honor of the Qing. This “prudence” (which was neither a form of kindness nor generosity, but aimed at preserving the power of the dynasty) turned out to be a boomerang: abroad and even at home the empress earned the reputation of being bloodthirsty and obtuse, while Guangxu and Youwei became two popular heroes who fought to open China to the whole world.
The end of Guangxu and Cixi
On November 14, 1908 Guangxu, still confined in the Forbidden Cityhe died. He was 37 years old. The next day, exactly 22 hours later, it was Cixi’s turn. The two deaths in close proximity gave rise to numerous conspiracy theories. According to the most famous, although never proven, the empress had her adopted son poisoned.
The suspect’s motive homocide it is not clear: perhaps, this is the most reliable hypothesis, Cixi would have wanted to avoid a new seizure of power by Guangxu after his death. “Cixi feared that Guangxu might regain the throne and continue the reform plan after his death”historian Dai Yi told the Xinhua News Agency (also known as the New China Agency), quoted by the New York Times.
To support the thesis of thepoisoning there was an important discovery, announced by the Chinese press agency and reported by the American newspaper on 4 October 2008: a team made up of forensic experts from the Beijing police, with the collaboration of the China Institute of Atomic Energy and China Central Television ( who wanted to make a documentary out of the story of Guangxu) had detected heavy traces of arsenic on some locks of the emperor’s hair.
According to the results of the study, which began in 2003, the concentration of poison was “2000 times higher than that present in ordinary people”as the New York Times wrote. The locks belonging to Guangxu had been compared with those of his wife and a Qing official: thearsenic found in the hair of the empress was 261 times lower than that of the emperor, that of the officer 132 times lower.
Quantities of poison were also found in Guangxu’s stomach and clothes. This, however, does not prove that Cixi killed him. Of course, the evidence against her is relevant, the motive is reliable, but there is no real proof. The death of the emperor remains a mystery.
Jung Chang, author of the biography “The Empress Cixi” (Longanesi, 2015), expressed an overall opinion in the Guardian on the contradictory character, on the concept of safeguarding power (and one’s life) and on the political line of the empress.
A judgment that does not absolve, does not justify, but explains very well the mentality of sovereigns (not only Chinese) of the time (and in truth it can be applied to most of the rulers in almost all historical periods): “In about four decades of absolute power her political assassinations, whether just or unjust… were no more than a few dozen, many of them in response to plots to kill her.”