Xianfeng Emperor

For the motor company, see Xianfeng Motorcycle.
Xianfeng Emperor
9th Qing Emperor of China
Reign 9 March 1850 – 22 August 1861
(&1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000166000000166 days)
Predecessor Daoguang Emperor
Successor Tongzhi Emperor
Spouse Empress Xiaodexian
Empress Xiao Zhen Xian
Empress Xiao Qin Xian
Issue
Zaichun, Tongzhi Emperor
Kurun Princess Rong'an
Full name
Chinese: Aixin-Jueluo Yizhu (愛新覺羅奕詝)
Manchu: Aisin-Gioro I Ju
Mongolian: Tugeemel Elbegt Khaan
Posthumous name
Emperor Xiétiān Yìyùn Zhízhōng Chuímó Màodé Zhènwǔ Shèngxiào Yuāngōng Duānrén Kuānmǐn Zhuāngjiǎn Xiǎn
協天翊運執中垂謨懋德振武聖孝淵恭端仁寬敏莊儉顯皇帝
Temple name
Qing Wenzong
清文宗
Father Daoguang Emperor
Mother Empress Xiaoquancheng
Born 17 July 1831(1831-07-17)
Old Summer Palace, Beijing
Died 22 August 1861(1861-08-22) (aged 30)
Chengde Mountain Resort, Chengde
Burial Eastern Qing Tombs, Zunhua

The Xianfeng Emperor (Chinese: 咸豐帝, pinyin: Xiánfēngdì, Wade-Giles: Hsien-feng; 17 July 1831 – 22 August 1861), born Aisin-Gioro I Ju, was the ninth Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1850 to 1861.

Contents

Family and his early years

Yizhu was born in 1831 at the Imperial Summer Palace Complex, 8 kilometers northwest of the walls of Beijing, and was the fourth son of the Daoguang Emperor. His mother was the Imperial Consort Quan (全贵妃), of the (Manchu) Niuhuru clan, who was made Empress in 1834, and is known posthumously as Empress Xiaoquancheng (孝全成皇后). Yizhu had reputed ability in literature and administration which surpassed most of his brothers, which impressed his father Daoguang Emperor and therefore deciding to let him to be his successor.

Early reign

He succeeded the throne in 1850, at age 19, and was a relatively young Emperor. He inherited a dynasty that faced challenges not only internally but also foreign. The situation was not reflected at all by his reign title, Xianfeng (咸丰/咸豐), which means "Universal Prosperity." In 1850 began the first of a series of popular rebellions that brought the Dynasty close to its demise. The Taiping Rebellion began in December 1850, when Hong Xiuquan a Hakka leader of a sincretic Christian sect defeated local forces sent to disperse his followers and proclaimed the beginning of the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the rebellion spread to several provinces with amazing speed. The next year the Nien Rebellion started in North China. The Nien movement, unlike the Christian Taipings', lacked a clear political program, but they became a serious threat to Beijing with the mobility of their cavalry based armies. Fixed between two powerful forces the Qing suffered defeat after defeat.

In 1853 the Taiping captured Nanjing and for a while it seemed that Beijing would fall next but the Taiping northern expedition was defeated and the situation stabilized. Xianfeng dispatched several prominent mandarins, like Zeng Guofan, and Imperial relatives, like the Mongol general Senggelinqin, to crush the rebellions, with limited success. In 1854 started the biggest revolt of the Miao people against Chinese rule in history, rebellion which ravaged the region until finally put down in 1873. In 1856 an attempt to regain Nanjing was was defeated and the Panthay Rebellion broke out in Yunnan.

While in the Chinese interior rebel armies were raised everywhere, in the coasts an initially minor incident triggered the Second Opium War. Anglo-French forces, after inciting a few battles on the coast near Tianjin, of which not all were victories, attempted "negotiation" with the Qing Government. Xian Feng, under the influence of the Concubine Yi (懿貴妃, later the Empress Dowager Cixi), believed in Chinese superiority and would not agree to any colonial demands. He delegated Prince Gong for several negotiations but relations broke down completely when a British diplomatic envoy, Sir Harry Parkes, was arrested during negotiations on 18 September.

The Anglo-French invasion clashed with Sengge Rinchen's Mongolian cavalry on 18 September near Zhangjiawan before proceeding toward the outskirts of Beijing for a decisive battle in Tongzhou District, Beijing.On 21 September, at the Battle of Palikao, Sengge Rinchen's 10,000 troops including elite Mongolian cavalry were completely annihilated after several doomed frontal charges against concentrated firepower of the Anglo-French forces, which entered Beijing on 6 October.

On 18 October 1860, the western forces went on to loot and burn the Imperial Summer Palaces of Qīngyī Yuán (清漪园/清漪園) and Yuánmíng Yuán (圆明园/圓明園). Upon learning about this news, Xianfeng's health quickly turned for the worse.

While negotiations with the European powers were in deliberation, Emperor Xianfeng and his Imperial entourage fled to the northern palace in Jehol in the name of annual Imperial hunt. Becoming more ill physically, Xian Feng's ability to govern also deteriorated, leading to competing ideologies in court that eventually formed two distinct factions — those under the rich Manchu Sushun, Princes Yi and Zheng; and those under the Concubine Yi, supported by Gen. Ronglu and Yehenala Bannermen.

Death

Xian Feng died on 22 August 1861, at the imperial summer resort (行宮 xinggong) in Jehol, 230 kilometers northeast of Beijing. Being succeeded by his one surviving son, Zaichun, who was barely 6 years old, Xianfeng had summoned Sushun and his group to his bedside a day before, giving them an Imperial Edict dictating the power structure during the young Emperor's minority. The edict appointed four members of the Imperial line, namely, Zaiyuan, the Prince Yi; Duanhua, the Prince Zheng; Duke Jingshou; and Sushun, and four Ministers, Muyin, Kuangyuan, Du Han, and Jiao Youying, as the eight members of a new regency council to aid the young Emperor. By tradition, after the death of an Emperor, the body was to be accompanied to the Capital by the regents. Concubine Yi and the Empress, who were now both given titles of Empress Dowager, traveled to Beijing ahead of time, and planned a coup that ousted Sushun from the regency. The Concubine Yi would subsequently rule China for the next 47 years, as the Empress Dowager Cixi.

Emperor Xianfeng was interred in the Eastern Qing Tombs (清東陵), 125 kilometers/75 miles east of Beijing, in the Dingling (定陵 "Tomb of Quietude") mausoleum complex.

Legacy

Xian Feng's reign saw the continued declined of the Qing dynasty. Mired by the rise of rebellions in the country, coincidentally starting the year of his reign - which would not be quelled until well entered the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor, resulting in millions of death. Xian Feng also had to deal with the English and French closer to home and their ever growing appetite to expand trade further into China. Xian Feng, who was not unlike his predecessor and father, the Daoguang Emperor, understood very little about the Europeans and their mindset. While westerners saw different nations as equals deserving mutual respect as an international norm, Xian Feng viewed non-Chinese Europeans as inferior and regarded the Europeans repeated requests to be treated as equal as an offence. When the Europeans introduced the long held concept of an exchanged consular relationship, Xian feng quickly rebuffed the idea.

During the Second Opium War, repeated requests by Europeans to meet with Xian Feng were also denied. At the time of Xian Feng's death, he had not even once met any foreign dignitaries.

Family

See also: Qing Dynasty nobility and Ranks of Imperial Consorts in China#Qing
  1. Empress Xiaodexian (孝德显皇后萨克达氏) (d. January 1850). Entered the Forbidden City as Lady Sakda of the Sakda clan, raised to the rank of Empress after her death when Yizhu became the Xianfeng Emperor. She was granted the posthumous title of Empress Xiaodexian.
  2. Empress Dowager Ci'an (慈安太后) of the Niuhuru clan (1837–1881).
  3. Empress Dowager Cixi (Noble Consort Yi 懿貴妃) (1835–1908).
  4. Consort Li, posthumously known as Imperial Noble Consort Zhuangjing (庄靜皇貴妃) (1837–1890).
  5. Imperial Noble Consort Duanke (端恪皇貴妃) of the Tunggiya clan (1844–1910).
  6. Noble Consort Mei (玫貴妃) (1837–1890), she gave birth to the emperor's second son who died young.
  7. Noble Consort Wan (婉貴妃) (d. 1894) of the Manchu Sujiro clan.
  8. Consort Lu (璷妃) (d. 1895) of the Manchu Nara clan.
  9. Consort Ji (吉妃) (d. 1905) of the Wang clan.
  10. Consort Xi (禧妃) (d. 1877) of the Chahala clan.
  11. Consort Qing (慶妃) (d. 1885) of the Han Chinese Zhang clan.
  12. Imperial Concubine Yun (雲嬪) (d. 1855) of the Wugiya clan.
  13. Imperial Concubine Rong (容嫔) (d. 1869) of the Manchu Irgen-Gioro clan.
  14. Imperial Concubine Shu (璹嫔) (d. 1874) of the Manchu Yehenara clan.
  15. Imperial Concubine Yu (玉嫔) (d. 1862) younger sister of Imperial Concubine Shu.
  16. First Class Female Attendant Ping (玶常在) (d. 1857) of the Manchu Irgen-Gioro clan. She entered the palace as a concubine of the fourth rank but for unknown reason she was demoted by three rank. In 1856 she was promoted by one rank but she died the following year.
  17. First Class Female Attendant Chun (瑃常在) (d. 1859).
  18. First Class Female Attendant Xin (鑫常在) (d. 1859).
  1. Zaichun, (son of Empress Dowager Cixi) who became the Tongzhi Emperor after the Xianfeng Emperor's death.
  2. Second son (1858) by Noble Consort Mei. He was posthumously given the title of Prince Min of the Second Rank (悯郡王).
  3. Kurun Princess Rong'an (榮安固倫公主)(1855–1875), daughter of Imperial Noble Consort Zhuangjing.
  1. Adoptive daughter: Kurun Princess Rongshou (荣壽固伦公主) (1854–1924) was the oldest daughter of Prince Gong.

The Xianfeng Emperor had a large sexual appetite. He was a lover of opera and alcohol, and often became violent with his servants. He was known to smoke opium.[2]

Ancestry

See also

References

  1. ^ Draft history of the Qing dynasty. 《清史稿》卷二百十四．列傳一．后妃傳.
  2. ^ 连载：正说清朝十二帝 SINA

Sources and literature

Books about Empress Dowager Cixi:

Xianfeng Emperor
Born: 17 July 1831 Died: 22 August 1861
Regnal titles
Preceded by
The Daoguang Emperor		 Emperor of China
1850–1861		 Succeeded by
The Tongzhi Emperor