| Xianfeng Emperor 咸豐帝 | |||||||||||||||||
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 Portrait by an anonymous Qing artist,Palace Museum | |||||||||||||||||
| Emperor of the Qing dynasty | |||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 9 March 1850 – 22 August 1861 | ||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Daoguang Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Tongzhi Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1831-07-17)17 July 1831 Imperial Gardens,Beijing | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | 22 August 1861(1861-08-22) (aged 30) Mountain Estate,Jehol | ||||||||||||||||
| Burial | Ding Mausoleum,Eastern Qing tombs | ||||||||||||||||
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| House | Aisin-Gioro | ||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Qing | ||||||||||||||||
| Father | Daoguang Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Empress Xiaoquancheng | ||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 咸豐帝 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 咸丰帝 | ||||||||||||||||
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TheXianfeng Emperor (17 July 1831 – 22 August 1861), also known by histemple nameEmperor Wenzong of Qing, personal nameYizhu, was the eighthemperor of theQing dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule overChina proper. During his reign, the Qing dynasty experienced several wars and rebellions including theTaiping Rebellion, theNian Rebellion, and theSecond Opium War. He was the last Chinese emperor to exercise sole power.
The fourth son of theDaoguang Emperor, he assumed the throne in 1850 and inherited an empire in crisis. A few months after his ascension, the Taiping Rebellion broke out in southern China and rapidly spread, culminating in thefall of Nanjing in 1853. Contemporaneously, the Nian Rebellion began in the north, followed by ethnic uprisings (theMiao Rebellion and thePanthay Rebellion) in the south. The revolts ravaged large parts of the country, caused millions of deaths and would not be quelled until well into the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor's successor. Qing defeat during the first phase of the Second Opium War led to theTreaty of Tientsin and theTreaty of Aigun, the latter of which resulted in the cession of much ofManchuria to theRussian Empire. Negotiations broke down and hostilities resumed soon after, and in 1860 Anglo-French forces entered Beijing and burned theOld Summer Palace. The Xianfeng Emperor was forced to flee for theimperial estate at Jehol, and theConvention of Peking was negotiated in his absence.
His health was already in rapid decline in the face of mounting Qing losses. He died in 1861 in Jehol at the age of 30 and was succeeded by his six-year-old son, who assumed the throne as theTongzhi Emperor. On his deathbed, the Xianfeng Emperor appointed eight men to a regency council to assist his young successor. A few months later,Empress Dowager Cixi andEmpress Dowager Ci'an along withPrince Gong instigated theXinyou Coup and ousted the regents. Cixi ultimately rose to sole power and consolidated control over the Qing government.
Yizhu was born in 1831 at theOld Summer Palace, eight kilometres northwest ofBeijing. He was from the ManchuAisin Gioro clan, and was the fourth son of theDaoguang Emperor. His mother was theNoble Consort Quan, of the ManchuNiohuru clan, who was made Empress in 1834, and is known posthumously asEmpress Xiaoquancheng. Yizhu was reputed to have an ability in literature and administration which surpassed most of his brothers, which impressed his father, who therefore decided to make him his successor.
Yizhu succeeded the throne in 1850, at age 19, and was a relatively young emperor. He inherited a dynasty that faced not only internal but also foreign challenges. Yizhu'sreign title, "Xianfeng", which means "universal prosperity", did not reflect the situation. In 1850, the first of a series of popular rebellions began that would nearly destroy the Qing dynasty. TheTaiping Rebellion began in December 1850, whenHong Xiuquan, aHakka leader of a syncretic Christian sect, defeated local forces sent to disperse his followers. Hong then proclaimed the establishment of theTaiping Heavenly Kingdom and the rebellion spread to several provinces with amazing speed. The following year, theNian Rebellion started inNorth China. Unlike the Christian-influenced Taiping rebels, the Nian movement lacked a clear political program, but they became a serious threat to the Qing capital,Beijing, with the mobility of their cavalry-based armies. The Qing imperial forces suffered repeated defeats at the hands of both rebel movements.
In 1853, the Taiping rebelscaptured Nanjing and for a while it seemed that Beijing would fall next; but theTaiping northern expedition was defeated and the situation stabilized. The Xianfeng Emperor dispatched several prominentmandarins, such asZeng Guofan and the Mongol generalSengge Rinchen, to crush the rebellions, but they only obtained limited success. The biggestrevolt of theMiao people against Chinese rule in history started in 1854, and ravaged the region until finally put down in 1873. In 1856, an attempt to regain Nanjingwas defeated and thePanthay Rebellion broke out inYunnan.
Meanwhile, an initially minor incident on the coasts triggered theSecond Opium War. The British and French, after engaging in a number of minor military confrontations on the coast nearTianjin, attempted to start negotiations with the Qing government. The Xianfeng Emperor believed in Chinese superiority and would not agree to any demands from the European powers. He delegatedPrince Gong for several negotiations but relations broke down completely when a British diplomat,Sir Harry Parkes, was taken hostage by Chinese forces during negotiations on 18 September.
Anglo-French forces clashed with Sengge Rinchen's Mongol cavalry on 18 September near Zhangjiawan before proceeding toward the outskirts of Beijing for a decisive battle inTongzhou District, Beijing. On 21 September, at theBattle of Palikao, Sengge Rinchen's 10,000 troops, including his elite Mongol cavalrymen, were completely annihilated after several doomed frontal charges against the concentrated firepower of the Anglo-French forces, which entered Beijing on 6 October. On 18 October 1860, British and French forces sacked and burntOld Summer Palace. Upon learning about this news, the Xianfeng Emperor's health quickly deteriorated.
During the Xianfeng Emperor's reign, China lost part ofManchuria to theRussian Empire. In 1858, according to theTreaty of Aigun, the territory between theStanovoy Range and theAmur River was ceded to Russia, and in 1860, according to theTreaty of Beijing, the same thing happened also to the area east of theUssuri River. After that treaty, the Russians founded the city ofVladivostok in the area they had annexed.
While negotiations with British, French and Russian officials were being held, the Xianfeng Emperor and his imperial entourage fled toJehol province in the name of conducting the annual imperial hunting expedition. As his health worsened, the emperor's ability to govern also deteriorated, and competing ideologies in court led to the formation of two distinct factions — one led by the senior officialSushun and the princesZaiyuan andDuanhua, and the other led byNoble Consort Yi, who was supported by the generalRonglu and theBannermen of theYehe Nara clan.
The Xianfeng Emperor died on 22 August 1861, from a short life of overindulgence, at theChengde Mountain Resort, 230 kilometres northeast ofBeijing. His successor was his surviving five-year-old son,Zaichun. A day before his death, the Xianfeng Emperor had summoned Sushun and his supporters to his bedside and gave them an imperial edict that dictated the power structure during his son's minority. The edict appointed eight men –Zaiyuan,Duanhua,Jingshou,Sushun,Muyin, Kuang Yuan, Du Han and Jiao Youying – as an eight-member regency council to aid Zaichun, who was later enthroned as theTongzhi Emperor.[1] Xianfeng gave the eight men the power of regency, but their edicts would have to be endorsed by Noble Consort Yi and Empress Consort Zhen. By tradition, after the death of an emperor, the emperor's body was to be accompanied to the capital by the regents.Noble Consort Yi andEmpress Consort Zhen, who were now known as Empress Dowagers Cixi and Ci'an travelled ahead toBeijing and planneda coup withPrince Gong that ousted the eight regents. Empress Dowager Cixi then effectively ruled China over the subsequent 47 years as a regent.
The Xianfeng Emperor was interred in theEastern Qing Tombs, 125 kilometres/75 miles east ofBeijing, in the Ding (定; lit. "Quietude")mausoleum complex.
The Qing dynasty continued to decline during the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor. Rebellions in the country, which began the first year of his reign, would not be quelled until well into the reign of theTongzhi Emperor and resulted in millions of deaths. The Xianfeng Emperor also had to deal with the British and French and their ever-growing appetite to expand trade further into China. The Xianfeng Emperor, like his father, theDaoguang Emperor, understood very little about Europeans and their mindset. He viewed non-Chinese as inferior and regarded the repeated requests by the Europeans for the establishment of diplomatic relations as an offence. When the Europeans introduced the long-held concept of an exchanged consular relationship, the Xianfeng Emperor quickly rebuffed the idea. At the time of his death, he had not met with any foreign dignitary.
Despite his tumultuous decade of reign, the Xianfeng Emperor was commonly seen as the last Qing emperor to have held paramount authority, ruling in his own right. The reigns of his son and subsequent successors were overseen by regents, a trend present until the fall of the Qing dynasty.
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Emperor of the Qing dynasty Emperor of China 1850–1861 | Succeeded by |
Emperors of theQing dynasty | ||
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Later Jin rulers posthumously regarded as Qing emperors Enthroned in 1626 asKhan,Hong Taiji changed the dynastic name to "Great Qing" in 1636 and claimed the title of emperor. | .svg) | |
Xia →Shang →Zhou →Qin →Han →3 Kingdoms →Jìn /16 Kingdoms →S. Dynasties /N. Dynasties →Sui →Tang →5 Dynasties & 10 Kingdoms →Liao /Song /W. Xia /Jīn →Yuan →Ming →Qing →ROC /PRC | ||
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