Guangxu
Emperor of Qing
The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the eleventh emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign was largely dominated by his maternal aunt Empress Dowager Cixi. He initiated the radical Hundred Days' Reform but was abruptly stopped when the Empress Dowager launched a coup in 1898, after which he was held under virtual house arrest until his death. Emperor Guangxu was the second son of Yixuan, Prince Chun (a son of the Daoguang Emperor), and his mother, Yehenara Wanzhen, was the sister of Empress Dowager Cixi. After Emperor Tongzhi's death in 1874, he was supported by the two Empress Dowagers (Ci'an and Cixi) to succeed the throne, being adopted at the age of three by Emperor Xianfeng and the two Empress Dowagers, thereby inheriting the throne. During the early years of his reign, the two dowagers jointly handled state affairs. As Ci’an died in 1881, Cixi continued to act as the sole regent. In 1889, Guangxu got married and announced his personal rule. After the failure of the Hundred Days’ Reform in 1898, he was confined by Cixi in the Yingtai Pavilion of Zhongnanhai, completely losing his ruling power. In November 1908, he died of arsenic poisoning at Yingtai. He reigned for 34 years, dying at the age of 38 without leaving any
descendants, and was buried in the Chongling Mausoleum of the Western Qing Tombs. The emperor’s life was turbulent and full of hardships. He was not originally the heir to the throne but was forcibly elevated after Emperor Tongzhi died without an heir. From a young age, he was forced to leave his home and enter the palace, where he was strictly controlled and disciplined by Cixi, enduring many hardships and sorrows. Even after he reached adulthood and began his personal rule, Cixi was unwilling to relinquish her control over state power, making him continue to be a puppet, unable to enjoy the majesty and power of a monarch. During his reign, the Qing dynasty became increasingly impoverished and weak. The Sino-French War, the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Boxer Rebellion followed one after another, causing the dynasty to cede territory and pay indemnities, losing sovereignty and humiliating the nation, leaving the people in misery. Seeing the country’s decline, Guangxu allied with intellectuals to launch the Hundred Days’ Reform, attempting to save and rejuvenate the nation. However, this movement was immediately suppressed by the conservative forces led by Cixi, resulting in his confinement and loss of political power and personal freedom until his untimely death. His tragic fate is rare among emperors. Although historians do not deny the failures and limitations during his reign, he is still regarded as a relatively progressive and enlightened monarch of the dynasty. His image in historical research and literary works is also mostly positive.
The Imperial Chinese Navy was the modern navy of the Qing dynasty of China established in 1875. An Imperial naval force in China first came into existence from 1132 during the Song dynasty and existed in some form until the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912. However, the name "Imperial Chinese Navy" usually only refers to the Qing navy that existed between 1875 and 1912, with "Imperial Chinese Navy" as its official English name. In the 1860s, an attempt was made to establish a modern navy via the British-built Osborn or "Vampire" Fleet to combat the Taiping rebels' US-built gunboats. The so-called "Vampire Fleet", fitted out by the Chinese government for the suppression of piracy on the coast of China, was scrapped owing to the non-fulfilment of the condition that British commander Sherard Osborn should receive orders from the imperial government only. In 1865, the Jiangnan Shipyard was established. In 1874, a Japanese incursion into Taiwan exposed the vulnerability of China at sea. A proposal was made to establish three modern coastal fleets: the Northern Sea or Beiyang Fleet, to defend the Yellow Sea, the Southern Sea or Nanyang Fleet, to defend the East China Sea, and the Canton Sea or Yueyang Fleet, to defend the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. The Beiyang Fleet, with a remit to defend the section of coastline closest to the capital Beijing, was prioritised. A series of warships were ordered from Britain and Germany in the late 1870s, and naval bases were built at Port Arthur and Weihaiwei. The first
British-built ships were delivered in 1881, and the Beiyang Fleet was formally established in 1888. In 1894, the Beiyang Fleet was, on paper, the strongest navy in Asia at the time. However, it was largely lost during the First Sino-Japanese War in the Battle of the Yalu River. Although the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan modern battleships were impervious to Japanese fire, they were unable to sink a single ship and all eight cruisers were lost. The battle displayed once again that the modernisation efforts of China were far inferior to the Meiji Restoration. The Nanyang Fleet was also established in 1875, and grew with mostly domestically built warships and a small number of acquisitions from Britain and Germany. The admiralty or naval board (haijun yamen) was established in 1885. The Nanyang Fleet fought in the Sino-French War, performing somewhat poorly against the French in all engagements. The separate Fujian and Guangdong fleets became part of the Imperial navy after 1875. The Fujian Fleet was almost annihilated during the Sino-French War, and was only able to acquire two new ships thereafter. By 1891, due to budget cuts, the Fujian Fleet was barely a viable fleet. The Guangdong Fleet was established in the late 1860s and was based at Whampoa, in Canton (now Guangzhou). After the First Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Zhidong established a river-based fleet in Hubei.
The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last imperial dynasty in Chinese history. The dynasty, proclaimed in Shenyang in 1636, seized control of Beijing in 1644, which is considered the start of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty lasted until 1912, when it was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution. In Chinese historiography, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multi-ethnic Qing dynasty assembled the territorial base for modern China. It was the largest imperial dynasty in the history of China and in 1790 the fourth-largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size. With over 426 million citizens in 1907, it was the most populous country in the world at the time. Nurhaci, leader of the House of Aisin-Gioro and vassal of the Ming dynasty, unified Jurchen clans (known later as Manchus) and founded the Later Jin dynasty in 1616, renouncing the Ming overlordship. His son Hong Taiji was declared Emperor of the Great Qing in 1636. As Ming
control disintegrated, peasant rebels captured the Ming capital Beijing, but a Ming general opened the Shanhai Pass to the Qing army, which defeated the rebels, seized the capital, and took over the government in 1644 under the Shunzhi Emperor and his prince regent. Resistance from Ming rump regimes and the Revolt of the Three Feudatories delayed the complete conquest until 1683. As a Manchu emperor, the Kangxi Emperor (1661–1722) consolidated control, relished the role of a Confucian ruler, patronised Buddhism (including Tibetan Buddhism), encouraged scholarship, population and economic growth. Han officials worked under or in parallel with Manchu officials. To maintain prominence over its neighbors, the Qing leveraged and adapted the tributary system employed by previous dynasties, enabling their continued predominance in diplomatic affairs with countries on its periphery like Joseon Korea and the Lê dynasty in Vietnam, while extending its control over Inner Asia including Tibet, Mongolia, and Xinjiang. The High Qing era reached its apex during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735–1796), who led Ten Great Campaigns of conquest, and personally supervised Confucian cultural projects. After his death, the dynasty faced internal revolts, economic disruption, official corruption, foreign intrusion, and the reluctance of Confucian elites to change their mindset. With peace and prosperity, the population rose to 400 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, soon leading to a fiscal crisis. Following China's defeat in the Opium Wars, Western colonial powers forced the Qing government to sign unequal treaties, granting them trading privileges, extraterritoriality and treaty ports under their control. The Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) and the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) in western China led to the deaths of over 20 million people, from famine, disease, and war. The Tongzhi Restoration in the 1860s brought vigorous reforms and the introduction of foreign military technology in the Self-Strengthening Movement. Defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 led to loss of suzerainty over Korea and cession of Taiwan to Japan. The ambitious Hundred Days' Reform in 1898 proposed fundamental change, but was poorly executed and terminated by the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908) in a coup. In 1900 anti-foreign "Boxers" killed many Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries; in retaliation, the foreign powers invaded China and imposed a punitive indemnity. In response, the government initiated unprecedented fiscal and administrative reforms, including elections, a new legal code, and the abolition of the examination system. Sun Yat-sen and revolutionaries debated reform officials and constitutional monarchists such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao over how to transform the Manchu-ruled empire into a modernised Han state. After the deaths of the Guangxu Emperor and Cixi in 1908, Manchu conservatives at court blocked reforms and alienated reformers and local elites alike. The Wuchang Uprising on 10 October 1911 led to the Xinhai Revolution. The abdication of the Xuantong Emperor on 12 February 1912 brought the dynasty to an end. In 1917, it was briefly restored in an episode known as the Manchu Restoration, but this was neither recognized by the Beiyang government (1912–1928) of the Republic of China nor the international community.
Awards: Collar, sash and star of the Imperial Order of the Double Dragon.
