Guangxu Emperor
Qing · 11th ruler
光緒帝 Guāngxù Dì愛新覺羅載湉 Àixīnjuéluó Zàitián
Wade–Giles: Kuang-hsü Emperor · Ai-hsin-chüeh-lo Tsai-t'ien
Reigned 1875–1908 (33 years)
Reigned 33 years (1875–1908). Assassinated at 38 (East Asian reckoning). 11th ruler of Qing.
Facts
- Reign
- 25 February 1875 – 14 November 1908 (11th ruler of Qing)
- Length of reign
- 33 years
- Born
- August 1871
- Died
- 14 November 1908
- Age at accession
- 5
- Age at death
- 38
- Cause of death
- AssassinatedKilled by officials, relatives, eunuchs or others within the same regime (including poisoning)
- Path to the throne
- Installed by othersSucceeded the previous ruler of the same regime, but the choice was made by officials, the army, eunuchs, consort kin, an empress dowager or the imperial clan
- Predecessor
- Tongzhi Emperor
- Successor
- Puyi
- Era names
- 光緒 Guāngxù (proclaimed 1875)
Ages are given in East Asian reckoning (sui): a person is one year old at birth and gains a year at each New Year, so the figure is one or two years higher than the Western age.
Life
In brief
After the defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War he launched a reform program, and in the same year Empress Dowager Cixi resumed her guidance of the government and he lost real power. The official history says he died of illness, but a study in 2008 found arsenic far beyond a lethal dose in his hair.
Road to the throne
He was the son of Yixuan, Prince Chun, the seventh son of the Daoguang Emperor, and his mother was a younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi. When the Tongzhi Emperor died without a son, the two empresses dowager made the Guangxu Emperor succeed as the son of the Xianfeng Emperor, and decided that when he had a son, that son would become the Tongzhi Emperor's heir. After his accession the two empresses dowager ran the government from behind a screen.
Reign and death
In 1889 Cixi handed the government back and the Guangxu Emperor's personal rule began. At the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, by the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, the Qing recognized the independence of Korea and ceded Taiwan, the Penghu Islands and other territory. In 1898 he issued an edict setting the course of the state and promoted Kang Youwei, but in the autumn of that year Cixi resumed her guidance, Kang Youwei's arrest was ordered, and six men including Tan Sitong were beheaded. The Guangxu Emperor was declared ill and moved to the Yingtai. When the Eight-Nation Alliance took Beijing in 1900, he fled to Taiyuan with Cixi. He fell ill in 1907 and died at the Yingtai in 1908, and Cixi died the following day. The Draft History of Qing, in both his annals and Cixi's biography, describes his death as the course of an illness, and says nothing of poisoning. In 2008 a joint Chinese investigation analyzed his hair, remains and clothing, found arsenic at hundreds of times the level in people of his time, and concluded that he died of acute poisoning. That physical evidence is why this site gives his cause of death as assassination. Who administered the poison has not been identified.
Translated from the Japanese text of this site, which is written from the official histories. Years are given in the Western calendar; months are omitted because the histories use the Chinese lunar calendar.
During the reign
Number of times each event is recorded in the official histories. How each item is counted
- Era name changes
- 1
- General amnesties
- 1
- Empresses installed
- 1
- Crown princes deposed
- 1
- Personal campaigns
- 0
- Rebellions suppressed
- 55
- Rebellions faced
- 57
- Capital relocations
- 0
Emperors of Qing
- 2ndHong Taiji清太宗 Qīng Tàizōng愛新覺羅皇太極 Àixīnjuéluó Huángtàijí1636–1643 · 7 years · Unknown, age 521636–16437 yearsUnknown, age 52
- 3rdShunzhi Emperor順治帝 Shùnzhì Dì愛新覺羅福臨 Àixīnjuéluó Fúlín1643–1661 · 17 years · Natural causes, age 241643–166117 yearsNatural causes, age 24
- 4thKangxi Emperor康熙帝 Kāngxī Dì愛新覺羅玄燁 Àixīnjuéluó Xuányè1661–1722 · 61 years · Natural causes, age 691661–172261 yearsNatural causes, age 69
- 5thYongzheng Emperor雍正帝 Yōngzhèng Dì愛新覺羅胤禛 Àixīnjuéluó Yìnzhēn1722–1735 · 12 years · Disputed, age 581722–173512 yearsDisputed, age 58
- 6thQianlong Emperor乾隆帝 Qiánlóng Dì愛新覺羅弘曆 Àixīnjuéluó Hónglì1735–1796 · 60 years · Natural causes, age 891735–179660 yearsNatural causes, age 89
- 7thJiaqing Emperor嘉慶帝 Jiāqìng Dì愛新覺羅顒琰 Àixīnjuéluó Yóngyǎn1796–1820 · 24 years · Natural causes, age 611796–182024 yearsNatural causes, age 61
- 8thDaoguang Emperor道光帝 Dàoguāng Dì愛新覺羅旻寧 Àixīnjuéluó Mínníng1820–1850 · 29 years · Natural causes, age 691820–185029 yearsNatural causes, age 69
- 9thXianfeng Emperor咸豐帝 Xiánfēng Dì愛新覺羅奕詝 Àixīnjuéluó Yìzhǔ1850–1861 · 11 years · Natural causes, age 311850–186111 yearsNatural causes, age 31
- 10thTongzhi Emperor同治帝 Tóngzhì Dì愛新覺羅載淳 Àixīnjuéluó Zàichún1861–1875 · 13 years · Natural causes, age 191861–187513 yearsNatural causes, age 19
- 11thGuangxu Emperor光緒帝 Guāngxù Dì愛新覺羅載湉 Àixīnjuéluó Zàitián1875–1908 · 33 years · Assassinated, age 381875–190833 yearsAssassinated, age 38
- 12th, 13th, 14thPuyi宣統帝 Xuāntǒng Dì愛新覺羅溥儀 Àixīnjuéluó Pǔyí1908–1912; restored 1917; restored 1934–1945 · 14 years · Natural causes, age 621908–1912; restored 1917; restored 1934–194514 yearsNatural causes, age 62