Tongzhi
Tongzhi ( Chinese 同治 , Pinyin Tóngzhì , born April 27, 1856 in Beijing , † January 12, 1875 there ) was Emperor of China from November 11, 1861 until his death . He came from the Qing Dynasty and succeeded his father Xianfeng to the throne at the age of five. Until he came of age in 1872, the regency was exercised by his mother Cixi .
Life
Tongzhi was the son of Emperor Xianfeng and his concubine Yehonala (Cixi). In the event of his death, his father had a regency regulation, according to which the Manchuadl Sushun should be the first among equals to form an eight-member Regency Council until the emperor came of age. Xianfeng also provided his wife Cixi with an imperial seal on behalf of Tongzhi, which was required for the formal confirmation of imperial edicts. On the occasion of the transfer of Xianfeng's remains, Cixi succeeded in 1860 together with Prince Gong , who controlled Beijing and his garrison, to carry out a palace revolt . They were able to execute the members of the Regency Council who were punished by edict as responsible for the defeat in the Second Opium War. Four dignitaries, including Sushun, were executed. Empress Dowager Cixi secured the position of regency for herself, Prince Gong became her closest advisor. Cixi caused Tongzhi to grow up only in palaces , without the military training of his forefathers; Cixi's motives for this are not clear.
The “ Tongzhi Restoration ” bears the name of the emperor, but was put into practice by Cixi and her advisor, the scholar-general Zeng Guofan .
In 1875, Tongzhi died at the age of only eighteen without leaving an heir. The Dowager Empress Cixi announced that he had died of smallpox . The young emperor probably died of syphilis because he liked to leave the Forbidden City and visit Beijing's brothels . When his secret forays and the illness became apparent, Cixi was so angry that she treated him for smallpox and had the court doctor punished.
His wife, Empress Alute, died the same year as he did.
literature
- Wolfram Eberhard , Alide Eberhard: History of China. From the beginnings to the present (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 413). Kröner, Stuttgart 1971, DNB 456503854 .
- John King Fairbank : History of Modern China. 1800-1985. 2nd Edition. dtv, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-423-04497-7
- Jacques Gernet : The Chinese World. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-518-38005-2
- Gisela Gottschalk : China's great emperor. Pawlak, Herrsching 1985, ISBN 3-88199-229-4
- Jonathan D. Spence : China's Path to Modernity. Hanser, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-446-16284-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stephen R. Platt: Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom - China, the West and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War. New York, 2012, pp. 224-227
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Xianfeng |
Emperor of China 1861 - 1874 |
Guangxu |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tongzhi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 同治 (Chinese) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Emperor of China |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 27, 1856 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Beijing , China |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 12, 1875 |
| Place of death | Beijing , China |