Empress Dowager Ci'an
Empress Xiaozhenxian, of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Niohuru clan, was a posthumous name bestowed to the wife and empress consort of Yizhu, the Xianfeng Emperor. She was empress consort of Qing from 1852 until her husband's death in 1861, after which she was honored as Empress Dowager Ci'an.
As empress dowager and one of the most senior members of the imperial family, she and Empress Dowager Cixi became co-regents during the reign of two young emperors: Zaichun, the Tongzhi Emperor and later Zaitian, the Guangxu Emperor. Although in principle, she had precedence over Cixi, Ci'an was in fact a self-effacing person and seldom intervened in politics, but she was the decision-maker in most family affairs. Instead, Empress Dowager Cixi was the decision-maker in most state affairs.
A popular view of Empress Dowager Ci'an is that she was a highly respectable person, always quiet, never hot-tempered, and that she treated everybody very well and was highly respected by the Xianfeng Emperor. However, some historians have painted a very different reality, mainly that of a self-indulgent and idle Empress Dowager Ci'an, who did not care as much for government and hard work as she cared for the pleasures and sweet life inside the Forbidden City.
Life
Family background
Empress Xiaozhenxian's personal name was not recorded in history.- Father: Muyang'a, served as an official in Guangxi, and held the title of a third class duke
- * Paternal grandfather: Fukejing'a
- * Paternal grandmother: Lady Aisin Gioro
- * Paternal aunt: Lady Niohuru, Duanhua's primary consort, the maternal grandmother of Empress Xiaozheyi
- Mother: Lady Giyanggiya
- One brother: Guangke
- One sister: Lady Niohuru, primary consort of Prince Zhuanghou of the first rank, Yiren
The future empress's great-grandfather, Fukejing'a, served as a management official in Xining and held the title of a baron. Her grandfather, Cebutan, served as a second-rank commander in Shanxi Province and also held the title of a baron. Her father, Muyang'a, served as an official in Guangxi Province and held the title of a third class cheng'en duke. Muyang'a's primary consort was the granddaughter of Qingheng, a great-grandson of Nurhaci, but it was Lady Jiang, a concubine of Muyang'a, who was Xiaozhenxian's birth mother. Her brother, Guangke, served as a general in Hangzhou. Her aunt married Duanhua, a prominent noble and close adviser of the Xianfeng Emperor.
Daoguang era
The future Empress Xiaozhenxian was born on the 12th day of the seventh lunar month in the 17th year of the reign of the Daoguang Emperor, which translates to 12 August 1837 in the Gregorian calendar.Xianfeng era
When the Daoguang Emperor died on 15 February 1850, his fourth son, Yizhu, succeeded him and was enthroned as the Xianfeng Emperor. The Xianfeng Emperor's primary consort had died a month before the emperor's coronation and was posthumously honoured as "Empress Xiaodexian". The process of selecting a new primary consort to be the Xianfeng Emperor's empress consort, however, was delayed due to the mourning period for the Daoguang Emperor.The auditions for the Xianfeng Emperor's consorts took place in 1851 in the Forbidden City. Lady Niohuru was among the candidates shortlisted by Dowager Consort Kangci, the highest ranked living consort of the Daoguang Emperor at the time. However, some sources claimed that Lady Niohuru entered the Forbidden City in the late 1840s and became a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor, who was still known as the Fourth Prince then.
Lady Niohuru's status within the palace rose rapidly. On 14 June 1852, she was granted the title "Concubine Zhen". In late June or early July 1852, she was elevated to "Noble Consort Zhen". On 24 July 1852, she was officially designated as the Empress. As Empress, she was put in charge of the emperor's harem. Some sources claim that Lady Niohuru was already designated as the Xianfeng Emperor's primary spouse after the death of her predecessor, Empress Xiaodexian.
Imperial customs required that the emperor spend one day a month with the empress. The Empress remained childless. On 27 April 1856, another of the Xianfeng Emperor's consorts, Concubine Yi, gave birth to the emperor's first son, Zaichun. Some biographers mentioned that the Empress gave birth to the Xianfeng Emperor's only daughter, Princess Rong'an of the First Rank, who was actually born to Concubine Li. However, as Empress, Lady Niohuru was nominally the mother of all the Xianfeng Emperor's children, regardless of whether or not she was their birth mother. Consequently, it was the Empress who raised the Xianfeng Emperor's children and decided their punishment when they did not obey her. Concubine Yi had little to say in her son's upbringing. She once recalled, "I had... quite a lot of trouble with and found it very difficult to keep on good terms with her."
Tongzhi era
On 22 August 1861, in the wake of the Second Opium War, the Xianfeng Emperor died at the Rehe Traveling Palace, northeast of Beijing, where he and his imperial court had fled to when the Anglo-French forces closed in on the Forbidden City. He was succeeded by his sole surviving son, Zaichun, who was only five years old then; Zaichun was enthroned as the Tongzhi Emperor. A power struggle broke out between two factions over the issue of who should assume the regency until Zaichun was old enough to rule on his own. On his deathbed, the Xianfeng Emperor had appointed his close adviser Sushun and seven others to be the regents. However, Noble Consort Yi, the Tongzhi Emperor's birth mother, also wanted to assume the regency. The Empress initially agreed to cooperate with Sushun and his seven co-regents, but changed her mind after being persuaded by Noble Consort Yi. In November 1861, with aid from Yixin, Prince Gong, the Xianfeng Emperor's sixth brother, and, Yixuan, Prince Chun, the Xianfeng's seventh brother, and husband of Noble Consort Yi's younger sister, Yehenara Wanzhen, the Empress and Noble Consort Yi staged a coup – historically known as the Xinyou Coup – against the eight regents and ousted them from power, thereby securing control of the regency.Noble Consort Yi was elevated to the status of Empress Dowager and honoured as "Holy Mother, Empress Dowager", since she was not the Xianfeng Emperor's primary wife and became Empress Dowager only as the biological mother of the reigning Tongzhi Emperor. She was given the honorific name "Cixi". The Empress, on the other hand, as the former Emperor's primary wife and the reigning Emperor's nominal mother, was also elevated to Empress Dowager and honoured as "Mother Empress, Empress Dowager" – a title which gave her precedence over Empress Dowager Cixi – and was given the honorific name "Ci'an". Because her living quarters were in the eastern part of the Forbidden City, Empress Dowager Ci'an was informally referred to as the "East Empress Dowager"; Empress Dowager Cixi, who lived in the western part, was also informally known as the "West Empress Dowager". Empress Dowager Ci'an spent most of her life in the Palace of Gathering Essence. On several occasions after 1861, Ci'an was given additional honorific names, as was customary for emperors and empresses, until by the end of her life her name was a long even string of characters beginning with Ci'an.
Imperial records did not explain why there was a difference of 24 hours between the times when the Empress Niohuru and Noble Consort Yi were elevated from their original statuses to the same position of empress dowager. According to Tony Teng, Noble Consort Yi and Sushun had a quarrel over the granting of honours after the Xianfeng Emperor's death. It is believed that the Empress, as the primary wife of the recently deceased emperor, had supported Noble Consort Yi, thus forcing Sushun to yield.
The two empresses dowager were appointed joint de facto regents for the Tongzhi Emperor. Because women were not allowed to be seen during imperial court sessions, they had to sit behind a curtain while attending such sessions together with the child emperor. Although in principle she had precedence over Cixi, Ci'an was in fact a self-effacing person and seldom intervened in politics, unlike Cixi, who actually controlled the imperial court. As de facto ruler, Ci'an had to learn about politics, so she and Cixi studied history. In November 1861, in keeping with the imperial custom, they began to consult the records of their Manchu predecessors. In June 1863, they had the contents of Tong Jian Ji Lan explained to them. About a year earlier, an earlier compilation by scholars from the Hanlin Academy, entitled A Valuable Mirror for Excellent Governance, became the text for a series of lectures by scholars and officials that the empresses dowager attended for over two years, the last lecture given in November 1866.
It is thought by many biographers that Cixi was the actual power behind the throne. Despite this, for the first 20 years of her regency she was not allowed to make decisions on her own. Any decree needed the approval of both regents. Both Ci'an and the Tongzhi Emperor were given a seal, but because the emperor was underage, the seal was given to his mother, Cixi. Ci'an's seal was engraved with "Yushang" and Cixi's with "Tongdaotang".
The case of An Dehai
The years after the Xianfeng Emperor's death were called the Tongzhi Restoration. It was a period of peace; the Taiping Rebellion and the Opium Wars with the British ceased. The treasury began growing again after decades of depletion. Empress Dowager Ci'an was little mentioned during this period and her only notable intervention in politics was in 1869. An Dehai, a court eunuch and close aide of Empress Dowager Cixi, was on a trip south to purchase a set of dragon robes for Cixi. While travelling in Shandong Province, he abused his authority by extorting money from people and causing trouble. Ding Baozhen, the Governor of Shandong, reported An Dehai's deeds to the imperial court. Empress Dowager Ci'an received news about it and drafted an imperial decree as follows:
Ding Baozhen reports that a eunuch has been creating disturbance in Shandong Province. According to the magistrate of Dezhou, a eunuch surnamed An and his followers passed through that place by the way of the imperial canal, in two dragon barges, with much display of pomp and pageantry. He announced that he had come on an imperial mission to procure dragon robes. His barges flew a black banner, bearing in its centre the triple imperial emblems of the sun, and there were also dragon and phoenix flags flying on both side, of his vessels. A goodly company of both sexes were in the attendance on this person; there were female musicians, skilled in the use of string and wind instruments. The banks of the canal were lined with crowds of spectators, who witnessed with amazement and admiration his progress. The 21st day of the last month happened to be this eunuch's birthday, so he arrayed himself in dragon robes and stood on the foredeck of his barge, to receive the homage of his suite. The local magistrate was just about to order his arrest when the barges set sail and proceeded southwards. The governor adds that he has already given orders for his immediate arrest.
We are dumbfounded at his report. How can we ever hope to uphold moral standards within the palace and frighten evildoers unless we make an example of this insolent eunuch, who was dared to leave Beijing without permission and commit these lawless deeds? The governors of these three provinces of Shandong, Henan and Jiangsu are ordered to seek out and arrest the eunuch An whom we had formerly honored with the rank of the sixth grade and the decoration of the crow's feather. Upon his being duly identified by his companions, let him be forth with beheaded, without further formalities, no attention is to be paid to any crafty explanations which he may attempt to make. The governors concerned will be held responsible in the event of failure to affect his arrest.
An Dehai was beheaded on 12 September 1869. This was quite an unusual reaction for Empress Dowager Ci'an, and the execution of An Dehai is said to have greatly displeased Empress Dowager Cixi. Some sources say that Prince Kung forced Ci'an to take an independent decision for a change. Several days after the arrest an edict was issued by Ci'an:
"Ding Baozhen now reports that the eunuch was arrested in Tai'an Prefecture and has been summarily beheaded. Our dynasty's house law is most strict in regard to the proper discipline of eunuchs, and provides severe punishment for any offences to which they may commit. They have always been sternly forbidden to make expeditions to the provinces, or to create trouble. Nevertheless, An Dehai actually had brazen effrontery to violate this law, and for his crimes his execution is only a fitting reward. In future, let all eunuchs take warning by his example; should we have further cause of complaint, the chief eunuchs of the several departments of the household will be punished as well as the actual offender. Any eunuch who may hereafter pretend that he has been sent on imperial business to the provinces shall be cast into chains at once, and sent to Beijing for punishment".