Chapter 10 The Coup d’état of 1861

In August 1860, British and French allied forces landed on the coast near as part of the ongoing Arrow or (1856–1860). Frustrated by British and French negotiating tactics, apparently rogue elements in the Qing government kidnapped and murdered several allied negotiators, who were under a flag of truce. In response, the allies destroyed the “invincible” cavalry of Mongol nobleman Senggelinqin, sacked the Yuanmingyuan , and threatened to storm the walls of Beijing itself. Fearful for his safety, and physically sickened by the destruction of the Summer Palace, the (r. 1850–1861) ordered his younger brother, the Prince of Gong, to re- main behind while he and most of the court fled across the Great Wall to the Bishu shanzhuang summer retreat at Rehe. Even after the Prince of Gong negotiated an end to the war, the Xianfeng Emperor refused to return to Beijing. Over the next year, the emperor’s health steadily deteriorated. In late August 1861, the emperor collapsed and called eight princes and ministers, led by , the Prince of Yi, to his deathbed to hear his final commands; he died in the early hours of August 22, 1861. Over the next two months, tensions emerged between the eight princes and ministers who formed a co-regency for the five-year old emperor and the two empresses dowager, Ci’an and Cixi, who were supported by the Prince of Gong. In early November, the two empresses dowager and the Prince of Gong carried out what became known as the coup d’état of 1861 against the eight co-regents. Historians remain at loggerheads over the motivations for the coup, the pri- mary movers behind it, and the reasons it was carried out with so little blood- shed. For many years, historians embraced the idea that masterminded the coup to gain political power. Revisionist interpretations have played down Cixi’s role in the coup, emphasizing her political weakness, the significant role of the senior Empress Dowager Ci’an, and the general sup- port of the metropolitan and provincial bureaucracy for the ouster of Zaiyuan and his seven co-regents. Instead, it appears the coup effectively solved a cri- sis of imperial authority created by the Xianfeng Emperor’s ill-advised verbal edicts to the eight princes and ministers in which he failed to explain their pre- cise role vis-à-vis the boy emperor. Rather than permit such a crisis to contin- ue, the coup returned to an older imperial model that allowed the empresses dowager to “administer state affairs from behind the curtains.”

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi 10.1163/9789004361003_012 the coup d’État of 1861 121

August 23, 1861

Let Zaichun, the eldest son of the Emperor be Heir Apparent. A Decree Extraordinary.1 Our eldest son, Zaichun, being now constituted Heir Apparent, let Zaiyuan, Duanhua, Jingshou, Sushun, Muyin, Kuang Yuan, Du Han, and Jiao Youying with all their might aid him as Counsellors in all things pertaining to the Administration of Government. A Decree Extraordinary.

August 24, 1861

His Majesty raises the Empress [Ci’an] of the late Emperor, and Yi, the lady of the harem who bore him [Ci’xi], both to the rank of Empress Dowager.

September 23, 1861

Dong Yuanchun, Censor of the Shandong Circuit, respectfully offers for the consideration of Her Imperial Majesty his humble opinion, that practice should be guided by circumstances, while the principles of the past are strictly adhered to. By “that practice should be guided by circumstances” he means that, as the state is now passing through an important crisis, and as in consequence of the tender age at which His Majesty has ascended the throne, the Empress Dowager manages the affairs of Government wearying herself day and night for the good of the state, remedying evils and foreseeing dangers, that it appears to him that an Edict should be issued making it known to foreigners and natives, as then, it being known by all within the seas that the Empress Dowager will temporarily hold the reins of Government during the infancy of the Emperor, and that none of the Ministers have power and authority, the Government will be held in respect and the officers, civil or military, will be afraid to give way to abuses during the time that must elapse before the Emperor comes to be able to direct everything himself and decide what may be for the advantage of the State.

1 Better known as the (r. 1861–1875), Zaichun was the only surviving son of the Xianfeng Emperor (r. 1850–1861) and the Empress Dowager Cixi. Although published after his death, the decrees of August 23 and 24 are in the voice of the Xianfeng Emperor.