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The Tongzhi Emperor (Wade-Giles: T'ung-chih Emperor; 27 April 185612 January 1875), born Zaichun (Wade-Giles: Tsai-chun) of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, was the tenth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the eighth Qing emperor to rule over China. His reign, from 1861 to 1875, which effectively lasted through his adolescence, was largely overshadowed by the rule of his mother Empress Dowager Cixi. Although he had little influence over state affairs, the events of his reign gave rise to what historians call the "Tongzhi Restoration", an unsuccessful attempt to stabilise and modernise China. ==Biography== The only surviving son of the Xianfeng Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi, Tongzhi attempted political reform in the period of the Tongzhi Restoration. His first regnal name was Qixiang (祺祥; Manchu: ''Fengšengge Sabingga''), but this name was later abandoned by Cixi in favour of Tongzhi, a contraction of the classical phrase ''tonggui yu zhi'' (), which means "restoring order together". An alternate interpretation reads it as "mother and son co-emperors" (), which fits the state of affairs, as the empress dowager wielded real power and ruled behind the scenes. The traditional Chinese political phrase "attending audiences behind a curtain" () was coined to describe Cixi's rule through her son. Tongzhi became emperor at the age of five upon the death of his father, the Xianfeng Emperor. His father's choice of regent, Sushun, was removed in favour of a partnership between his mother Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Dowager Ci'an, and his uncle Prince Gong. While there had most likely been hopes that Tongzhi would become a leader like the second ruler of the Qing Dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor (who himself had succeeded to the throne as a child in 1661), those hopes would soon come to naught, as Tongzhi grew into an obstinate and dissolute young man. In the fall of 1872, the teenage emperor was married off to the Empress Alute and several concubines. Tongzhi apparently had wanted to take up power immediately, prompting a quarrel at court regarding the dismantling of the regency and the timing of it. However, the dowager empresses stuck by the intended date of February 23, 1873.〔Seagrave, Sterling ''Dragon Lady: the Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China ''(Knopf, 1992), pg. 130-131〕 The day after Tongzhi took up the reins of power, the foreign powers requested an audience with the teenage emperor. The request precipitated a sharp disagreement between the ministers at the foreign legations, who made it clear that they would not perform the ritual kowtow to the emperor, and the Zongli Yamen, regarding the protocol to be observed. The Qing government was also loath to hold the audience within the confines of the Forbidden City, eventually settling on the "Pavilion of Purple Light" at one of the lakeside palaces to the west of the Forbidden City, which is now part of Zhongnanhai.〔Seagrave, pg. 131〕 The audience was finally held on June 29, 1873. After the audience however, the foreign ministers made it clear their annoyance of being received at a hall initially used by the Qing emperors to receive envoys of tributary states. In the fall of 1874, Tongzhi got into a clash with his ministers, which included his two uncles, Prince Gong and Yixuan, Prince Chun (the latter being a half brother of the Xianfeng Emperor and was also married to Dowager Empress Cixi's younger sister), largely over the emperor's plans to rebuild the Old Summer Palace at a time in which the empire was bankrupt, and over his dissolute behavior. Tongzhi reacted by firing the ministers, but Dowager Empresses Ci'an and Cixi intervened, and he had them reinstated. That December, it was announced that he was ill with smallpox, and the Dowager Empresses resumed the regency. He died on January 12, 1875, leaving no sons to succeed him. His death left the court in a succession crisis, as, although he was childless, his empress was reportedly pregnant. Eventually, the dowager empresses named Tongzhi's three-year-old cousin (son of Prince Chun and Dowager Empress Cixi's sister), Prince Zaitien, as Tongzhi's successor, who would ascend the throne as the Guangxu Emperor, with the Dowager Empresses Ci'an and Cixi resuming their roles as regents. Tongzhi's empress would die a few months later. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tongzhi Emperor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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