EMPEROR TONGZHI DOCUMENTARY - TONGZHI RESTORATION

[Music] after the catastrophic reign of empressian fung the qing dynasty ruling the chinese empire was on the verge of collapse the nation was played by widespread unrest and rebellions and had lost territory and influence to several western nations in the second opium war as xianfeng died in 1861 the throne passed on to his five-year-old son zaichen who would become emperor trung ju his short reign mostly controlled by his mother and stepmother's regency would see a restoration of that sing dynasty [Music] in 1856 as the tsing dynasty was completely losing control on the military political and economic stage weak empressian fung age 24 became father of a boy named zaichen the young imperial child was born of concubini fifth trunk consort to the emperor to thank her for his first son the emperor decided to promote her to concert yi of the fourth rank taichung was born in the old summer palace a huge palace complex next to the capital beijing to which the emperors regularly withdrew it had been built during the haitian era golden age of the dynasty after this period had come to an end with emperor tienlong's late reign that singh dynasty had slowly crumbled losing influence to western powers and control over its population at the time of taichung's birth the nation's treasury was practically empty and the dynasty faced many peasant uprisings in the south of the country the taiping nien red turban and myan rebellions in addition the pantai rebellion was about to break out as well and that xing dynasty would also find itself at war with the french and british empires in 1858 as the second opium war raged on empress jianfeng had a second son who however died immediately after his birth taichun therefore remained the only son of the emperor by autumn 1860 as that qing dynasty was being decisively defeated by the franco-british forces whose soldiers were arriving at the gates of beijing and pristianfang decided to flee the capital escaping the conflict the imperial family including daichion and his mother noble consult ye of the third rank took flight to chonda a city in the imperial domain over two hundred kilometers northeast of beijing [Music] said [Music] before leaving beijing impression fong entrusted his half-brother yi sin prince gaul to deal with the british and the french in the middle of this chaos far from understanding the political turmoil the nation was in young prince zaichion accompanied his parents tonda to the city's mountain resort previous imperial hunting lodge a few weeks later the ting dynasty having lost the second opium war signed the convention of p king large portions of the empire were lost to russia new treaty ports were opened for trade and christianity was legalized devastated and prusianfang refused to return to beijing the imperial family therefore remained in chanda there imperial prince taitran would spend the next few months growing up by 1861 it was time for him to start his education imperial authorities ordered a prominent scholar lee hongdae to tutor their child at the same time empress young fong having lost all hope gave up on state affairs switching to a lifestyle of overindulgence which destroyed his health soon later he fell deeply ill and showed no signs of recovery his death would however lead to a big problem as tycho was only five years old he could not take up the reigns of the empire on his own the dying emperor therefore arranged for eight regions led by manchu noble and so soon to take control of that singh dynasty until taichung reached majority on the 22nd of august 1861 xianfeng died upon the emperor's passing his two main wives the childless empress and noble consort yi taichung's mother were promoted as empress dawa jazan and empress dawaj at sushi cersei had no faith in the eight regions the late emperor had appointed especially in sushun their leader and his two brothers taoyuan and hua moreover she wished to secure political power for herself as tensions grew between the eight regions in her she grew close to tsa'an as well as to the prince gong yi sin and to the prince chun ishwen both being brothers of the late emperor as the imperial funeral procession for xianfeng left chanda for beijing tershi and little prince taichung went ahead of the ceremony and returned to beijing with haste plotting against the eight regions cersei and her allies then fabricated charges against them successfully bringing them down from power alongside with saran the two empresses dowager became the new official regions for taitrom on the 11th of november the boy was crowned as emperor tong zhu first child emperor of the dynasty since glorious kangsi the two empress's regents backed by princess gong anchen aimed to restore the tsing dynasty which was on the verge of collapse internal rebellions were still rampant and the nation was in an extremely weak position vis-a-vis the western powers one of their first measures as regents was to arrange child emperor tundra's education great scholars were appointed as his tutors li hongdae who had previously already taught tongju when he was a prince in chengda shi jintao a politician and poet and wong xin tsun who had been the teacher of late empress jian fong and his brother yeshin the prince gone hopes that the new emperor would grow up to be an enlightened leader like emperor kang shi soon faded as tonjir showed little to no interest in his studies lee hongdae was the only teacher he would occasionally listen to in parallel many scholars who advocated nationwide reforms since the disastrous defeat in the first opium war began to be heard china was about to undergo the self-strengthening movement during the first part of this period the empress's dowager successfully reformed china in what would be called the tongiru restoration i will however detail these events in my empress dawajetsashi video rapidly a change of diplomatic stance with the western powers greatly improved international relations as the zhong li yaman or board of ministers for foreign affairs was created by yisin prince gong to deal with diplomacy with the westerners meanwhile the child empress tutors tried their best to give him a profound classical education tongzhou however grew up to be unsubordinate and stubborn close advisors lost faith in his ability to one day bring china to a powerful position through the efforts of the main figures behind the self-strengthening movement including statesman zhongguo fan who control this young army a modernized force the many rebellions in the nation were gradually crushed improved relations with the western powers also led them to assist and guided singh forces in suppressing the typing rebellion zhongguo fan's apprentice li hong-jong who had distinguished himself in the conflicts founded the jungnan arsenal in shanghai in 1865. this establishment rapidly became the largest modern arms factory in all of east asia the compound also held a language school and western advisors were employed in senior positions by 1872 emperor tongzhi reached the age of 16 the young monarch still showed no interest in his studies nor in state affairs the two regions judged the time had come to organize a marriage for the emperor empress dawajatsan his stepmother advised him into choosing as empress lady aruta a manchu aristocrat of the bordered yellow banner this 18 year old girl was actually the granddaughter of don juan one of the eight regions slate empress jianfeng had appointed at first for tongju because of this tensions immediately rose between her and empress dawajud sashi as both regions tsaran and tsoshi disagreed they decided to let the emperor choose for himself seduced by lady aruta and perhaps to the fights hershey tongzhou did choose her as his wife and she was elevated as empress xiaozi the new empress xiaodi would however be hated by her mother-in-law and prastawajyatsushi for all her life in addition to his main wife teenage emperor tongzho chose two additional concubines and would soon take two more now married and pratongja's ambition was boosted he now wanted to reclaim imperial power and rid himself of his mother and stepmother's regency cersei was however not ready to step down from power yet and refused to restore power to tongju in 1872. she further judged that empress jiaozi acted arrogantly towards her and ended up forcing tongzhi to stop seeing his wife who he seemed to genuinely love consequently tonger found himself isolated in the palace of heavenly purity which increased his frustration during the next few weeks he grew chaotic and even more stubborn often beating servants and showing cruelty it is reported that alongside his cousin daitrong son of his uncle yisin prince gong the two teenagers regularly slipped out of the imperial city during the night and visited bravo's in beijing according to this theory the emperor contracted sexually transmitted disease from this debauchery possibly syphilis by early 1873 protonju had legally come of age this date had been fixed upon the establishment of the regency this time there was nothing tershi could do to retain authority the empress's dowager had no choice but to step down from power as the nearly 17 year old became supreme leader of the tsing dynasty nonetheless it was clear that cersei and sir anne still held unofficial powerful positions and strongly influenced court politics by this period the diplomatic system between china and the west had been completely rearranged foreign envoys were no longer required to counter before the emperor and could hold talks with him directly which symbolically marked the end of the qing dynasty's international authority the foreign powers were eager to hold talks of the young emperor tongju a practice unthinkable only a few decades prior just a few weeks after the emperor had taken up the reigns of the dynasty the french british russians americans dutch and the emerging japanese who would soon become more powerful than the qing dynasty sent diplomats for an audience with the 16 year old leader the japanese envoy was received first and separately and requested compensation for the murder of 54 shipwrecked ryukyun sailors by taiwanese aboriginals back in 1871. the demand was made as the island of taiwan was the mentally ching territory therefore under its responsibility the emperor however denied him the request in retaliation the recently modernized army and navy of the empire of japan led a punitive expedition to taiwan and occupied the island the qing would later have no choice but to pay 500 000 tails of silver for the japanese to withdraw from taiwan following the fashion of his undisciplined childhood tongjiro disliked the daily tasks of a ching emperor although he was pushed to continue his classical education he avoided this duty as much as he could nonetheless tongzhou would have one major project in his short life supported by several conservative officials he wished to restore the old summer palace his birthplace that had been sacked and burned down by the franco-british forces during the second opium war well the emperor claimed he wished to restore the palace as a resting place for his mother empress dowager tsushi and stepmother empress dawujatsan exhausted by the labor of many years in reality this was probably an attempt to keep them away from the imperial court the restoration project would however require huge investment and the meager treasury that had barely been organized during the regency was being spent on repressing the many rebellions therefore a large number of officials protested against the idea nonetheless tongzhou had enough authority to force a project and plans and models were made by imperial architects the empress stubbornness to the restoration of the old summer palace led him to a clash with several ministers including his uncles yisin prince gong and yeshuen prince chin alongside other ministers yesin submitted a memorial criticizing the teenage emperor's behavior which was not well received the infuriated tongjir immediately ordered ye seemed to be dismissed and demoted however both empress's dowager still extremely influent knew that yisin was an essential pillar to the dynasty he was also the most experienced ching officials in terms of diplomacy and exchange with the westerners the very next day the empress's dowager organized a restoration of yi to his previous positions increasing tongzhi's frustration towards his mother and stepmother ignoring rampant criticism tongzhuru went on with his plans to rebuild the old summer palace regularly moving out of the forbidden city to inspect the progress of the works during these occasions he took the opportunity to escape his imperial duties and indulgent comforts outside the forbidden city eventually after many buildings had been restored and debris cleaned up tongzhu conceded to halt the restoration of the old summer palace around september 1874 which had already caused the treasury large sums of money in november 1874 as he was 18 years old tongja fell deeply ill most likely a smallpox but possibly a sexually transmitted disease contracted in brawls significantly weakened he ordered his tutor li hongdae to write edict for him the empress is dowager however soon used the pretext of the emperor's health to reclaim power resuming the regency by the 12th of january 1875 emperor tonger died at 18 years old heartbroken and left unprotected against her rival mother-in-law his wife empress xiao jai lost hope her health rapidly deteriorated and she died a few weeks after her husband there were rumors that she was pregnant at the time if so the birth of a son who would have become the next emperor would have made her empress dowager according to these rumors tsoshi was involved with her death to avoid this scenario although this cannot be proven in any case tongzhur died childless for the first time the direct bloodline of the tsing leaders since their dynasty's precursor chieftain came to a halt emperor tonja had neither brother and children a succession crisis subsequently took place as different factions argued on what to do next empress dowager tsoshi unwilling to step down from power organized the selection of an heir that would allow her to keep acting as regent the carefully chosen successor was three-year-old daityan son of yeshuen prince chun and of tsershi's own sister taitian was therefore a grandson of emperor daogwong and cersei's own nephew to legitimize his position as heir the empress dowager declared zaitian the adoptive son of late empress jianfong and herself emperor tong zhu reigned for a little over 13 years although exercising actual authority only the last two years his reign saw a restoration of that qing dynasty through radical reforms of the regency and an opening up to the western world and technology had these reforms not taken place the nation would most likely have collapsed tuongju though showed no signs of being a good ruler being both weak and uninterested and his premature death was possibly fortunate for the sake of the dynasty with renewed power empress's daughter cersei and saran regents of the new child emperor zaitian crowned guanxi would have to face increasing tensions between china western powers and the newly modernized empire of japan thank you for watching my video i hope you enjoyed it if so please leave a like and subscribe to the channel if you have any questions or requests feel free to leave them in the comment section below

Channel: History of China

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Keywords: empress dowager cixi, history of china, taiping rebellion, emperor tongzhi, tongzhi emperor, tongzhi documentary, tongzhi restoration, qing emperor series, qing emperors series, zaichun, self strengthening movement china, self strengthening movement, qing dynasty, history of china documentary, empress dowager, empress dowager ci'an

Id: HTNughok2Og

Length: 16min 34sec (994 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 09 2020