Empress Dowager Ci'an - As Co-regent For The Tongzhi Emperor

As Co-regent For The Tongzhi Emperor

On 22 August 1861, in the wake of the Second Opium War, the Xianfeng Emperor died at the Rehe Traveling Palace (Chinese: 熱河行宮), 230 km (140 mi) northeast of Beijing, where the imperial court had fled. His heir, the son of the Noble Consort Yi and the eventual Tongzhi Emperor, was only five years old. As a consequence, the imperial family was shaken by a struggle over who would assume the regency. Lady Niuhuru first agreed to cooperate with the corrupt Manchu official Sushun, but changed her mind after Noble Consort Yi had chosen confrontation. Eventually, in November 1861, the Noble Consort Yi, with the help of Yixin, Prince Gong, staged a palace coup known as the Xinyou Coup, had the opposing princes commit suicide and their leader Sushun beheaded, and succeeded in securing the regency for her and the Empress Consort.

Palace Daily Records do not explain why there was a difference of 24 hours in the naming of Lady Niuhuru and Noble Consort Yi to the position of Empress Dowager. According to Tony Teng there was a sharp argument between Sushun and Noble Consort Yi about the granting of honors following Xianfeng's death. It is likely that Lady Niuhuru chimed in on Noble Consort Yi's behalf and that Sushun capitulated in the face of the two women.

Eventually Noble Consort Yi was officially created "Holy Mother Empress Dowager" (聖母皇太后), a great privilege considering that she had never been an Empress Consort while the Xianfeng Emperor was alive; she was only able to become empress dowager because she was the biological mother of the new Emperor. She was also given the honorific name of Cixi (慈禧 – meaning "motherly and auspicious"). Lady Niuhuru, as former Empress Consort and the new Emperor's legal mother, was created "Empress Mother Empress Dowager" (母后皇太后), a title which gave her precedence over Empress Dowager Cixi, and given the honorific name of Ci'an (慈安 – meaning "motherly and calming"). Because she lived in the eastern part of the Forbidden City, Empress Dowager Ci'an became popularly known as the East Empress Dowager (東太后). Empress Dowager Ci'an spent most of her life in the Palace of Gathering Essence. On several occasions after 1861, Empress Dowager Ci'an was given additional honorific names (two Chinese characters at a time), 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.

Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi were appointed joint de facto regents for the minor Tongzhi Emperor. Because women were not allowed to be seen during audiences they sat behind a curtain. Although in theory she had precedence over Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Dowager Ci'an was in fact a self-effacing person and seldom intervened in politics, unlike Empress Dowager Cixi, who was the actual master of China. As de facto ruler, Empress Dowager Ci'an had to learn about politics, so she and Cixi studied history. In November 1861, in keeping with the imperial practice, they began to consult the records of their Manchu predecessors. In June 1863, they had the contents of tōng jiàn ji lǎn (通鑑輯覽) explained to them. About a year earlier, an earlier compilation by the Hanlin scholars of the imperial libraries, entitled "A valuable mirror for excellent government" (chih-p'ing pao-chien) became the text for a series of lectures by scholars and officials that Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi attended for over two years, the last lecture given in November 1866.

It is thought by many biographers that Empress Dowager 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 Tongzhi was underage the seal was given to his mother, Empress Dowager Cixi. Ci'an's seal was engraved with "Yushang" (Imperial Award) and Cixi's with "Tongdaotang" (Hall of Accord with the Way).