Death
Xianfeng died on 22 August 1861, at the imperial summer resort (行宮 xinggong) in Jehol, 230 kilometers northeast of Beijing. His successor was his one surviving son, Zaichun, who was barely 6 years old. A day before his death, Xianfeng had summoned Sushun chadand his group to his bedside, and gave them an Imperial Edict that dictated the power structure during the young Emperor's minority. The edict appointed four members of the Imperial line (Zaiyuan, the Prince Yi; Duanhua, the Prince Zheng; Duke Jingshou; and Sushun) and four Ministers (Muyin, Kuangyuan, Du Han, and Jiao Youying) as the eight members of a new regency council to aid the young Emperor. By tradition, after the death of an Emperor, the body was to be accompanied to the Capital by the regents. Concubine Yi and the Empress, who were now both given titles of Empress Dowager, traveled to Beijing ahead of time, and planned a coup that ousted Sushun from the regency. The Concubine Yi would subsequently rule China for the next 47 years, as the Empress Dowager Cixi.
Emperor Xianfeng was interred in the Eastern Qing Tombs (清東陵), 125 kilometers/75 miles east of Beijing, in the Dingling (定陵 "Tomb of Quietude") mausoleum complex.
Read more about this topic: Xianfeng Emperor
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