Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/397

Rh made a tour of the fortified areas at Taku, Port Arthur, and Wei-hai-wei, inspecting coast defenses and observing naval maneuvers. I-huan was much impressed by this show of strength, and in the course of the tour wrote a number of poems which he published (1887) under the title 航海吟草 Hang-hai pin-ts'ao. His enthusiasm for the building of a navy was genuine, and he stood behind Li Hung-chang in most of that statesman's plans for its improvement and expansion. He also helped other provincial officials in their efforts to introduce Western industries to China (see under ).

But, like many of the Manchu princes at the close of the dynasty, I-huan lacked decisiveness and could not stand against policies of the Empress Dowager which he knew to be ill-advised. I-hsin had been pliant enough before her strong will, but I-huan was more so—consciously or unconsciously becoming her tool. He permitted her to use his son to further her own ends, and looked on complacently when in 1886–91 she diverted funds, ear-marked for naval construction, to build for herself the Summer Palace known as the I-ho yüan (see under Empress ). During the naval maneuvers of 1886 he allowed her favorite eunuch, Li Lien-ying (see under Empress ) to accompany him throughout the tour. After I-hsin was stripped of power Hsiao-ch'in freely sold offices to the highest bidders and shut her eyes to many other corrupt practices. Despite these delinquencies I-huan repeatedly affirmed his loyalty to her. When in 1886 Emperor Tê-tsung came of age and had the right to rule independently, I-huan pleaded with her to continue her regency for three years more.

In 1887 I-huan was seriously ill for several months. Every time his son (the Emperor) visited him the Empress Dowager contrived to be present, and elaborate precautions had to be taken not to arouse her suspicions. In 1888 I-huan presented to the throne the residence where the emperor was born, perhaps to reassure her that he was content to live merely as a prince though his son had nominal control of the government. In 1889, when the Emperor was married, I-huan was accorded various honors and his other sons were made princes of lower degree. Soon after the marriage submitted a memorial to the Emperor, suggesting that the status of I-huan as the father of the emperor be clarified and that he be given the privileges pertaining to his position. The emperor referred the matter to the Empress Dowager who revealed a hitherto unpublished memorial of I-huan (allegedly submitted by him in 1875) to the effect that he wished his status to remain that of a servant to the throne and that he renounced all rights as father of the emperor. Some writers take the view that the memorial was written for the occasion and predated.

After his death, early in 1891, I-huan was canonized as Hsien 賢. His full posthumous title reads: Huang-ti pên-shêng k'ao Ch'un Hsien Ch'in-wang 皇帝本生考醇賢親王 or "The Emperor's Father-before-adoption, Prince Ch'un the Wise". In his home a temple was erected to celebrate his memory and there the sacrificial ceremonies were like those accorded to a deceased emperor. But publicly and officially he was honored only as a prince. His tomb was of the kind ordinarily erected to a prince, and thus he was celebrated in the Imperial Ancestral Hall. After his grandson, P'u-i (see under ), came to the throne I-huan was referred to as Huang-ti pên-shêng tsu (祖) k'ao, or "The Emperor's Grandfather-before-adoption".

An episode recorded in 1897 in the diary of, and presumably true, gives evidence of the unjust suspicion that lingered in the mind of the Empress Dowager, even after I-huan had died. Near his grave stood a giant gingko tree which, according to fortune tellers, had the power to give the descendants of I-huan permanent succession to the throne. When the Empress Dowager heard of this she immediately ordered that the tree be cut down. Perhaps she felt that her fears were justified when snakes were discovered in the trunk—snakes being associated with dragons in Chinese lore.

I-huan's fifth son, Tsai-fêng 載灃, inherited the princedom in January 1891 and became the second Prince Ch'un. He went to Berlin in 1901 as head of the mission that was sent to apologize for the murder of the German Minister in the Boxer Uprising of the previous year. He married a daughter of in 1902 and she gave birth to P'u-i in 1906. Early in 1908 Tsai-fêng was made a Grand Councilor, and late in the same year—after his son, P'u-i, had been designated heir to the throne—he was named Prince Regent (攝政王) and later Regent（監國攝政王). Thus during the years 1908–13 he was the actual ruler of China. He was, however, wholly incapable of meeting the changing political situation and the conflicting demands of the various factions—constitutionalists, revolutionaries, conservatives and Imperial Clansmen. In 385