Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/127

 the Imperial Clan Court. Emperor Wên-tsung who succeeded to the throne in 1850 was friendly to him, and listened to his suggestions.

Tsai-ch'üan used his influence to intimidate courtiers, some of whom rallied to his side as "disciples" (門生). In August 1852 a censor,, brought against him a charge of usurping power; he was accused, as commandant of the Peking Gendarmerie, of irregularity in the conduct of civil cases. His encouragement of "disciples" was also brought to the attention of the Emperor and, on investigation, it was discovered that many high officials had close relations with him. He was punished by being fined two years' stipend and by dismissal from his posts. But he continued in the Emperor's favor, and in a few months was again made commandant of the Gendarmerie.

When Tsai-ch'üan was ill in 1854, he adopted as his heir P'u-hsü 溥煦 (d. 1907, posthumous name Shen 愼), a great-grandson of Mien-tê. In November 1854 he died and was canonized as Min 敏. His princedom was posthumously raised to the first degree. Thus P'u-hsü inherited a pricedom of the second degree. A son of P'u-hsü, named Yü-lang 毓朗, who inherited in 1907 a princedom of the third degree, was a Grand Councilor (1910–11).

Tsai-ch'üan left a collection of verse, entitled 行有恆堂初集 Hsing-yu-hêng t'ang ch'u-chi, 2 chüan, printed in 1848. A collection of poems by Yü-lang is entitled 餘癡生初稿 Yü-ch'ih-shêng ch'u-kao.

[Ch'ing Huang-shih ssŭ-p'u (see under ); 2/227/1a; Wan-ch'ing-i shih-hui (see bibl. under ) 8/16a; 道咸同光四朝詩史 Tao, Hsien, T'ung, Kuang, Ssŭ-ch'ao shih-shih (chia-chi, shou, p. 20);, Tuan-min kung chi, 奏議2/1a–12b.]

2em

 TSAI-ch'un 載淳, Apr. 27, 1856–1875, Jan. 12, the eighth Emperor of the Ch'ing Dynasty, who ruled under the reign-title, T'ung-chih 同治 (1862–75), was the only son of Emperor Wên-tsung (see under ). His mother, Empress, was a concubine at the time of his birth, but later ruled China for nearly half a century as Empress Dowager. Tsai-ch'un was born in the Summer Palace, Yüan-ming Yüan. In September 1860 when the British and French allied forces approached Peking and Emperor Wên-tsung and his Court fled to Jehol (see under ), Tsai-ch'un, then a small child, accompanied his mother on the journey. On August 21, 1861, the day before the death of his father, he was proclaimed Heir Apparent. His mother and Empress Hsiao-chên (see under ), the wife of Emperor Wên-tsung, were strongly opposed to the regents appointed by the deceased Emperor. Assisted by two of the Emperor's brothers ( and, qq.v.) the two Dowager Empresses took Tsai-ch'un safely to Peking and there rid themselves of the regents (see under ).

On November 11, 1861 Tsai-ch'un, then six sui, ascended the throne, but for some twelve years thereafter the two Empresses and I-hsin ruled in his stead. The regents had earlier chosen the characters, Ch'i-hsiang 祺祥 as his reign-title but on the day he ascended the throne, by decree of the Dowager Empresses, the reign-title was altered to T'ung-chih. From 1861 onward the Emperor studied under special tutors—,, , and Hsü T'ung (see under ). These tutors held the title of Hung-tê tien hsing-tsou (see under ) after the name of the hall, Hung-tê tien, where the Emperor pursued his studies.

While Tsai-ch'un was thus studying, China was undergoing momentous changes. The Taiping Rebellion which had devastated half of the empire after 1850 was finally put down in 1864 (see under ). The roving bandits of the north were exterminated in 1868 (see under ). The Mohammedan rebellion in Yunnan and the Miao uprising in Kweichow were suppressed in 1873 (see under ). Thus internally the empire was put in order and the chaos of the previous reign was ended. The foreign policy of this period was one of appeasement. The war of 1860, which opened Peking to foreign representatives, made I-hsin and most of the officials realize the military might of foreign nations. The Tsung-li Yamen (see under ) was established to take charge of foreign affairs. I-hsin was made minister of highest rank to deal with foreign envoys. The government reluctantly took steps to understand the West, as is shown by the establishment of the T'ung-wên Kuan (see under ) for the study of languages; by the dispatch of the Burlingame Mission (1867, see under ); and by the sending of students to study in America (1872, see under ).

It was under these circumstances of prosperity that Tsai-ch'un, on February 23, 1873, took  729