Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/131

 Dowager. However, had he managed to remain in Peking, he could have gained control of the throne, and the Empress might have been barred from resuming her power.

During the flight and the stay in Sian (see under ), Tsai-t'ien was granted more freedom than in the preceding two years. He was under surveillance, but was allowed some voice in matters of state. Hsiao-ch'in used him, however, as a scapegoat to issue decrees in which he supposedly blamed himself and the officials at Court for the fiasco of the Boxer War. As soon as she was assured that her position would suffer no change, she ignored him. After their return to Peking she delegated to him only ceremonial duties and he enjoyed little more freedom than during his confinement. Nevertheless he patiently prepared himself for the day when his foster mother should die and leave him a free hand. He continued to read books on national and foreign affairs, and even resumed his study of the English language. Yet he was never permitted, for even one day, to rule by himself. Hsiao-ch'in died on November 15, 1908; the death of Tsai-t'ien being announced as having occurred on the preceding day. He was given the posthumous title, Ching Huang-ti 景皇帝, and the temple name, Tê-tsung 德宗. His tomb, the last one erected in the Ch'ing imperial burial grounds southwest of Peking, was named Ch'ung-ling 崇陵, where he was buried in 1913. Probably he did not die a ntural death. Some writers conjecture that he was murdered after Hsiao-ch'in died, but that his decease was announced first, in order to disguised the sequence of events.

However this may be, before she died, Hsiao-ch'in named as successor to the childless Tsai-t'ien his nephew, and her grand-nephew, P'u-i 溥儀 (b. Feb. 7, 1906), then three sui. P'u-i was the son of Tsai-t'ien's younger brother, Tsai-fêng (see under ), and his mother was a daughter of. He was treated as the adopted son of both Tsai-t'ien and Mu-tsung—a dual system of relationships known in China as chien-t'iao 兼祧. His own father, Tsai-fêng, was named by Hsiao-ch'in to serve as regent during his minority, to rule in co-operation with Tsai-t'ien's widow, the above-mentioned Empress Hsiao-ting. P'u-i ruled for three years (January 22, 1909–February 17, 1912), under the reign title of Hsüan-t'ung 宣統. On February 12, 1912 his father and his foster mother agreed for him to abdicate the throne in favor of a republican form of government, thus ending the Ch'ing Dynasty which had ruled China for 268 years. Though no longer Emperor, he was permitted to live in the Palace in Peking. In 1917 an ambitious general, Chang Hsün 張勳, staged an ill-fated coup d'état and restored P'u-i to the throne (July 1), but twelve days later (July 12) was defeated by republican forces and P'u-i again abdicated. In 1924 he was forced by General Fêng Yü-hsiang (see under ) to vacate the Palace. Thereafter he lived in the Japanese Concession in Tietsin until 1932 when he became the nominal head of the Japanese sponsored Manchurian regime.

There are many stories concerning the tragic life of Tsai-t'ien, some of which may well be true but cannot be substantiated by the facts at hand. Others are clearly fantastic. Statements to the effect that he was stupid or even feeble-minded were invented and circulated, probably by ambitious princes and officials who planned to dethrone him in 1900. Der-ling (see under ) who lived in the palace for two years as lady-in-waiting to the Empress Dowager, states that he was intelligent, studious, fond of music, and well-informed on a variety of subjects. His tragedy was that he could not escape the control of his foster mother without breaking the conventional rules of filial piety. Although the actual power, throughout the thirty-three years of his reign, was in the hands of Hsiao-ch'in, the official history of those years is recorded under Tsai-t'ien's name and is entitled Tê-tsung Ching Huang-ti shih-lu (實錄), 579 + 4 chüan. It was completed in 1921 and is accompanied by a collection of edicts, entitled Tê-tsung Ching Huang-ti shêng-hsün (聖訓), 145 chüan. He has credited to him also a collection of notes on Chinese historical events, entitled 讀史隨筆 Tu-shih sui-pi, 4 chüan.

[1/23–35; Wêng T'ung-ho, Wêng Wên-kung kung jih-chi, vols. 13–40;, Yüeh-man t'ang jih-chi, vols. 21–36; Ch'ing Huang-shih ssŭ-p'u (see under ); Der-ling, Two Years in the Forbidden City (1911); Johnston, R.F., Twilight in the Forbidden City (1934), chapters 1–10; Reid, John Gilbert, The Manchu Abdication and the Powers, 1908–1912 (1935); Yün Yü-ting, Ch'ung-ling ch'uan-hsin lu ("Stories Relating to Tsai-t'ien") in 庸言 Yung-yen, vol. 2 (1914), and in 青鶴 Ch'ing-ho, vol.5 (1936); idem, Tz'ŭ-hsi ch'uan-hsin lu chai-ch'ao ("Selected Stories Relating to Hsiao-ch'in"), in Ch'ing-ho, vol.5 (1936–37); Wang Chao 王照, 德宗遺事 Tê-tsung 733