A Sky Full of Portents

In July 1861, a brilliant comet streaked across the northwestern skies above Beijing, its luminous tail sparking widespread panic among the capital’s residents. To superstitious observers, this celestial phenomenon signaled the impending death of their emperor—a belief deeply rooted in Chinese cosmology where unusual astronomical events were interpreted as heavenly judgments on earthly rulers. The cosmic drama intensified on September 5th when observers witnessed an even rarer spectacle: a planetary alignment where the sun, moon, and five visible planets appeared in perfect conjunction, strung across the dawn sky like “candied haws on a stick.”

This “Five Planets Conjunction” (五星连珠) became a Rorschach test for political observers. Zeng Guofan, the Qing dynasty’s most capable general battling the Taiping Rebellion, interpreted it as an auspicious sign coinciding with his army’s capture of Anqing—a critical victory against the rebels. His private secretary Zhao Liewen, however, recorded more ambivalent feelings: “Gazing at the vast heavens, I felt both joy and fear.” Meanwhile, Taiping leaders saw cosmic validation for their revolutionary cause, interpreting these signs as heaven’s condemnation of the corrupt Qing regime.

The Young Emperor’s Tragic End

The celestial omens proved prophetic. On August 22, 1861, the Xianfeng Emperor—just thirty years and one month old—succumbed to tuberculosis at the Rehe Mountain Resort where he had fled during the Anglo-French occupation of Beijing. His death carried profound symbolic weight; in imperial cosmology, a ruler’s longevity reflected heavenly approval of his governance. The Qing dynasty’s legitimacy had long been bolstered by the remarkable longevity of earlier monarchs—particularly the 63-year reign of the Qianlong Emperor (Xianfeng’s great-grandfather). Xianfeng’s premature death after just eleven years on the throne seemed to confirm the dynasty’s loss of the Mandate of Heaven.

The political crisis deepened with the succession of Xianfeng’s five-year-old son, later known as the Tongzhi Emperor. Despite maintaining a harem of eighteen consorts in the pleasure gardens of the Old Summer Palace, Xianfeng had produced only one surviving male heir—a precarious situation for a dynasty whose survival depended on stable patrilineal succession.

The Taiping Response: Divine Judgment or Opportunity?

News of the emperor’s death electrified the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Hong Rengan, the Taiping’s prime minister and most cosmopolitan leader, immediately issued a proclamation framing Xianfeng’s demise as divine retribution:

“The petty Xianfeng wasted his days in drinking and gambling, squeezing his people dry while scattering wealth like dirt. The Yuanmingyuan became his drunken den, the male brothel his fishing ground. Now his gardens lie in ashes, and he has fallen into hell.”

This rhetoric tapped into widespread rumors that China’s recent catastrophes—including the Anglo-French destruction of the Old Summer Palace—represented heaven’s punishment for Qing misrule. British diplomats in Beijing reported that even elite Han Chinese increasingly believed the dynasty had exhausted its moral legitimacy, with one physician noting they viewed its decline as “the natural result of the total demoralization of its component parts.”

The Regency Crisis and Coup of 1861

The political vacuum created by Xianfeng’s death triggered a fierce power struggle. On his deathbed, the emperor had appointed eight conservative Manchu regents led by Sushun to govern during his son’s minority. This traditional arrangement soon collided with the ambitions of two formidable women: the empress dowagers Cixi (the young emperor’s biological mother) and Ci’an (Xianfeng’s principal wife).

The regents underestimated the 26-year-old Cixi, who forged a crucial alliance with Prince Gong (the emperor’s brother who had negotiated with the British and French). When the imperial cortege returned to Beijing in November 1861, Cixi and Ci’an—bearing the imperial seals required to validate edicts—staged a dramatic coup. Prince Gong’s troops arrested the regents; Sushun was publicly beheaded, while two others were ordered to commit suicide. This “Xinyou Coup” (辛酉政变) marked the beginning of Cixi’s four-decade dominance over Qing politics.

The Taiping’s Strategic Dilemma

While Qing factions battled for control, the Taiping leadership faced their own crossroads. Hong Rengan advocated concentrating forces to retake Anqing and control the Yangtze River’s middle reaches—the “snake’s waist” in his strategic metaphor. But General Li Xiucheng, the Taiping’s most successful field commander, insisted on consolidating gains in wealthy Zhejiang province, recognizing the growing economic importance of eastern coastal regions over traditional inland strongholds.

This strategic divide reflected broader tensions between the Taiping’s traditionalist and modernist factions. Hong’s vision remained anchored in classical Chinese military geography, while Li pragmatically adapted to new realities of coastal trade and foreign arms procurement. Their disagreement would have fateful consequences as the rebellion entered its final phase.

Foreign Perceptions and Missionary Disillusionment

Western observers watched these developments with fascination. British consul Robert Forrest, after meeting Hong Rengan, declared him “the most enlightened Chinese I have ever met,” suggesting China might flourish under Taiping rule. Yet many missionaries who initially supported the rebellion grew disillusioned. Joseph Edkins abandoned plans to reside in Nanjing after encountering restrictive policies, while Griffith John relocated to Hankou, noting the Taiping capital had become “quiet as a city of the dead.”

The eccentric Southern Baptist missionary Issachar Roberts remained in Nanjing as Hong Rengan’s guest, but his increasingly apocalyptic pronouncements—comparing the Taiping to biblical avengers and advocating mass violence as divine purification—alienated even sympathetic Western observers.

Legacy: The Weight of Heaven’s Mandate

The events of 1861 marked a pivotal moment in China’s century of crisis. The Xianfeng Emperor’s death and the subsequent regency coup reshaped Qing leadership at a critical juncture, while Taiping strategic divisions foreshadowed their ultimate defeat. The cosmic phenomena that bookended these events—the comet and planetary alignment—became enduring symbols in Chinese historiography, reminding later generations how celestial signs and human actions intertwined during times of dynastic transition.

Most significantly, the political arrangements emerging from this crisis—particularly Cixi’s rise to power—would shape China’s response to Western imperialism and domestic rebellion for decades to come. As contemporaries pondered whether the “Five Planets Conjunction” signaled Qing revival or collapse, they participated in an ancient tradition of reading human destiny in the stars—a tradition that would soon confront the irreversible changes of modernity.