A Fateful Night in the Mountain Resort

On the 16th day of the seventh lunar month in 1861, an air of solemnity filled the Misty Waves and Refreshing Breeze Hall at the Chengde Mountain Resort. The young heir apparent, Zaichun, found himself surrounded by the most powerful figures of the Qing court – the Empress, Noble Consort Yi (later known as Empress Dowager Cixi), and the eight regent ministers including Su Shun. Above them hung Emperor Xianfeng’s inscribed plaque reading “Restrain Impatience and Practice Forbearance,” a motto that would soon be tested to its limits.

The six-year-old prince, exhausted from the tense atmosphere, nestled in the Empress’s arms as the entire court held its breath. The emperor, who had been unconscious for most of the day, suddenly awoke. His eyes searched frantically until they landed on his son. “The heir apparent,” he whispered through trembling lips. In this dramatic moment, the fate of the Qing dynasty hung in the balance as power prepared to transfer to a child who barely understood what was happening.

The Rituals of Imperial Death

When Emperor Xianfeng finally passed away in the early hours of July 17, 1861, the carefully choreographed rituals of imperial succession immediately began. Court officials rushed to place an exquisitely carved jade cicada in the deceased emperor’s mouth – a practice known as “yahan” or “suppressing the tongue.” This ancient tradition, reserved for emperors, symbolized both sustenance for the afterlife and prevention of improper speech in the next world. The cicada’s ability to molt represented rebirth and transcendence.

The young Zaichun witnessed these solemn rites with a child’s confusion. He participated in the ceremonies, performing the required three kneelings and nine prostrations, placing ritual objects like jade scepters and embroidered pouches into the golden “zi” coffin made of precious nanmu wood. The coffin’s unique Manchu design, resembling a small house with a gabled roof and adorned with Buddhist mantras, reflected the cultural synthesis of Qing imperial traditions.

A Child Emperor’s Burden

Overnight, six-year-old Zaichun became the Tongzhi Emperor, though he barely understood what this meant. The immediate changes in how people treated him – even his own mothers now addressed him formally as “Your Majesty” – confused the young boy. Most distressing was the sudden loss of freedom; where his father had enjoyed absolute authority, the new emperor found himself constantly restrained by the regents and his mothers.

The two dowager empresses – his birth mother Noble Consort Yi (now Empress Dowager Cixi) and the senior Empress Dowager Ci’an – recognized the need to educate their imperial charge. During one memorable lesson, when the boy asked if he could go play, Cixi sternly rebuked him, citing the examples of the great child emperors Shunzhi and Kangxi who had ruled successfully at similar ages. The psychological pressure on the young sovereign became evident when, during a heated political debate between the dowagers and regents, the terrified boy wet himself in fear.

The Power Struggle Behind the Throne

The political tensions surrounding the child emperor’s accession reached a boiling point over the memorial submitted by censor Dong Yuanchun, who boldly suggested that the dowager empresses should govern from behind a screen (a practice known as “curtain governance”) and that imperial princes should assist in administration. This proposal sparked furious opposition from the eight regent ministers led by Su Shun, who believed they alone should guide the young emperor.

The dramatic confrontation between Empress Dowager Cixi and Su Shun revealed the deep fractures in Qing leadership. As voices rose and tempers flared, the frightened child emperor trembled in Empress Dowager Ci’an’s arms, his involuntary urination symbolizing the court’s loss of dignity and control. This incident, recorded in official histories, marked a turning point in the power struggle that would soon erupt into open conflict.

The Three Terrors of Chengde

For the young emperor, Chengde became associated with three traumatic experiences that shaped his early reign. First was the terrifying memory of the imperial family’s chaotic flight from Beijing during the Anglo-French invasion of 1860 – a humiliating journey marked by discomfort, hunger, and collective weeping as they abandoned the Summer Palace to its fate.

The second terror was witnessing his father’s agonizing death – the staring eyes, the incomprehensible whispers, and the sudden transformation of a parent into a ritual object. The third terror emerged from the constant political battles between his mothers and the regents, arguments that left the sensitive boy trembling and having nightmares.

These experiences made the young emperor eager to return to Beijing’s Forbidden City, though the beloved Summer Palace now lay in ruins, burned by Anglo-French forces. The psychological impact of these childhood traumas would reverberate through his short reign and beyond.

The Legacy of Xianfeng’s Passing

Emperor Xianfeng’s death and his son’s tumultuous accession marked a critical juncture in Qing history. The power vacuum created by the child emperor’s minority led directly to the famous Xinyou Coup of 1861, in which Empress Dowager Cixi outmaneuvered the regents to establish her unprecedented “behind the curtain” governance. This event set the pattern for late Qing politics and Cixi’s decades-long dominance.

The rituals surrounding Xianfeng’s death, from the jade cicada to the elaborate coffin, represented not just cultural traditions but the Qing dynasty’s efforts to maintain continuity and legitimacy during turbulent times. The young Tongzhi Emperor’s traumatic experiences, meanwhile, foreshadowed the challenges facing a dynasty trying to modernize while preserving imperial authority – challenges that would ultimately prove insurmountable.

In the end, the night in Chengde’s Mountain Resort marked more than just the passing of one emperor and the rise of another; it signaled the beginning of a new era in which women would wield unprecedented power behind the throne, and in which the Qing dynasty would face its greatest tests of survival. The child who witnessed these events would grow up to rule briefly before his early death, leaving the throne to another boy emperor – his cousin, the Guangxu Emperor – and ensuring Cixi’s continued dominance over China’s fading imperial glory.