#352 - Taiping 26: Two Seals and a Coffin

In the summer of 1861, the Xianfeng emperor died at 30, in exile, beyond the Great Wall. He left behind a 5-year-old heir, 8 men to run the empire in the boy’s name… and 2 tiny, little seals out of his personal art collection that are completely unimportant to the rest of this story, so don’t even worry about them. It was the most airtight succession the dynasty had ever arranged. All they had to get through was the imperial funeral... Time Period Covered: Dec. 1860–Dec. 1861 CE Major Historical Figures: The Qing: The Xianfeng Emperor [1831–1861] Yixin, Prince Gong [1833–1898] Yehenala, afterward the Empress Dowager Cixi [1835–1908] Yixuan, Prince Chun [1840–1891] Sushun, president of the Board of Revenue [1815?–1861] Zaiyuan, Prince of Yi [1816–1861] Duanhua, Prince of Zheng [d. 1861] Wenxiang, grand councillor [1815–1876] Zeng Guofan, imperial commissioner against the Taiping [1811–1872] The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom: Hong Xiuquan, the Heavenly King [1814–1864] Hong Rengan, the Shield King [1822–1864] Others: Count Nikolay Ignatiev, Russian envoy [1832–1908] Josiah Cox, Wesleyan missionary Major Works Cited: Fairbank, John K., ed. The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 10: Late Ch’ing, 1800–1911, Part 1. Jen, Yu-wen. The Taiping Revolutionary Movement. Platt, Stephen R. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices