Aisin Gioro Zaifeng

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Zaifeng was born on February 12, 1883（5th day of the first lunar month, 9th year of Guangxu） at the Prince Chun Mansion (Southern Court) at Taiping Lake in Shuntian Prefecture. His father was Yixuan, Prince Chunxian of the First Rank, the seventh son of the Daoguang Emperor, and his birth mother was a secondary consort of the Liugiya clan. Zaifeng was Yixuan's fifth son. His second elder brother Zaitian had already been adopted as heir by their uncle, the Xianfeng Emperor, and succeeded to the throne left by the Tongzhi Emperor as the Guangxu Emperor. All the sons born to Yixuan's principal wife of the Nara clan died young, so Zaifeng was in practice Yixuan's eldest surviving son.

In 1889（14th year of Guangxu）, because the southern Prince Chun Mansion became an imperial birthplace, the entire family moved to the Prince Chun Mansion (Northern Court) on the north bank of Houhai at Shichahai. On the twenty-first day of the eleventh lunar month of 1890（16th year of Guangxu）, the eight-year-old Zaifeng inherited the title Prince Chun.

In April 1900（26th year of Guangxu）, Zaifeng was betrothed to a daughter of Fu-mou of the Ucigeri clan. The Boxer Uprising broke out in the seventh lunar month of the same year, and the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. His fiancée and her widowed mother died by suicide, so the marriage did not take place.

Mission to Germany and Marriage

In the first lunar month of 1901（27th year of Guangxu）, Zaifeng was appointed Minister for Reviewing Troops. In the fifth lunar month, the Qing court named the eighteen-year-old Zaifeng First-Rank Special Envoy to Germany to apologize to Kaiser Wilhelm II for the killing of the German minister Clemens von Ketteler in Beijing during the Boxer Uprising. Seeking to humiliate the Qing delegation, the German side demanded that Zaifeng and his party perform the kowtow before the emperor. Through Lü Haihuan, Qing minister plenipotentiary to Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria-Hungary, Zaifeng firmly refused. He ultimately performed only three bows to the German emperor. The incident caused Wilhelm II to take notice of the young brother of the Chinese emperor.

On the twenty-sixth day of the eleventh lunar month of the same year, while Zaifeng was staying in Qingyuan County, Baoding Prefecture, Empress Dowager Cixi arranged his marriage to a daughter of Grand Secretary Ronglu of the Guwalgiya clan. His birth mother, the secondary consort of the Liugiya clan, had previously arranged another engagement for him; it had to be cancelled, and the woman in that earlier match died by suicide, creating controversy. On September 30, 1902（29th day of the eighth lunar month, 28th year of Guangxu）, Zaifeng married the woman of the Guwalgiya clan.

Entry into the Grand Council

In May 1907（33rd year of Guangxu）, Zaifeng was appointed to study and serve as a Grand Councillor. In the first lunar month of 1908（34th year of Guangxu）, he became a Grand Councillor. At only twenty-five, he had entered the core of Qing political power.

Period as Prince Regent Supervising the Government

After the Guangxu Emperor died in the tenth lunar month of 1908（34th year of Guangxu）, Empress Dowager Cixi issued a succession of decrees arranging the accession of a child emperor and the regency. Zaifeng's son Puyi was chosen to inherit the throne, and Zaifeng became Prince Regent supervising the government, while major affairs were to be handled in accordance with the empress dowager's decrees. After Puyi ascended the throne in November, the Qing court also issued the General Regulations on the Etiquette of the Prince Regent Supervising the Government, specifying the regent's ceremonial and administrative arrangements. Zaifeng thereby controlled the court's daily governmental business, but Empress Dowager Longyu retained final authority in major matters, while different imperial-clan factions continued to influence decisions. His actual power was therefore not unlimited.

One of Zaifeng's first major decisions as regent concerned Yuan Shikai. Some members of the imperial clan advocated killing Yuan. Zaifeng consulted Zhang Zhidong and asked the commanders of the Fourth and Sixth Divisions in northern China for their views. Their responses held that Yuan had extensive influence within the New Army and that a hasty execution might trigger a mutiny. Zaifeng therefore removed Yuan from office in December 1908（34th year of Guangxu） on the stated ground that a foot ailment made him unfit for duty and ordered him to return home. The move weakened Yuan's formal position at the center but left intact his connections with the Beiyang New Army; when the revolutionary crisis later deepened, the Qing court still had to recall Yuan and rely on his forces.

During the early regency, Zaifeng attempted to concentrate military and political authority in the imperial house and the central government. He organized an Imperial Guard under his own command, brought the New Army units around the capital under central authority, established a Ministry of the Navy and a General Staff Office, and opened an academy for imperial nobles. In 1909（1st year of Xuantong）, the court, in the emperor's name, unified command of the land and naval forces and appointed imperial kinsmen and nobles to military and political offices. At the same time, Zaifeng reaffirmed Preparative Constitutionalism, ordering each province to make constitutional preparations and establish a Provincial Consultative Assembly. Military centralization and constitutional preparation thus proceeded simultaneously: the first sought to strengthen court control over military mobilization, while the second responded to demands from provincial constitutionalists for institutional reform.

In April 1911（3rd year of Xuantong）, the Qing court abolished the Grand Council and the old cabinet and formed the Responsible Cabinet under Yi Kuang. Of the thirteen members, eight were Manchus and five belonged to the imperial clan; because imperial relatives occupied key offices, the body became known as the “Imperial Clan Cabinet.” Provincial consultative assemblies and others demanded its replacement, but Zaifeng refused on the ground that cabinet formation was an imperial prerogative, deepening the conflict between constitutionalists and the Qing court. At the same time, the railway nationalization policy triggered the Railway Protection Movement and expanded anti-Qing unrest in the provinces.

After the Wuchang Uprising broke out in October 1911（3rd year of Xuantong）, Zaifeng initially ordered Yinchang to lead the Beiyang New Army south to suppress it, but the court found that it could not directly control the army built up by Yuan Shikai. On October 30, Zaifeng issued a self-blame edict and promised a change in policy and renewed constitutional government. The court later dissolved the Imperial Clan Cabinet and again relied on Yuan Shikai. On December 6, Empress Dowager Longyu approved Zaifeng’s resignation; he returned the regent’s seal and withdrew to the Prince Chun Mansion. Thereafter Longyu and Yuan Shikai handled the negotiations over abdication, and Puyi abdicated in 1912（1st year of the Republic of China）.

Retirement at the Prince Chun Mansion

According to the the primary account and another account biographies, after leaving the palace Zaifeng told his wife of the Guwalgiya clan, “From today on, I can go home and hold the children!” She burst into tears in anger and later warned their son Pujie: “When you grow up, never become like your ama [Manchu: father]!”

On February 12, 1912, Yuan Shikai forced Empress Dowager Longyu to promulgate the Edict of Abdication of the Xuantong Emperor, ending the Qing Dynasty. Zaifeng retired to the Prince Chun Mansion and withdrew from politics.

In March 1932, Japan established Manchukuo in Northeast China, with Zaifeng's son Puyi as chief executive. In 1934, Zaifeng and his youngest son Puren traveled to Manchukuo and returned to Beiping after a little more than a month. Zaifeng remained close to his second son Pujie, who lived in Manchukuo; separated geographically, father and son regularly communicated by telegram.

In 1938, Zaifeng moved to the Japanese concession in Tianjin. Because of the Tianjin flood of 1939, he returned to the Prince Chun Mansion at Houhai, Shichahai, Beijing.

In September 1949, Zaifeng sold the Prince Chun Mansion to the Beijing Advanced Technical School; in November he moved to Beiwijia Hutong north of Dongsi. In June 1950 he sold the Wei Jia Hutong residence to the Government Administration Council, and in July moved to Lipuying. Early in 1951, after years of chronic illness, Zaifeng caught a cold. On February 3（27th day of the twelfth lunar month）, he died and was buried at Futian Cemetery in the western suburbs of Beijing.

Major Activities

Regency and Central Military Administration Reorganization

When Zaifeng was appointed regent in 1908（34th year of Guangxu）, he faced a power arrangement shaped by the accession of a child emperor and the final commands of Empress Dowager Cixi. The regulations on the Prince Regent gave him authority to handle daily military and political affairs, but Empress Dowager Longyu retained the ability to intervene in major decisions. Zaifeng's removal of Yuan Shikai was one of his most important early personnel decisions. He did not accept proposals from some imperial relatives to execute Yuan, but consulted Zhang Zhidong and commanders of the northern New Army and then ordered Yuan to return home on the stated ground of a foot ailment. This reduced the immediate risk of mutiny but did not sever Yuan's ties with the Beiyang forces.

Zaifeng subsequently organized the Imperial Guard, brought New Army units around the capital under the central government, established the Ministry of the Navy and the General Staff Office, and placed imperial relatives and nobles in a number of military and political positions. In 1909（1st year of Xuantong）, he was nominally granted the position of military marshal of the national land and naval forces, as the court sought to create a unified command system. In practice, however, the Beiyang New Army remained connected to Yuan Shikai's personal network. After the Wuchang Uprising, Yinchang was ordered south but could not effectively command the force, revealing that centralizing arrangements had not eliminated fragmentation in military command.

Preparative Constitutionalism and the Imperial Clan Cabinet

Zaifeng's government reaffirmed Preparative Constitutionalism in 1909（1st year of Xuantong） and promoted the establishment of Provincial Consultative Assemblies, followed later by the establishment of the Consultative Council (Zizhengyuan). In April 1911（3rd year of Xuantong）, the Qing court abolished the Grand Council and old cabinet and reorganized them into the Responsible Cabinet under Prime Minister Yi Kuang. Of the thirteen published members, eight were Manchus and five were members of the imperial clan. The concentration of imperial relatives in important positions prompted opposition from constitutionalists and Provincial Consultative Assemblies. Zaifeng refused demands to replace the cabinet, maintaining that cabinet formation was an imperial prerogative. An institutional change originally intended to respond to constitutional demands thereby further eroded constitutionalist support because of the composition of the Imperial Clan Cabinet and the handling of petitions.

Revolutionary Crisis and Transfer of Power

The railway nationalization policy triggered the Railway Protection Movement in Sichuan and other areas. After the Wuchang Uprising, the Qing court ordered Yinchang to lead troops south but could not effectively control the Beiyang New Army, whose senior officers were closely connected to Yuan Shikai. On October 30, Zaifeng issued a self-blame edict and promised a change in policy and renewed constitutional government. On December 6, Empress Dowager Longyu approved his resignation; he returned the regent’s seal and retired. Yuan Shikai and Longyu then led the abdication negotiations, and the Qing emperor abdicated in 1912. Zaifeng’s efforts to centralize military command did not establish stable control over the Beiyang Army, while the Imperial Clan Cabinet further weakened support among constitutionalists.

Personal Relations

Family

• Father: Yixuan, Prince Chunxian of the First Rank
• Birth mother: secondary consort of the Liugiya clan
• Principal mother: woman of the Nara clan
• Elder brother: Guangxu Emperor Zaitian (second elder brother; adopted as heir by the Xianfeng Emperor)
• Sixth younger brother: Zaixun (late-Qing minister of the navy)
• Seventh younger brother: Zaitao (late-Qing official of the General Staff Office)
• Principal consort: woman of the Guwalgiya clan (daughter of Ronglu)
• Secondary consort: woman of the Denggiya clan
• Eldest son: Puyi (Xuantong Emperor)
• Second son: Pujie
• Third son: Puqi (died young)
• Fourth son: Puren
• Eldest daughter: Yunying (韫瑛)
• Second daughter: Yunhe (韫龢)
• Third daughter: Yunying (韫颖)
• Fourth daughter: Yunxian (韫娴)
• Fifth daughter: Yunxin (韫馨)
• Sixth daughter: Yunyu (韫娱)
• Seventh daughter: Yunhuan (韫欢)

Teachers and Associates

• Zhang Zhidong: Grand Councillor and important adviser during the early regency.
• Shixu: Grand Councillor who participated in the arrangements for the transfer of power surrounding Empress Dowager Cixi's death.

Ruler and Ministers

• Empress Dowager Cixi: designated Zaifeng Prince Regent supervising the government.
• Guangxu Emperor: Zaifeng's elder brother; made no arrangement for the transfer of power before his death.
• Xuantong Emperor Puyi: Zaifeng's eldest son, who ascended the throne at age three.
• Empress Dowager Longyu: together with Zaifeng, one of the Qing Dynasty's de facto highest rulers.
• Yuan Shikai: dismissed by Zaifeng and later recalled, after which he exerted pressure on the court.

Conflicts

• Wang Jingwei and other revolutionaries: plotted to assassinate Zaifeng near Yinding Bridge; sources differ on the named participants.
• Yuan Shikai: was dismissed by Zaifeng and later returned to power, displacing Zaifeng's authority.

Historical Assessment

Late Qing / Contemporaries

• Assessments of Zaifeng differ. His military and political measures, the controversy over the Imperial Clan Cabinet, and his resignation and return of the seal during the Xinhai Revolution should be examined as distinct actions.
• In the Republican period there was a saying that “the Qing began with a prince regent and ended with a prince regent,” referring to Dorgon as regent at the beginning of the dynasty and Zaifeng as regent at its end.

Republican Period

• Zaifeng generally withdrew from politics after retiring. Shaoying’s diary records that he attended and read a draft edict when Zhang Xun sought Puyi’s approval for restoration in 1917. This establishes his presence at that meeting, but does not by itself establish that he planned the restoration.

• The 1911 self-blame edict, Zaifeng’s later return of the regent’s seal, and the 1917 diary account of his presence at a restoration meeting indicate that his political role should be assessed event by event. The available evidence does not justify calling him either the restoration movement’s mastermind or wholly absent from it.

Modern Period

• Contemporary researchers argue that although Empress Dowager Cixi gave Zaifeng the names of supervisor of the government and Prince Regent, she did not grant him full monarchical authority, leaving his power base inherently limited.
• Researchers also note that after Zhang Zhidong's death, Empress Dowager Longyu's influence expanded and the regency system under Zaifeng gradually broke down, suggesting that the collapse of the regency also had institutional causes.