Overview
Emperor Guangxu was a Qing Emperor.
IdentityHistorical · Male
Life and dates
Attested activity
AD 1875 to AD 1890 光緒朝記事
AD 1875 德宗繼統嗣文宗
Places and affiliations
- Polity Qing 清 · Relation Ruled
Assessments and attributes
- Assessment sage-by-nature · Mode named-source-report Speaker Baoting (寶廷)
References in the histories
No matching passages.
Draft History of Qing, Chapter 444Volume 444 Biographies 231: Huang Tifang, Zong Shibaoting, Zong Shishengyu, Zhang Peilun, Deng Chengxiu, Xu Zhixiang · 14 passages
光緒改元，疏請選師保以崇聖德，嚴宦寺以杜干預，覈實內務府以節糜費，訓練神機營以備緩急，懿旨嘉納。
At the beginning of Guangxu he memorialized for the appointment of tutors to cultivate the emperor's virtue, tighter control of eunuchs to prevent interference, audit of the Imperial Household Department to cut waste, and drill of the Shenji Camp for emergencies—all measures praised and accepted by the empress dowager.
晉、豫飢，應詔陳言，請罪己，並責臣工。
During famine in Shanxi and Henan he answered the imperial call for advice, urging the emperor to reproach himself and hold his ministers accountable.
初，德宗繼統嗣文宗，懿旨謂將來生有皇子，即繼穆宗為嗣。
When Emperor Guangxu had first succeeded as heir to Emperor Xianfeng, an empress dowager's decree held that any son born to him in future would succeed Emperor Tongzhi as heir.
寶廷謂：「恭繹懿旨之意，蓋言穆宗未有儲貳，即以皇上所生之子為嗣，非言生皇子即時承繼也，言嗣而統賅焉矣。
Baoting wrote: "Reverently construed, the empress dowager's decree means that because Tongzhi left no heir, the son the present emperor bears shall be his successor—not that any newborn son must succeed at once, but that 'heir' here embraces the whole line of succession.
引伸之，蓋言將來即以皇上傳統之皇子繼穆宗為嗣也。
Taken further, it means that in future the son who inherits the present emperor's own line will succeed Tongzhi as heir.
因皇上甫承大統，故渾涵其詞，留待親政日自下明詔，此皇太后不忍歧視之慈心，欲以孝弟仁讓之休歸之皇上也。
Because the emperor had only just ascended the throne, the wording was deliberately broad, leaving a clear edict for the day he took personal rule—this was the empress dowager's compassion, unwilling to divide loyalties, wishing to leave the emperor the credit of filial devotion, brotherly duty, benevolence, and forbearance.
乃者兩宮懿旨懸於上，孤臣遺疏存於下，傳之九州，載之國史，皇上天生聖人，必能以皇太后之心為心。
Now the two palaces' decrees stand above and a lone minister's dying memorial below, to be proclaimed throughout the realm and written into the dynastic record; the emperor, a sage by nature, will surely make the empress dowager's intent his own.
請將前後懿旨恭呈御覽，明降諭旨，宣示中外，俾天下後世咸知我皇太后至慈，皇上至孝至弟至仁至讓，且以見穆宗至聖至明，付託得人也。
I beg that the earlier and later decrees be presented for the emperor's review, that a clear edict be issued and proclaimed at home and abroad, so that all the world and posterity may know the empress dowager's boundless compassion, the emperor's supreme filial piety, brotherly duty, benevolence, and forbearance—and may see that Tongzhi, most sage and discerning, entrusted his line to the right man.
又奏：「廷臣謂穆宗繼統之議，已賅於皇太后前降懿旨之中，將來神器所歸，皇上自能斟酌盡善，固也。
He also wrote: "Ministers say the question of Tongzhi's succession is already covered by the empress dowager's earlier decree, and that when the throne passes in future the emperor can weigh every matter to perfection—so far, so good.
然懿旨意深詞簡，不及此引伸明晰，異日皇上生有皇子，將繼穆宗為嗣乎，抑不即繼乎？
Yet the decree's intent is deep and its wording brief; without this fuller explanation, when the emperor has a son, will that son succeed Tongzhi at once or not?
至此時即欲皇上斟酌盡善，不亦難乎？
By then, could the emperor still weigh every matter to perfection?
廷議之意，或以皇上親政，皇子應尚未生，不難豫酌一盡善之規。
Ministers may think that when the emperor takes personal rule no prince will yet have been born, making it easy to frame a perfect plan in advance.
與其留此兩難之局以待皇上，何如及今斟酌盡善乎？
Rather than leave this dilemma for the emperor, would it not be better to settle it now?
且懿旨非皇上可改，此時不引伸明晰，將來皇上雖斟酌盡善，何敢自為變通乎？
Moreover, the empress dowager's decree is not the emperor's to alter; if it is not clarified now, how could he later dare change it even if he wished to?