Empress Dowager (皇太后)

Overview

The translated histories identify Empress Dowager as a royal family member and ruler. This record brings together 20 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Empress Dowager	皇太后	Huang taihou
Title	empress dowager	皇太后
Title	Empress Dowager	太后	taihou
Title	Holy Mother	聖母	Shengmu

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Title only
Sex: Female

Sex: female
Explicit · qingshigao:445:s0024

Roles

Royal Family Member
Ruler

Life and dates

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 兩宮懿旨立嗣 · Western Year: AD 1875
Explicit · qingshigao:445:s0024

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: issuer · Action: decreed adoption of Prince Chun son as Wenzong heir
Explicit · qingshigao:445:s0024

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 445Volume 445 Biographies 232: Wu Kedu, Zhu Yixin, Tu Keshou, An Weijun, Wen Ti, Jiang Chunlin · 20 passages

Open chapter

欽奉兩宮皇太后懿旨，以醇親王之子承繼文宗顯皇帝為子，入承大統為嗣皇帝，俟嗣皇帝生有皇子，即承繼大行皇帝為嗣。 By decree of the two empress dowagers, the son of Prince Chun was adopted as heir to Emperor Wenzong, ascended the throne as successor emperor, and when he should have a son of his own, that son would succeed the late emperor in turn.

我皇上仁孝性成，承我兩宮皇太后授以寶位，將來千秋萬歲時，必能以我兩宮皇太后今日之心為心。 Our emperor is filial and benevolent by nature. Having received the throne from the two empress dowagers, in time to come he will surely hold the same intentions they hold today.

惟有仰求我兩宮皇太后再降諭旨，將來大統，仍歸大行皇帝嗣子，嗣皇帝雖百斯男，中外臣工均不得以異言進。 I can only humbly beg the two empress dowagers to issue another decree: that hereafter the succession remain with a son of the late emperor, and that even if the reigning emperor should have a hundred sons, no official at court or in the provinces may advance a contrary opinion.

如此，則猶是本朝子以傳子之家法，而我大行皇帝未有子而有子，即我兩宮皇太后未有孫而有孫，異日繩繩揖揖相引於萬代者，皆我兩宮皇太后所自出而不可移易者也。 Thus the dynasty's house law of father passing the throne to son would be preserved. The late emperor would have no son and yet have a son; the two empress dowagers would have no grandson and yet have a grandson. The line that would stretch in orderly succession through ten thousand generations would all spring from the two empress dowagers and could not be altered.

謹以我先皇帝所賜餘年，為我先皇帝上乞數行懿旨，惟望我兩宮皇太后、我皇上憐其哀鳴，勿以為無疾呻吟、不祥舉動，則罪臣雖死無憾。 I respectfully use the remaining years my late emperor granted me to beg on his behalf for a few lines of decree, praying only that the two empress dowagers and our emperor will pity this cry of grief and not dismiss it as feigned groaning or an ill-omened act. Then I may die without regret.

尤原我兩宮皇太后、我皇上體聖祖、世宗之心，調劑寬猛，養忠厚和平之福，任用老成； I further pray that the two empress dowagers and our emperor take to heart the spirit of the Kangxi and Yongzheng emperors, balance severity and leniency, nurture the blessings of loyalty and peace, and employ seasoned men;

聖母垂簾，安得海假採辦出京，立寘重典。 When the Holy Mother held court from behind the curtain, how could An Dehai leave the capital on the pretext of procurement? He was at once punished under the severest statute.

我皇太后、皇上明目達聰，豈有跬步之地而或敢售其欺？ Our empress dowager and emperor are clear-sighted and keen of hearing—would there be even a step's breadth where one dared practice deception?

疏上，太后怒，詰責疏言「苦衷」何指？ When the memorial was submitted, the empress dowager was angry and demanded what the memorial meant by "unavoidable hardship."

十五年，太后歸政，仁守慮僉人讒構兩宮，易生嫌隙，疏請依高宗訓政往事：「凡部院題本、尋常奏事，如常例； In 1889 the empress dowager returned power. Renshou feared that malicious men would sow discord between the two palaces and easily breed suspicion. He memorialized asking that the precedent of the Gaozong Emperor's regency be followed: "All routine memorials from ministries and boards and ordinary reports shall follow usual practice;

外省密摺、廷臣封奏，仍書皇太后、皇上聖鑒，俟慈覽後施行。」 secret memorials from the provinces and sealed reports from court ministers shall still be addressed For the Sacred View of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, to be carried out after her gracious perusal."

並請太后居慈寧宮，節遊觀。 He also asked that the empress dowager reside at Cining Palace and moderate excursions and sightseeing.

太后怒，罷其官。 The empress dowager was angry and dismissed him from office.

日韓釁起，時上雖親政，遇事必請太后意旨，和戰不能獨決，及戰屢敗，世皆歸咎李鴻章主款。 When trouble arose between China and Japan, although the emperor had taken power, on every matter he had to ask the empress dowager's intent; peace and war could not be decided alone, and when battles were repeatedly lost the world blamed Li Hongzhang for favoring peace.

而又謂和議出自皇太后，太監李蓮英實左右之，臣未敢深信。 Yet some also say the peace talks came from the empress dowager and the eunuch Li Lianying really swayed them; I dare not fully believe this.

皇太后既歸政，若仍遇事牽制，將何以上對祖宗，下對天下臣民？ If the empress dowager has returned power, yet still restrains affairs at every turn, how may she face the ancestors above or the officials and people below?

乃安維峻封奏，託諸傳聞，竟有'皇太后遇事牽制'之語，妄言無忌，恐開離間之端。」 Yet An Weijun's sealed memorial, resting on rumor, actually has the words 'the empress dowager restrains affairs at every turn'; reckless speech without restraint may open a breach of estrangement."

太后復訓政，賞文悌知府，旋授河南知府。 When the empress dowager resumed regency, Wen Ti was rewarded with the post of prefect and soon appointed prefect of Henan.

一新、仁守、維峻先後直言，皆以語侵太后獲罪。 Yixin, Renshou, and Weijun in succession spoke frankly; all were punished for words that offended the empress dowager.

又有太監寇連才，上書泣諫，請太后歸政，廢頤和園，且言：「不為祖宗天下計，獨不自為計？」 There was also the eunuch Kou Liancai, who memorialized weeping in remonstrance, asking the empress dowager to return power, abolish the Summer Palace, and saying: "If you do not plan for the ancestors and the realm, will you not plan even for yourself?"