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Prince Gong Wikipedia

Image: PrinceGong1.jpg|thumb|250px|Prince Gong in official dress

Prince Gong (Chinese language|Chinese: 恭親王; Wade-Giles: Prince Kung) (January 11, 1833 - May 29, 1898), commonly known in his days as the Sixth Prince (六王爺), was born Yixin (Chinese language|Chinese: 奕訢; Wade-Giles: I-hsin), of the Aisin-Gioro clan (the Qing Manchu imperial family ruling over China). He was in charge of the government of China in the 1860s and 1870s, and is remembered for his strong ties with Westerners and his attempts at opening and modernizing China.

He was popularly nicknamed "devil number six" (鬼子六) in Chinese language|Chinese, in reference to his frequent intercourse with Westerners (the "foreign devils"). He was given the posthumous name Zhong (忠 - meaning "loyal"), so that his formal title before 1912 (end of the empire) was actually Prince Gong the Loyal (恭忠親王).

He was the sixth son of the Daoguang Emperor (1782-1850). His mother was the concubine of the third rank Jing (靜妃) (1812-1855), who later became Concubine Dowager Kangci (康慈皇貴太妃), and was made posthumously Empress Xiaojing Cheng (孝靜成皇后). She was the daughter of a Mongol official in the government, from the Borjigid clan (the descendants of Genghis Khan).

In February 1850, Emperor Daoguang was dying, so he ordered to reveal the secret edict of succession: Yixin was made Prince of the First Rank Gong while his older half-brother Yizhu (奕詝) was proclaimed heir to the throne, which he ascended the following month as the Xianfeng Emperor. Prince Gong did not play a major role during the reign of Xianfeng, as his brother was suspicious of him and kept him at bay. His mother, the concubine Jing, the highest ranking surviving concubine of Emperor Daoguang (whose empresses were all dead already), was not made an Empress Dowager, but merely a Concubine Dowager, which Prince Gong bitterly resented.

Prince Gong's disgrace actually became his good fortune when, in 1860, in the middle of the Second Opium War, Emperor Xianfeng left him behind in Beijing to negotiate with the British and French armies who had invaded northern China, while the court was fleeing to the Rehe Traveling Palace (熱河行宫), 230 km./140 miles northeast of Beijing. Prince Gong thus obtained a position of great influence due to his newly acquired credit with the Western Powers, and his control of the militia in Beijing. On August 22, 1861, the Xianfeng Emperor died in Rehe. His only heir, the son of the concubine Yi (later known as Empress Dowager Cixi), was only 5-year-old. Prince Gong played the essential role in the ensuing struggle over who would assume the regency, as he had the troops capable of tilting the balance in favor of the concubine Yi and her party or in favor of the opposing party with the Manchu official Su Shun|Sushun (肅順) at its head. In November 1861, after secretly meeting the concubine Yi and deciding to side with her, he carried out the Xinyou Coup (辛酉政變), arrested the opposing princes and had them commit suicide, while Sushun was beheaded.

Image: PrinceGong2.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Prince Gong, informal in his garden
The concubine Yi became co-regent under the name Empress Dowager Cixi, along with the less politically involved Empress Dowager Ci'an, ruling behind the curtain (a court official required that the two co-regents, both women, attend imperial audiences behind a curtain).

Prince Gong with the support of the two dowagers, ruled China until the 1880s, but was demoted after being accused of being rude in front of the dowagers. He was then overshadowed by his younger half-brother the 1st prince Chun (醇賢親王), who had closer ties with Cixi.

In the 1890s, after the death of the 1st prince Chun, Empress Dowager Cixi asked Prince Gong to return to the court, but he died shortly afterwards.

In 20th century China, Prince Gong was for a long time vilified as the man who sold the country to the Western powers. In recent years however, he was somehow rehabilitated, and is now recognized as a great statesman, on par with Li Hongzhang, especially when compared to his brother the hapless Emperor Xianfeng. Alive, he was admired by Westerners with whom he had close contacts, and still keep much of this credit in Western historical circles.

Category:1833 births|Gong, Prince
Category:1898 deaths|Gong, Prince
Category:Qing Dynasty|Gong, Prince
Category:Chinese nobility|Gong

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Last Modified:   2005-11-04