NPR ran a story yesterday on the 100th anniversary of the death of the Guangxu Emperor. The report features interviews with historian Joseph Esherick, Zhu Chenru, deputy director of the National Committee for the Compilation of Qing history, and Jin Yuzhang, who is Guangxu’s nephew’s nephew, the oldest male in his generation, and, as such, would have been in line for the throne if Cixi hadn’t messed with the line of succession (again). God bless him…Jin seems pretty suibian about the whole “missing out at a shot to be the son of Heaven” thing:
“He wanted to change the country for the better. And in the end, he sacrificed his life for the sake of national unity and social progress,” Jin says.
Jin doesn’t believe that his ancestor’s death changed the course of Chinese history.
“The Qing dynasty was already at its end,” he says. “If the reforms had been successful, it might have lasted a few years longer. But the feudal society didn’t fit the needs of the times.” And, echoing the words of Communist leader Mao Zedong, he concludes, “If you don’t destroy the old world, you can’t build a new world.”
Louisa Lim–whose husband apparently runs one of my favorite restaurants here in Beijing–also discusses the recent scientific research showing the emperor likely died of arsenic poisoning, and while she doesn’t discuss it on air, on the page accompanying the story Lim and the experts speculate over who might have done the deed. One account suggests it was Cixi’s pet eunuch Li Lianying (known to viewers of the CCTV mini-series “Toward a Republic” 走向共和 as “Xiaaaaoooo Liiiizzziiii!”), who was seen carrying yoghurt from the emperor’s chambers just hours before Guangxu’s death.
But Professor Zhu concludes:
“One thing is certain: The empress dowager was the mastermind. All these people were her cronies, and it would be impossible for outsiders to come into the palace to poison the emperor.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
