Guangxu Emperor

The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign, which lasted from 1875 to 1908, was largely dominated by his aunt Empress Dowager Cixi. Guangxu initiated the radical Hundred Days' Reform but was abruptly stopped when the empress dowager launched a coup in 1898, after which he was held under virtual house arrest until his death.

Following the death of the Tongzhi Emperor in 1875, Empress Dowager Cixi installed her four-year-old nephew as Guangxu Emperor, in contravention of Qing's dynastic custom. He began to rule in his own right in 1889 upon Cixi's semi-retirement, although the empress dowager continued to influence state affairs. His early personal reign saw Qing's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, which led to the Treaty of Shimonoseki, as well as the German lease of Jiaozhou Bay and a series of concessions to foreign powers. In the wake of these events, the emperor launched the Hundred Days' Reform in an attempt to push through sweeping political, legal and social changes. The reforms faced significant opposition from the Qing bureaucracy and were ultimately reversed after Cixi, with the support of Yuan Shikai and Ronglu, mounted a coup in late 1898 and took over the government.

Guangxu was effectively removed from power following the coup. During the Boxer Rebellion, the emperor and the empress dowager were briefly forced to flee Beijing in the face of an Allied invasion. The Guangxu Emperor died at the age of 37 in November 1908, a day before the death of Cixi, and the throne passed to his nephew Puyi.