Xianfeng Emperor - Early Reign

Early Reign

Yizhu succeeded the throne in 1850, at age 19, and was a relatively young Emperor. He inherited a dynasty that faced not only internal but also foreign challenges. Yizhu's reign title, Xianfeng (咸丰/咸豐), which means "Universal Prosperity", did not reflect the situation. In 1850 the first of a series of popular rebellions began that would nearly destroy the dynasty. The Taiping Rebellion began in December 1850, when Hong Xiuquan, a Hakka leader of a syncretic Christian sect, defeated local forces sent to disperse his followers. Hong then proclaimed the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the rebellion spread to several provinces with amazing speed. The next year the Nien Rebellion started in North China. Unlike the Christian Taipings', the Nien movement lacked a clear political program, but they became a serious threat to Beijing with the mobility of their cavalry-based armies. Fixed between two powerful forces the Qing suffered repeated defeats.

In 1853 the Taiping captured Nanjing and for a while it seemed that Beijing would fall next; but the Taiping northern expedition was defeated and the situation stabilized. Xianfeng dispatched several prominent mandarins, like Zeng Guofan, and Imperial relatives, like the Mongol general Sengge Rinchen, to crush the rebellions, but they only obtained limited success. The biggest revolt of the Miao people against Chinese rule in history started in 1854, and ravaged the region until finally put down in 1873. In 1856 an attempt to regain Nanjing was defeated and the Panthay Rebellion broke out in Yunnan.

Meanwhile, an initially minor incident on the coasts triggered the Second Opium War. Anglo-French forces, after inciting a few battles (not all victories for them) on the coast near Tianjin, attempted "negotiation" with the Qing Government. Xianfeng, under the influence of the Concubine Yi (懿貴妃, later the Empress Dowager Cixi), believed in Chinese superiority and would not agree to any colonial demands. He delegated Prince Gong for several negotiations but relations broke down completely when a British diplomatic envoy, Sir Harry Parkes, was arrested during negotiations on 18 September.

The Anglo-French invasion clashed with Sengge Rinchen's Mongolian cavalry on 18 September near Zhangjiawan before proceeding toward the outskirts of Beijing for a decisive battle in Tongzhou District, Beijing. On 21 September, at the Battle of Palikao, Sengge Rinchen's 10,000 troops, including élite Mongolian cavalry, were completely annihilated after several doomed frontal charges against the concentrated firepower of the Anglo-French forces, which entered Beijing on 6 October.

On 18 October 1860, the western forces went on to loot and burn the Imperial Summer Palaces of Qīngyī Yuán (清漪园/清漪園) and Yuánmíng Yuán (圆明园/圓明園). Upon learning about this news, Xianfeng's health quickly deteriorated.

While negotiations with the European powers were being held, Emperor Xianfeng and his Imperial entourage fled to the northern palace in Jehol in the name of annual Imperial hunt. As his health worsened, Xianfeng's ability to govern also deteriorated, and competing court ideologies in court led to the formation of two distinct factions — one under the rich Manchu Sushun, Princes Yi and Zheng, and the other under the Concubine Yi, supported by Gen. Ronglu and Yehenala Bannermen.