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Politics2 November 1861

Xinyou Coup

Also called: Xinyou Palace Coup, Beijing Coup of 1861

When the Xianfeng Emperor died at Rehe in 1861, eight ministers led by Sushun became regents for the six-year-old Tongzhi Emperor. In November the two empresses dowager, Ci’an and Cixi, joined Prince Gong to overthrow them and began to rule from behind the screen.

The Xianfeng Emperor, who had fled the Anglo-French advance to the mountain resort at Rehe, never returned to Beijing and died there in August 1861. His six-year-old son Zaichun succeeded him, and by his will eight ministers led by Sushun were to guide the boy emperor.

But the emperor’s mother Cixi and the former empress Ci’an allied with Prince Gong, who had led the negotiations with the foreigners in Beijing. In November, returning to Beijing with the late emperor’s coffin, the two dowagers had the eight ministers arrested, executed Sushun and began to rule "from behind the screen". Prince Gong became Prince-Regent, and the new reign was named Tongzhi — "ruling together".

From the Zongli Yamen founded early that year Prince Gong took charge of foreign affairs and, with Han Chinese officials such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang, led the Self-Strengthening Movement. Cixi held real power in China for almost half a century, until her death in 1908.

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The map in 1861

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States and rulers at the time
Qing — Xianfeng Emperor → Tongzhi Emperor
Places
Beijing, Chengde Mountain Resort

People

  • Empress Dowager Cixi1835 – 1908

    key figure · Consort of the Xianfeng Emperor and mother of the Tongzhi Emperor who held real power in Qing China for nearly half a century and crushed the 1898 reforms

  • Prince Gong (Yixin)1833 – 1898

    key figure · Son of the Daoguang Emperor and brother of Xianfeng, who stayed in Beijing in 1860 when the emperor fled, signed the Convention of Beijing, and from 1861 led the Zongli Yamen and the Self-Strengthening Movement

  • Xianfeng Emperor1831 – 1861

    related figure · Ninth Qing emperor (r. 1850–1861), who faced the Taiping Rebellion and the Second Opium War, fled to Rehe as Anglo-French forces neared Beijing in 1860, and died there

Before and after

Earlier
1856 Second Opium War and Treaties of Tianjin and Beijing
Later
1861 Self-Strengthening Movement

Themes that include this event

  • The Opium Wars1757 – 1864

    From the single gate at Canton to the burning of the Old Summer Palace — a century in which a trade in tea, silver and opium became the First and Second Opium Wars, forcing China open and costing it territory