Empress Dowager Longyu
Dowager Empress Long Yu, Lungyu, Lung Yu, Xiaodingjing, Xiao Ding Jing (
addressed as
Her Imperial Majesty, private name:靜芬, born 1868, died 1913) was the
Empress Consort of
China. She was of the
Yehonala clan (隆裕太后) and also a cousin of the
Guangxu Emperor, who reigned from
r. 1875-1908, and a niece of the Dowagwer Empress
Cixi.
She was chosen as the Empress because her aunt the Dowager Empress
Cixi wanted to strengthen the power of her own family. She married Emperor
Guangxu on
February 26,
1889 and was granted the title
Xiao Ding Huang Hou(孝定皇后).
She was extremely detested and ignored by Emperor
Guang Xu, who favoured the Imperial
Concubine Zhen of the
Tatala clan (他他拉，珍妃). She used to undermine the Concubine
Zhen by reporting bad incidents about her to the Dowager Empress
Cixi.
Zhen used to urge Emperor
Guang Xu to be more independent and capable. Concubine
Zhen also supported the new political reforms. The
Dowager Empress eventually grew more and more hostile to the Imperial Concubine
Zhenand had her
drowned in a palace
well before the imperial court fled to the City of
Xi'an due to the occupation of Beijing by foreign armies.
After the Emperor Guangxu's attempt to gain power from the Cixi's hand failed, he was imprisoned by the Dowager Empress in a
lagoon inside the former Imperial Residence. Empress Longyu would frequentlyspy on the Emperor and report his every actions to the Dowager Empress. When both the Emperor and the Dowager Empress died within 3 days, Empress Longyu was made the
Empress Dowager.
Empress Longyu adopted the Xuantong Emperor
Puyi as her son after Guangxu's death in 1908. Cixi had maintained before her death that the
Qing Dynasty would never again allow the
regency of women, but that the Empress Dowager would remain the leading respected figure, and therefore must be consulted on all major decisions. This decision was in many ways contradictory, and when Longyu assumed the title of Empress Dowager, in theory, she was in a position to make all the most important decisions, but in practice, because of her inexperience in
politics, in the first few years the
Imperial Court was dominated by the young regent
Zaifeng, and then by
Yuan Shikai; she was dependent on both.
Under Yuan's advice in the fall of 1911, Longyu agreed to sign an abdication of Puyi, while providing the conditions that the Imperial Family would continue to live in the
Forbidden City, and would keep its assets, titles, and servants. In 1912, the Qing Dynasty was abolished, making way for the new
Republic of China.
A few months after the fall of the Qing dynasty Empress Dowager Longyu died in Beijing following an illness. She was 46 years old.
