Guangxu (born Aug. 14, 1871, Beijing, China—died Nov. 14, 1908, Beijing) was the reign name (nianhao) of the ninth emperor (reigned 1874/75–1908) of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12), during whose reign the empress dowager Cixi (1835–1908) totally dominated the government and thereby prevented the young emperor from modernizing and reforming the deteriorating imperial system.
When Tongzhi, the previous emperor, died, his mother, Cixi, chose Zaitian, her five-year-old nephew, as emperor. She adopted the boy as her son so that she could act as regent and dominate the government as she had since 1861. Although this action broke the sacred dynastic law of succession, opposition to the move was squelched, and on Feb. 25, 1875, the young prince ascended the throne, taking the reign name of Guangxu.
Although the emperor came of age in 1887, he had to wait two more years before taking over the government from Cixi, who continued to influence policy. In 1898, at the age of 27, he finally tried to assert himself. During what has come to be known as the “Hundred Days of Reform,” he collected a group of progressively oriented officials around him and issued a broad series of reform edicts. Conservative officials were outraged. With the aid of the top imperial military commander, Ronglu, Cixi returned to the capital, confined the emperor to his palace, and spread rumours that he was deathly ill. Foreign powers, who let it be known that they would not take kindly to the emperor’s death or dethronement, saved his life, but thereafter he had no power over the government.
On Nov. 15, 1908, Cixi died, and, under highly suspicious circumstances, the theretofore healthy Guangxu emperor was announced as having died the previous day. Cixi’s final decree passed the throne to Puyi, the emperor’s three-year-old nephew, who reigned as the Xuantong emperor. From the beginning it was widely believed that the emperor had been poisoned, but there was no evidence to support this theory until a century after his death. In 2008, following a five-year study, a report was issued by Chinese researchers and police officials confirming that the emperor had been deliberately poisoned with arsenic. The report did not address who may have ordered his murder, but suspicion long has been pointed toward Cixi.