Tongzhi (born April 27, 1856, Beijing, China—died Jan. 12, 1875, Beijing) was the reign name (niaohao) of the eighth emperor (reigned 1861–1874/75) of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12), during whose reign occurred a short revitalization of the beleaguered Qing government, known as the Tongzhi Restoration.
Ascending the throne at the age of five (six by Chinese reckoning), the young ruler assumed the reign title of Tongzhi (“Union for Order”). He ruled under the regency of a triumvirate that was headed by his mother, the empress dowager Cixi (1835–1908).
The restoration under the Tongzhi emperor followed the examples of the great restorations in the middle of the Han (206 bc–ad 220) and Tang (ad 618–907) dynasties. In the first years of the Tongzhi reign, the Chinese government finally quelled the great Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), which had been threatening South China, and crushed the Nian Rebellion (1853–68) in North China. The finances of the imperial treasury were restored, and an attempt was made to recruit good men into the government. The system of civil-service examinations was once again held in areas that had long been under rebel control. The government also made an effort to revive agricultural production by distributing seeds and tools and helping to develop new land. A program was also undertaken to manufacture Western arms, although the effort to adopt foreign technology was only superficially successful because the study of the Confucian Classics, not Western science, remained the only sure path to official advancement.
The Zongli Yamen (“Office for General Management”) was created to handle foreign affairs, and the government began attempts to understand and deal with the West. Tongzhi assumed personal control of the government in 1873 when he was 17. One of his first acts was to grant an audience to the representatives of six foreign countries. For the first time in Chinese history, the emperor did not demand the ceremonial kowtow—kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground as a sign of supplication. The government concluded a détente with the Western powers with the treaties of Tianjin (1858) and Beijing (1860).
Tongzhi was a weak, uninterested ruler, whose affairs were constantly scrutinized by the empress dowager Cixi. He died a little more than two years after assuming control of the government.