Mourning During the Tongzhi Regency: The Case of Li Hongzao (1820–1897). Issue 2 (2nd July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chan, Ying-Kit
• Is Part Of: Monumenta serica. Volume 64:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 389
• Page End: 410
• Publication Date: 2016-07-02
• Subjects: Li Hongzao -- mourning -- filiality -- late Qing court politics -- Cixi -- network monarchy; 李鴻藻 -- 喪制 -- 孝道 -- 晚清政治 -- 慈禧 -- 網絡皇權; Asia -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 915.1
• DOI: 10.1080/02549948.2016.1259852
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0254-9948

Abstract

Abstract : The Tongzhi Regency (1861–1875), historiographically marked as the beginning of the Qing dynasty's (1644–1912) decline, also saw the emergence of a new political alliance between the Han Chinese grand councilors / Hanlin academicians and the Empress Dowagers Ci'an and Cixi, who ruled from behind the curtains with the former's support. The Hanlin academicians gained their high positions partly from their allegiance to the empress dowagers but largely through patron–client networks, which were based on native-place associations and scholarly interests. Using the case of Li Hongzao (1820–1897), the chief tutor of the Tongzhi Emperor, this article argues that, to him, such networks mattered more than the empress dowagers' favor and recognition, and that his situation reveals the dynamics of late Qing court politics. In particular, the article focuses on how Li was able to use his appointment as Tongzhi's chief tutor to defy the wishes of the court and mourn his adoptive mother, showing the limits of late Qing imperial power in the realm of Confucian discourse.