Early life Yixin was born in the
Aisin Gioro clan, the imperial clan of the
Manchu-led
Qing dynasty, as the sixth son of the
Daoguang Emperor. He was the third son of his mother,
Imperial Noble Consort Jing, who was from the
Khorchin Mongol Borjigit clan. He studied in the imperial library and practised martial arts with his fourth brother,
Yizhu. He created 28
qiang (spear) movements and 18
dao (sword) movements, which were respectively named "Lihua Xieli" (棣華協力) and "Bao'e Xuanwei" (寶鍔宣威) by his father. His father also gave him a White Rainbow Sword (白虹刀) as a gift. Yixin was mentored by
Zhuo Bingtian (卓秉恬) and
Jia Zhen (賈楨), two eminent
scholar-officials who obtained the position of
jinshi (進士; successful candidate) in the
imperial examination in 1802 and 1826 respectively. In 1850, when the Daoguang Emperor became critically ill, he summoned
Zaiquan (載銓),
Zaiyuan,
Duanhua,
Sengge Rinchen,
Mujangga,
He Rulin (何汝霖),
Chen Fu'en (陳孚恩) and
Ji Zhichang (季芝昌) to Shende Hall (慎德堂) in the
Old Summer Palace, where he revealed to them a secret edict he wrote previously. According to the edict, the Fourth Prince, Yizhu, would become the new emperor while Yixin, the Sixth Prince, would be made a
qinwang (first-rank prince). He died on the same day. However, it is rumored that Yixin was the real successor emperor, and the secret decree have been tampered with.
Under the Xianfeng Emperor Yizhu ascended the throne in 1850 after the death of the Daoguang Emperor and adopted the
regnal title "Xianfeng"; he is thus historically known as the Xianfeng Emperor. In accordance with their father's secret edict, the newly enthroned Xianfeng Emperor granted Yixin the title "
Prince Gong of the First Rank" (恭親王) in the same year. In 1851, the Xianfeng Emperor established an office for Prince Gong, gave him permission to enter the inner imperial court, assigned him to be in charge of patrol and defence matters, and ordered him to continue carrying the White Rainbow Sword given to him by their father. In October 1853, as the
Taiping rebels closed in on Jinan (畿南; the area south of the
Hai River), Prince Gong was appointed to the
Grand Council, which was in charge of military affairs. The following year, he received three additional appointments:
dutong (都統;
Banner Commander),
you zongzheng (右宗正; Right Director of the
Imperial Clan Court) and
zongling (宗令; Head of the
Imperial Clan Court). He was publicly praised in May 1855 after the Taiping rebels were driven out of Jinan. When Prince Gong's mother died in August 1855, the Xianfeng Emperor reprimanded Prince Gong for failing to observe court protocol and removed him from the Grand Council and his
zongling and
dutong appointments. However, Prince Gong was still permitted to enter the inner imperial court and the imperial library. He was restored to his position as a
dutong in June 1856, and further appointed as an Interior Minister (內大臣) in May 1859.
Second Opium War In September 1860, during the
Second Opium War, as British and French forces closed in on the capital
Beijing, the Xianfeng Emperor ordered
Zaiyuan and
Muyin (穆廕) to negotiate for peace at
Tongzhou with British and French officials. An Anglo-French delegation sent to negotiate with Chinese officials, which included
Harry Smith Parkes and
Henry Loch, was taken prisoner by soldiers led by Mongol general
Sengge Rinchen during the negotiations. Rinchen then led mounted Mongol troops to attack a Franco-British force at the
Battle of Palikao but was defeated. The Xianfeng Emperor recalled Zaiyuan and Muyin from Tongzhou, fled from Beijing with most members of his imperial court to
Rehe Province, and appointed Prince Gong as an
Imperial Commissioner with Discretion and Full Authority (欽差便宜行事全權大臣). Prince Gong moved to Changxindian (長辛店; in present-day
Fengtai District, Beijing) and called for an assembly of the troops stationed there to enforce greater discipline and raise their morale. On one hand,
Qinghui (慶惠) suggested to the Xianfeng Emperor to release Parkes and let Prince Gong continue negotiating. On the other hand,
Yidao (義道) urged the emperor to surrender Beijing to the British and French. In the meantime, Anglo-French expeditionary forces captured the
Old Summer Palace in the northwest of Beijing, which they proceeded to sack and burn. On 24 October 1860, Prince Gong concluded the negotiations with British, French and Russian officials, signing the
Convention of Peking on behalf of the Qing dynasty. He subsequently wrote a memorial to the Xianfeng Emperor, requesting to be punished for signing an
unequal treaty. The emperor replied, "The responsibility assigned to Prince Gong to carry on peace negotiations is not an easy one to shoulder. I deeply understand the difficult situation he was put into. There is no need to punish him." Prince Gong settled the diplomatic affairs in Beijing by the end of 1860. In 1861, Prince Gong set up the
Zongli Yamen, which functioned as the Qing government's
de facto foreign affairs ministry, and placed
Guiliang (桂良) and
Wenxiang in charge of it. He wrote a memorial to the Xianfeng Emperor, proposing to enhance the training of
Banner Troops in Beijing and let Qing troops stationed in
Jilin and
Heilongjiang provinces train with the
Imperial Russian Army and stockpile military supplies. The generals
Shengbao (勝保),
Jingchun (景淳) and others were ordered to oversee training of Qing troops stationed in Beijing and
northeast China.
Under the Tongzhi Emperor Xinyou Coup Before the
Xianfeng Emperor died in August 1861 in the
Chengde Mountain Resort, he appointed a group of eight regents – led by
Zaiyuan,
Duanhua and
Sushun – to assist his underage son and successor,
Zaichun. Yixin's flexible attitude towards dealing with the Western powers had put him at odds with the eight regents, who were politically conservative and opposed to Western influence. Upon request, Prince Gong was granted permission to travel to Chengde to attend the funeral. In Chengde, he met the Empress Dowagers
Ci'an and
Cixi and told them about how the eight regents monopolised state power. When the Xianfeng Emperor's coffin arrived back in Beijing in November 1861, Prince Gong and the two empress dowagers launched a coup – historically known as the
Xinyou Coup (辛酉政變) – to oust the eight regents from power. The regents were arrested and removed from their positions of power.
As Prince-Regent Zaichun, who was enthroned as the "Tongzhi Emperor", appointed Prince Gong as
Prince-Regent (議政王) and granted him some special privileges. These privileges included:
"iron-cap" status awarded to the
Prince Gong title/peerage; an increment in salary to twice that of a normal
qinwang (first-rank prince); exemptions from having to
kowtow in the emperor's presence and having to write his name on memorials submitted to the emperor. Prince Gong firmly declined to accept the "iron-cap" privilege, and instead sought to be concurrently appointed as
zongling (宗令; Head of the
Imperial Clan Court) and put in charge of the
Shenjiying (a firearms-equipped unit in the Qing army). The two empress dowagers also ordered Prince Gong to supervise Hongde Hall (弘德殿; a hall in the
Forbidden City), where the Tongzhi Emperor studied. In 1864, Qing forces finally suppressed the
Taiping Rebellion after a war lasting more than a decade, and recaptured Jiangning (江寧; in present-day
Nanjing) from the rebels. The imperial court issued a decree to praise Prince Gong for his effective leadership in the regency that led to the end of the rebellion – in addition to conferring more prestigious titles on his sons Zaicheng, Zaijun and Zaiying. As the longstanding leader of the
Zongli Yamen, which he established in 1861, Prince Gong was responsible for spearheading various reforms in the early stages of the
Self-Strengthening Movement, a series of measures and policy changes implemented by the Qing government with the aim of modernising China. He also founded the
Tongwen Guan in 1862 for Chinese scholars to study technology and foreign languages.
Fall from grace in 1872 at the
prince's residence. Around April 1865, an official, Cai Shouqi (蔡壽祺), accused Prince Gong of "monopolising state power, accepting bribes, practising favouritism, behaving arrogantly, and showing disrespect towards the Emperor". The Empress Dowagers Ci'an and Cixi publicly reprimanded Prince Gong and stripped him of his position as Prince-Regent.
Yishen (奕脤),
Yixuan,
Wang Zheng (王拯),
Sun Yimou (孫翼謀),
Yin Zhaoyong (殷兆鏞),
Pan Zuyin,
Wang Weizhen (王維珍), Guangcheng (廣誠) and others pleaded with the empress dowagers to pardon Prince Gong and make him Prince-Regent again. Although the empress dowagers did not restore Prince Gong as Prince-Regent, they permitted him to remain in the inner imperial court and continue running the
Zongli Yamen. Prince Gong personally thanked the empress dowagers and made a tearful apology. The empress dowagers issued a decree announcing: "The Prince practised favouritism. As we are bound by a common cause and have high expectations of him, we cannot show leniency in punishing him. He will still be allowed to oversee the
Grand Council." In March 1868, as the
Nian rebels approached the suburbs of Beijing, Prince Gong was tasked with mobilising troops and managing defence arrangements. He was also appointed as
you zongzheng (右宗正; Right Director of the
Imperial Clan Court). In 1869,
An Dehai, a court
eunuch and close aide of Empress Dowager Cixi, was arrested and executed in
Shandong Province by
Ding Baozhen, the provincial governor. This was because it was a capital crime for eunuchs to travel out of the
Forbidden City without authorisation. The empress dowager became more suspicious of Prince Gong because she believed that he instigated Ding Baozhen to execute An Dehai.
Demotion and restoration In October 1872, when the Tongzhi Emperor married the
Jiashun Empress, he granted Prince Gong the "iron-cap" privilege again. He officially took over the reins of power from his regents in around February 1873. In the same year, Prince Gong displeased Empress Dowager Cixi when he strongly opposed her plan to rebuild the
Old Summer Palace. In August 1874, Prince Gong was reprimanded and punished again for failing to observe court protocol. This time, he was demoted from a
qinwang (first-rank prince) to a
junwang (second-rank prince). Zaicheng, Prince Gong's eldest son, also lost his
beile title. Despite his demotion, Prince Gong was still allowed to remain in the Grand Council. The following day, the empress dowagers ordered Prince Gong and Zaicheng to be restored as a
qinwang and
beile respectively. Towards the end of the year, the Tongzhi Emperor increased Prince Gong's salary by more than twice that of a normal
qinwang, but died not long later in around December.
Under the Guangxu Emperor The
Guangxu Emperor, who succeeded the Tongzhi Emperor in 1875, continued the practices of exempting Prince Gong from having to
kowtow in the emperor's presence and having to write his name on memorials submitted to the emperor. Prince Gong was also appointed as
zongling (宗令; Head of the
Imperial Clan Court).
Sino-French War In 1884, when the French invaded Vietnam, Prince Gong and the members of the
Grand Council were unable to arrive at a decision on whether or not to intervene in Vietnam and go to war with the French. As a consequence,
Empress Dowager Cixi reprimanded Prince Gong and his colleagues for their dispirited and indecisive attitude towards the war, and removed them from their positions. Prince Gong stopped receiving his double salary and was ordered to retire to recuperate from illness. However, he started receiving his double salary again from November 1886 and was allowed to receive his share of the offerings from ceremonial events. He remained in
Jietai Temple in western Beijing for most of the time. Prince Gong's seventh brother,
Yixuan (Prince Chun), replaced him as the head of the Grand Council. Some officials such as
Baojun (寶鋆),
Li Hongzao,
Jinglian (景廉) and
Weng Tonghe, who previously served in Prince Gong's administration, were also dismissed from office. The incident is known as the "Cabinet Change of Jiashen" (甲申易樞) or "Political Change of Jiashen" (甲申朝局之變) because it took place in the
jiashen year according to the Chinese
sexagenary cycle.
First Sino-Japanese War In October 1894, after the Japanese invaded Korea and the situation became dire, Empress Dowager Cixi summoned Prince Gong back to the imperial court, and made him, along with
Prince Qing, the co-head of the
Zongli Yamen, the Admiralty, and the board of war operations. He was also made high commissioner of the
Peking Field Force, putting him in overall command of the capital's defenses. In December 1894 Prince Gong was also made the president of the Grand Council. Although Prince Gong had been recalled to politics, Empress Dowager Cixi also decreed that since he had not yet recovered from illness, he was exempted from having to constantly attend court sessions.
Death In 1898, Prince Gong was appointed as
zongling again, but he became critically ill by the end of April. Empress Dowager Cixi visited him three times during this period of time. He eventually died at the age of 67 (by
East Asian age reckoning) in May. The Guangxu Emperor personally attended Prince Gong's funeral and, as a sign of mourning, cancelled imperial court sessions for five days and ordered mourning attire to be worn for 15 days. The emperor also granted Prince Gong the
posthumous name "Zhong" (忠; literally "loyal"), gave him a place in the
Imperial Ancestral Temple, and issued an edict honouring Prince Gong as a role model of loyalty that all Qing subjects should learn from. == Family ==