107-648: The Boxers , officially known as the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists ( traditional Chinese : 義和拳 ; simplified Chinese : 义和拳 ; pinyin : Yìhéquán ; Wade–Giles : I-ho-ch'üan ) among other names , were a Chinese secret society based in Northern China that carried out the Boxer Rebellion from 1899 to 1901. The movement was made up of independent local village groups, many of which kept their membership secret, making
214-516: A Taiwanese history professor, proposes an alternative view: that the Guangxu Emperor might have been led into a trap by the reformists led by Kang Youwei , who in turn was in Lei's opinion tricked by British missionary Timothy Richard and former Japanese prime minister Itō Hirobumi into agreeing to appoint Itō as one of many foreign advisors. British ambassador Claude MacDonald claimed that
321-509: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from
428-467: A childhood fascination, some say in an effort to pass the time until Cixi's death. He also read widely and spent time learning English from Cixi's Western-educated lady-in-waiting, Yu Deling . His relationship with Empress Longyu , Cixi's niece (and the Emperor's own first cousin), also improved to some extent. The Guangxu Emperor died on 14 November 1908, a day before Cixi's death, at the age of 37. For
535-588: A dinner for the diplomatic corps. On 7 February 1887, the emperor was officially old enough to begin to rule in his own right, but the regency of Empress Dowager Cixi continued beyond that, and the foreign diplomats were not informed of either fact. The French minister requested an audience with the emperor twice, in November 1887 and in the spring of 1888, but this was denied both times. In 1886, several courtiers, including Prince Chun and Weng Tonghe, had petitioned Empress Dowager Cixi to postpone her retirement from
642-527: A high dose at one time. The Guangxu Emperor was succeeded by Cixi's choice as heir, his nephew Puyi , who took the regnal name "Xuantong". In January 1912, the Guangxu Emperor's consort, who had become Empress Dowager Longyu , placed her seal on the abdication decree , ending two thousand years of imperial rule in China. Longyu died childless in 1913. After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911–1912,
749-400: A long time, there were several theories about the emperor's death, none of which was accepted fully by historians. Most were inclined to believe that Cixi, herself very ill, poisoned the Guangxu Emperor because she was afraid he would reverse her policies after her death. China Daily quoted a historian, Dai Yi , who speculated that Cixi might have known of her imminent death and worried that
856-526: A major protagonist group. Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of
963-467: A memorial to the throne signed by young metropolitan officials and jinshi graduates that urged him to not trust his ministers and deal with the foreign powers on his own. In early June 1898 the grand councilor Weng Tonghe introduced the Guangxu Emperor to the reformist official Kang Youwei , and the emperor was impressed him, especially after reading Kang's two books about the reforms in Russia by Peter
1070-631: A naval squadron under command of the brother of Emperor Wilhelm II , the admiral Prince Heinrich , who was later received by the Qing monarch at the Summer Palace in May 1898. Germany's example was followed by demands from Russia, Britain, France, and Japan. China's relatively weak forces were not in a position to challenge them, and the United States, which was opposed to European concessions ,
1177-432: A navy of 21 battleships . The emperor also required court bureaucrats to read the writings of the earlier reformist official Feng Guifen and present a report on his suggestions in ten days, encouraged imperial princes to study abroad, and tried to streamline the government by firing 5,000 state employees. One of the early stumbling blocks for this effort happened on 15 June, when the Guangxu Emperor suddenly dismissed
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#17327724380011284-587: A new emperor must always be of a generation after that of the previous emperor, candidates were considered from the generation of Tongzhi. The reason for this is that the empress dowagers wanted the candidate to take the place of the Tongzhi Emperor as the successor to the Xianfeng Emperor , whose only son had been Tongzhi. The other proposed candidates besides Zaitian were the two sons of Prince Gong , Zaicheng and Zaiying , but they were of
1391-546: A self-disciplinarian early on. In 1876 he told Weng Tonghe that he considered frugality to be more important than the accumulation of wealth, and in another instance in 1878, he insisted on walking through snow and told his servants not to clear it out of his way. He also said that he considered the Tao to be more important than his own views. But, Weng noted that the emperor sometimes had extreme mood swings and did not want to participate in their daily lessons. Weng also instilled in
1498-512: A way that would intimidate other officials, which undermined his own call for unity on the project. Overall, there was no coherent structure to the Hundred Days' Reform, and the Guangxu Emperor was frantically trying to begin as many changes as he could with his edicts, causing the bureaucracy to be overwhelmed by the large number of documents being written. Although the decrees between June and August were largely accepted and were creating
1605-669: A younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi . He was the nephew of Cixi and the grandson of the Daoguang Emperor . On 12 January 1875, Zaitian's cousin, the Tongzhi Emperor , died without a son to succeed him. On that same day an imperial conference was held by the co-regents of the former emperor, the Empress Dowager Ci'an and the Empress Dowager Cixi. Breaking the imperial convention that
1712-869: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;
1819-594: Is depicted in the film 55 Days at Peking , by Nicholas Ray (1963). The Boxers are portrayed in Boxers and Saints , a comic series by Gene Luen Yang . The main character of Boxers , Lee Bao, becomes a leader of the Boxer Rebellion. The Boxer Rebellion is graphically depicted in the Shaw Brothers production of Boxer Rebellion , a 1976 film directed by Chang Cheh . This film was distributed in
1926-439: Is rare among emperors. Although historians do not deny the failures and limitations during his reign, he is still regarded as a relatively progressive and enlightened monarch of the dynasty. His image in historical research and literary works is also mostly positive. The Guangxu Emperor was born on 14 August 1871, receiving the name Zaitian, and was the second son of Yixuan (Prince Chun) , and his primary spouse Yehenara Wanzhen ,
2033-493: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to
2140-499: The Boxer Rebellion . He was examined by a physician at the French Legation and diagnosed with chronic nephritis ; he was also discovered to be impotent at the time. During the Boxer Rebellion , Emperor Guangxu fiercely opposed the idea of using usurpers as a means to counter foreign invasion. His letter to then United States president Theodore Roosevelt is still preserved in U.S. government archives. On 14 August 1900,
2247-606: The Chinese Republic funded the construction of the Guangxu Emperor's mausoleum in the Western Qing Tombs . The tomb was robbed during the Chinese Civil War and the underground palace (burial chamber) is now open to the public. In 1912, Sun Yat-sen praised the Guangxu Emperor for his educational reform package that allowed China to learn more about Western culture . After the establishment of
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#17327724380012354-598: The Empress Dowager in resisting the resulting foreign invasion , which all but destroyed the group and ended the Rebellion, though some members continued in other groups across China. In the English-speaking world, the group came to be known as the "Boxers", due to its members' practice of Chinese martial arts , at the time called "Chinese boxing". Though the group had existed since the mid-1880s, it
2461-504: The Kensiu language . Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing , personal name Zaitian , was the eleventh emperor of the Qing dynasty , and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper , from 1875 to 1908. His reign was largely dominated by his maternal aunt Empress Dowager Cixi , who
2568-640: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝ 'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for
2675-557: The Summer Palace starting from 1891, but he never became capable of skillfully managing imperial court politics. The decisions that he made and the administrative process continued to be overseen by the empress dowager. Weng Tonghe reportedly observed that while the emperor attended to day-to-day state affairs, in more difficult cases the emperor and the Grand Council sought Cixi's advice. She also decided on appointments to
2782-555: The civil examination system . Other edicts were for the construction of the Lu-Han railway, a system of budgets similar to that of Western governments, the replacement of the Green Standard Army with a Western-style national army based on conscription, and the creation of a naval academy. Among the lesser known measures that the Guangxu Emperor wanted to take was his naval armament program, which called for China to have
2889-652: The yìhétuán -based name. The group is also sometimes known in English by any one of its Chinese names, with more recent publications tending to use Pinyin , and older publications using Wade–Giles or other systems . During the rule of the Qing dynasty, non-state secret societies, such as the Big Swords Society or the White Lotus Society , often exerted significant influence and force. These groups often took advantage, through armed members, of
2996-495: The 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of the predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is a retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in
3103-462: The 21st the Guangxu Emperor was detained and met with Empress Dowager Cixi. The following day, he issued a decree that asked Cixi to take control of the government, who proceeded to remove the reform-minded officials and replaced them with conservative loyalists. An edict on 26 September undid some of the more radical changes the emperor had made, while keeping in place those reforms that did not go directly against Qing tradition. Lei Chia-sheng (雷家聖),
3210-600: The 4 July 1896 with attacks on German missionaries in the regions of Western Shandong that later were controlled by the Boxers. The movement first began in these areas in the mid-1880s as various group with similar aims, led by local influences such as Zhang Decheng in Hebei, and Zhu Hongdeng in Shandong, both leading small but devoted groups directly under their personal control. These small groups served as local enforcers of
3317-587: The Boxers started to agitate the population in the streets with the slogan "Uphold the Qing, destroy foreigners!". Their main leader was Cao Futian . Other leaders in Zhili Province were Liu Chengxiang, and Zhang Decheng . After a battle with the Imperial troops in October ;1899, the Boxers focused mainly on missionaries and Christian activities, as they were considered "tainting the purity of
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3424-528: The Boxers were officially placed under command of members of the Court, such as Prince Duan. During the Rebellion, the Boxers, fighting troops of the Eight-Nation Alliance with close combat weapons or even their own hands, were decimated. After the conflict, The Empress Dowager Ci Xi ordered the repression of the remaining Boxers, in an attempt to calm the foreign nations. The Boxer Rebellion
3531-429: The Boxers' efforts to control the populace, to curtail the influence of both the Qing government and that of foreigners, particularly Christians. During 1898, the previously separate Boxer groups in Shandong and Hebei would fall under much more direct leadership, with the establishment of structure into the group in the form of ranks. This would also involve the renaming of the group into the "Plum Blossom Fists". However,
3638-519: The Chinese culture". The Qing government was divided towards how to react to the Boxer's activities. The conservative element of the court was in favour of them. Prince Duan , a fervent supporter of their cause, arranged a meeting between Cao and Empress Dowager Ci Xi. At the meeting, the crown prince even wore a Boxer uniform to show support. At the beginning of June 1900, about 450 men of
3745-683: The Eight-Nation Alliance arrived in Beijing to protect the foreign legations under siege by the Boxers and Imperial Army, in what was the Siege of the International Legations . The Boxers were at their peak, now supported by some elements of the Imperial Army. They changed their slogan to "Support the Qing, destroy foreigners!". The Boxers multiplied their murderous actions against foreigners and Chinese Christians. In Beijing,
3852-862: The Gaungxu Emperor became more frequent after that. He received the new Austro-Hungarian minister in a special audience in October 1891, the British minister in December 1892, and the German and Belgian ministers in 1893. The Guangxu Emperor followed his principle of frugality in early 1892, when he tried to implement a series of draconian measures to reduce expenditures by the Imperial Household Department , which proved to be one of his few administrative successes. This dispute over
3959-541: The Grand Council and the Six Ministries . In December 1890 the emperor issued a decree stating that he wanted to have an immediate audience with the foreign diplomatic corps in Beijing and to make this an annual occurrence going forward. They presented a list of conditions for the protocol at the ceremony, and it was accepted by the Qing. The audience took place on 5 March 1891, with the Guangxu Emperor receiving
4066-645: The Great and in Japan by the Meiji Emperor . He personally met with Kang on 14 June, and started issuing reform decrees on 11 June. The first order, the edict of 11 June 1898, declared the intent of the Qing emperor to pursue reform as response to calls from certain officials since the war with Japan, and asked every one of his subjects to contribute to strengthening China, a project that was going to be based on "Western learning" while maintaining respect for traditional morals. Guangxu also received Cixi's approval for
4173-475: The Guangxu Emperor a duty of filial piety toward the Empress Dowagers Cixi and Ci'an, which, aside from being a Chinese tradition, was also because Weng owed much of his successful career to the patronage of Cixi. In 1881, when the Guangxu Emperor was nine, Empress Dowager Ci'an died unexpectedly, leaving Empress Dowager Cixi as sole regent for the boy. In Weng's diaries during those days, Guangxu
4280-401: The Guangxu Emperor married, Cixi retired from the regency on 4 March 1889. Even after the Guangxu Emperor began formal rule he found that the power structure of the Qing court still depended on Empress Dowager Cixi, and he did not know how far his own authority extended. The emperor tried to take a leading role in the government, especially after she began spending several months of the year at
4387-569: The Guangxu Emperor was taught by Weng Tonghe , who had also been involved in the disastrous upbringing of the Tongzhi Emperor yet somehow managed to be exonerated of all possible charges, and his education was also overseen by his father, Prince Chun. The emperor was taught calligraphy , the Chinese classics (including the Four Books ), and the Chinese, Mongolian, and Manchu languages. Starting in 1881 he began reading historical works, including
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4494-551: The Guangxu Emperor would continue his reforms after her death. Another theory is that the Guangxu Emperor was poisoned by Yuan Shikai , who knew that if the emperor were to come to power again, Yuan would likely be executed for treason. There were no reliable sources to prove who murdered the Guangxu Emperor. The medical records kept by the Guangxu Emperor's physician show the emperor suffered from "spells of violent stomachaches" and that his face had turned blue, typical symptoms of arsenic poisoning. To dispel persistent rumours that
4601-531: The Guangxu Emperor, along with Cixi, Empress Longyu and some other court officials, fled from Beijing as the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance marched on the capital to relieve the legations that had been besieged during the Boxer Rebellion . Returning to the capital on 7 January 1902, after the withdrawal of the foreign powers, the Guangxu Emperor spent the next few years working in his isolated palace with watches and clocks , which had been
4708-527: The Imperial Family was preparing to leave the Forbidden City due to the occupation of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900. Like his predecessor, the Tongzhi Emperor , the Guangxu Emperor died without issue. After his death in 1908, Empress Dowager Longyu ruled in cooperation with Zaifeng . Empress Imperial Noble Consort Enthroned in 1626 as Khan , Hong Taiji changed
4815-599: The People's Republic of China in 1949, historian Fan Wenlan (范文瀾) called the Guangxu Emperor "a Manchu noble who could accept Western ideas". Some historians believe that the Guangxu Emperor was the first Chinese leader to implement modernizing reforms and capitalism. Imperial power in the Qing dynasty saw its nadir under Guangxu, and he was the only Qing emperor to have been put under house arrest during his own reign. Domestic honours Foreign honours The Guangxu Emperor had one empress and two consorts in total. The emperor
4922-502: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China
5029-409: The Qing dynasty as the only way to make up for his perceived failure. Already in December 1897 the emperor wrote an edict that asked bureaucrats with military knowledge to recommend reforms that could be made. Following the war and the scramble for concessions, there was growing support for reform in China among the gentry and the nobility in the spring of 1898. In April the emperor was presented with
5136-489: The United States as The Bloody Avengers by World Northal Corporation in 1980. The Boxers are also featured in the films Legendary Weapons of China (1981) and Shanghai Knights (2003). The Red Lanterns , an all-female group affiliated to the Boxers, are depicted in the film Once Upon a Time in China IV (1993). The Netflix series The Brothers Sun (2024) uses their name and parts of their ideology in its plot for
5243-469: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,
5350-521: The basis for reform, starting in September they began targeting the positions of the Manchu nobility and the gentry. These were not only too sudden for a China still under significant neo-Confucian influence and other elements of traditional culture , but later came into conflict with Cixi, who held real power. Many officials, deemed useless and dismissed by the Guangxu Emperor, begged her for help. But
5457-423: The budget continued until early 1894. But its other effects were humiliating and alienating senior Manchu officials in the bureaucracy, who remained in contact with Cixi, and reducing his potential allies at the imperial court. The Guangxu Emperor inherited the system of the Qing dynasty that had emerged in 1861, at the start of the Tongzhi Emperor's reign. The source of authority were the two empresses dowager, while
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#17327724380015564-434: The death of her husband. However, the Guangxu Emperor detested his wife and spent most of his time with his favourite concubine, Consort Zhen (better known as the "Pearl Consort"). Rumours allege that in 1900, Consort Zhen was drowned by being thrown into a well on Cixi's order after she begged Empress Dowager Cixi to let the Guangxu Emperor stay in Beijing for negotiations with the foreign powers. That incident happened when
5671-406: The decisive response by Empress Dowager Cixi was caused by the accusation from the official Yang Chongyi that the Guangxu Emperor had committed treason by inviting the former Japanese prime minister Ito Hirobumi to advise him (Ito was in China at the time to meet with the emperor). Yang claimed that Guangxu had done this on the advice of Kang Youwei and the wanted revolutionary Sun Yat-sen . Guangxu
5778-461: The decrees of earlier emperors. Guangxu could work diligently and already knew some of the classics, but he was not always interested in his daily lessons. As part of the emperor's education he was taught that his main obligation as ruler was "keeping the state in order" and "maintaining universal peace," as stated in the Confucian classic Great Learning . The Guangxu Emperor seemed to become
5885-597: The early 1880s, though this stopped in 1883 when Cixi recovered from her illness. His reign saw the outbreak of the Sino-French War in 1884 over influence in Vietnam . By the time the war ended in 1885, the French destroyed the Chinese fleet at Fuzhou , patrolled the coast of southern China unobstructed, occupied part of Taiwan, and ended the status of Vietnam as a tributary of China. This prompted Britain to end
5992-533: The edict. Between June and September 1898 the emperor carried out the Hundred Days' Reform , aimed at a series of sweeping political, legal and social changes. The goal was to make China a modern constitutional empire, but still within the traditional framework, as with Japan's Meiji Restoration . The emperor's initial focus was establishing the Imperial University in Beijing and reforming
6099-559: The education system. The last part of his edict of 11 June instructed the Grand Council and the Zongli Yamen , the Qing dynasty's foreign office, to establish the Imperial University right away. The Guangxu Emperor then issued edicts for a massive number of far-reaching modernizing reforms with the help of more progressive officials such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao . Changes ranged from infrastructure to industry and
6206-415: The emperor had been poisoned, the Qing imperial court produced documents and doctors' records suggesting that the Guangxu Emperor died from natural causes, but these did not allay suspicion. On 4 November 2008, forensic tests revealed that the level of arsenic in the emperor's remains was 2,000 times higher than that of ordinary people. Scientists concluded that the poison could only have been administered in
6313-523: The emperor to make his own decisions instead of remaining influenced by the empress dowager. After the Japanese attacked and sank a Chinese warship on 25 July without any declaration of war, the ministers of the Qing emperor advised him to declare war on Japan. In that document, made on 1 August, the Guangxu Emperor accused Japan of sending armies to force the king of Korea to change his system of government and of violating international law. He also used
6420-454: The events in the autumn of 1898. In February 1895, as peace negotiations with the Japanese were underway, the Guangxu Emperor spoke with his top negotiator before he met with the Japanese, Li Hongzhang, and allegedly told him during their conversation that China needed large scale reforms. In April, after the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed but before it was ratified by the Qing government,
6527-481: The execution of generals who were defeated. During the war, even though the Guangxu Emperor was nominally the sovereign ruler of the Qing Empire, officials often ignored him and instead sent their memorials to Cixi for her approval. Eventually, two sets of Grand Council memoranda were created, one for the emperor and the other for the empress dowager, a practice that continued until it was rendered unnecessary by
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#17327724380016634-466: The foreign ministers to China at an audience in the "Pavilion of Purple Light," in what is now part of Zhongnanhai , something that had also been done by the Tongzhi Emperor in 1873. That summer, under pressure from the foreign legations and in response to revolts in the Yangtze River valley that were targeting Christian missionaries, the emperor issued an edict ordering Christians to be placed under state protection. The audience of foreign diplomats with
6741-524: The grand councilor Weng Tonghe from all of his posts, even though he had been the one to draft his first reform edict. It has been debated by historians what the immediate reason for the action was, but it occurred after Weng had been a voice of caution leading up the summer of 1898, and he may have been seen by the emperor as an obstacle to his plans. The emperor was also impatient and wanted immediate results, so he may have fired him in an emotional moment. On several occasions he also tried to write his edicts in
6848-399: The group was known as the Plum Blossom Fists ( 梅花拳 ; Méihuāquán ; Mei-hua-ch'üan ), though this name would not be used into 1899 and after. In more recent English publications, the name of the group from 1899, variously translated as "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" or " Fists of Harmony and Justice " ( 義和拳 ; 义和拳 ; Yìhéquán ; I-ho-ch'üan ), tends to be used over
6955-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from
7062-469: The lack of imperial order in many areas of China, along with rampant corruption that enabled the societies to function even in well-controlled areas. Yi-he boxing, as it was later practised by the Fists of Harmony and Justice, long predated the movement. In 1779, the Qing government already investigated rumours according to which a man named Yang practised this martial arts style in Guan County, Shandong , though state authorities were unable to confirm this at
7169-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as
7276-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In
7383-916: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often
7490-471: The name-change was not used past 1898, with the name "Fists of Harmony and Justice" used instead. On 23 May 1898, an investigation was made by the Guangxu Emperor into disturbances in the Shandong-Zhili border region by a supposed "National Righteousness Group", with the possibility of 10,000 Boxer soldiers being under group command in this region. A representative of the monarchy, Zhang Rumei, would be sent along with an army to put down any unrest in
7597-536: The nation, leaving the people in misery. Seeing the country's decline, Guangxu allied with intellectuals like Kang Youwei and his disciple Liang Qichao to launch the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898, attempting to save and rejuvenate the nation. However, this movement threatened the position of the privileged classes of traditional Chinese society and was soon suppressed by the conservative forces led by Cixi, resulting in his confinement and loss of political power and personal freedom until his untimely death. His tragic fate
7704-677: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as
7811-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as
7918-545: The outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War over influence in Korea. The Guangxu Emperor was reportedly eager for the war against Japan and became associated with the pro-war faction in the imperial court, which believed that China would easily win. This was in contrast to the Empress Dowager Cixi and Viceroy Li Hongzhang , who both wanted to reach a peaceful resolution. The conflict was also an opportunity for
8025-481: The reformists had actually "much injured" the modernization of China. Lei claims that Cixi learned of the plot and decided to put an end to it to prevent China from coming under foreign control. The Guangxu Emperor's duties after 1898 became rather limited. The emperor was effectively removed from power as emperor (despite keeping the title), but he did retain some status. The emperor was kept informed of state affairs, reading them with Cixi prior to audiences, and
8132-411: The regency. Despite Cixi's agreement to remain as regent, that same year the Guangxu Emperor had begun to write comments on memorials to the throne . In the spring of 1887, he partook in his first field-plowing ceremony, and by the end of the year he had begun to rule under Cixi's supervision. By the mid-1880s the Guangxu Emperor also developed the ideas that he wanted guide his rule, including preserving
8239-401: The region. The result of the meeting was not negative, with Zhang reporting that there was no trouble in the region, along with more accurate reports on the group's smaller numbers. The movement was primarily composed of peasants, to which were added idle youth, ruined artisans, and laid-off workers. Some Boxer recruits were disbanded imperial soldiers and local militiamen. In March 1898,
8346-470: The same age group as the Tongzhi Emperor and were seen as having been a negative influence on him, so they were distrusted. Zaitian was younger than both and was the nephew of Cixi. His father, Prince Chun, was also more liked than Prince Gong, and was known for being a scholar and a supporter of patriotic policies. These were the factors that influenced the selection of Zaitian to become emperor. A decree announced on 13 January that Zaitian had been chosen as
8453-491: The sole regent. In 1889, Guangxu got married and announced his personal rule. After the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898, he was confined by Cixi in the Yingtai Pavilion of Zhongnanhai , completely losing his ruling power. In November 1908, he died of arsenic poisoning at Yingtai. He reigned for 34 years, ruled directly for nine of those years, and died at the age of 38 without leaving any descendants. He
8560-539: The successor to the Xianfeng Emperor. The same decree also announced that Empress Dowagers Ci'an and Cixi would be his co-regents. He ascended to the throne at the age of four, on 25 February 1875, and adopted "Guangxu" (meaning "continuation of splendor") as his regnal name , therefore he is known as the "Guangxu Emperor". His personal name Zaitian was no longer used after that point. Beginning in March 1876,
8667-485: The system that existed during the regency effectively remained intact. Eventually, in February 1889, in preparation for Cixi's retirement, the Guangxu Emperor was married. Much to the emperor's dislike, Cixi selected her niece, Jingfen, to be empress. She became known as Empress Longyu . She also selected a pair of sisters, who became Consorts Jin and Zhen , to be the emperor's concubines. The following week, with
8774-637: The term "dwarfs" for the Japanese, an ancient Chinese derogatory term, reflecting the widespread contemptuous view of Japan that many Qing officials had. China suffered major defeats at the Battle of Pyongyang and the Battle of the Yalu River within two days in September 1894, largely destroying the Huai Army and the Beiyang Fleet , the Qing dynasty's best military forces. The Guangxu Emperor
8881-473: The time. Though the Boxer movement would originate in Shandong and Hebei intent on lessening governmental influence throughout China by means of violence, the group would quickly include its directive to attempt to eliminate all foreign influence also, which was considered at the time to have already penetrated the imperial government. The group at this time was deeply associated with other secret societies in their efforts to eliminate Christians, as can be seen in
8988-401: The total number of participants difficult to estimate, but it may have included as many as 100,000. They originally attacked the Qing government , but soon called upon it to resist foreign influence. In the summer of 1900, groups of Boxer fighters destroyed foreign owned property, such as railroads and telegraphs, and murdered Christian missionaries and Chinese Christians. They then supported
9095-636: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with
9202-985: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write
9309-489: The treaty required, he was going to lose the "unity of the people." The emperor felt that he was unworthy of his ancestors because he failed as a leader, which was made worse after he was also forced to give concessions to the European powers in 1897–98. Luke Kwong wrote that this was part of what drove the Guangxu Emperor to begin the Hundred Days' Reform in the summer of 1898, because he saw taking radical action to revitalize
9416-499: The treaty's severe terms for China were publicized. Government bureaucrats throughout the empire urged the imperial court to reject it and continue fighting. The emperor did not want to take responsibility for ratifying the treaty, and neither did the Empress Dowager Cixi, who may have wanted to use the defeat against Japan to undermine Guangxu. He tried to shift the responsibility in an edict by asking two officials, Liu Kunyi and Wang Wenshao , to give their opinion on whether to agree to
9523-566: The treaty, because they had told him that the Chinese military was capable of achieving victory. Eventually the Guangxu Emperor ratified it. The emperor and the Qing government faced further humiliation in late 1897 when the German Empire used the murders of two priests in Shandong Province as an excuse to occupy Jiaozhou Bay (including Qingdao ), prompting a "scramble for concessions" by other foreign powers. Germany sent
9630-622: The tributary status of Burma in 1886, which China did not oppose militarily, and encouraged Japan to do the same in Korea . The negotiations with the French were carried out by the Viceroy of Zhili , Li Hongzhang , by other ministers in Beijing, and by the head of Chinese Maritime Customs , Robert Hart . The Guangxu Emperor had not given an audience to foreign diplomats in Beijing up to this point, though in August 1886 his father Prince Chun hosted
9737-518: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being
9844-531: The wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to
9951-665: The wealth of the country and avoiding selfishness or arrogance. Among his predecessors, he considered the Qianlong Emperor to be a model of good governance, and often visited places that the Qianlong Emperor had spent a lot of time at. He felt a sense of responsibility for following the example set by the Qianlong Emperor. Meanwhile, Prince Chun and the Grand Council prepared for the Guangxu Emperor to begin ruling directly by taking measures to make sure that
10058-587: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c. 200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c. the 5th century . Although
10165-424: The young emperor had a secondary role, and the princes and ministers were responsible for actually running the machinery of the government. When Empress Dowager Cixi retired, Guangxu had control over the administration of the empire and she did not interfere with his actions, but the princes and ministers advised him to bring back the old system in 1894, at the start of the tensions with Japan. The summer of 1894 saw
10272-477: Was a decree that was issued by the Guangxu Emperor. But Yuan later said that the schemers could not convince him that it was really from the emperor, and when Yuan met with him on 20 September, Guangxu did not say anything about it to Yuan. He then left the emperor to meet with Ronglu and told him about the plot by the reformers, also telling him the emperor had nothing to do with it. Ronglu then met with Cixi and other ministers and princes, and started taking action. On
10379-509: Was also present at audiences, sitting on a stool to Cixi's left hand while Cixi occupied the main throne. He discharged his ceremonial duties, such as offering sacrifices during ceremonies, but never ruled alone again. In 1898, shortly after the collapse of the Hundred Days' Reform , the Guangxu Emperor's health began to decline, prompting Cixi to name Pujun, a son of the emperor's cousin, the reactionary Prince Duan , as heir presumptive. Pujun and his father were removed from their positions after
10486-528: Was angry and wanted to immediately leave the capital to personally take command of the troops at the front, but he was later talked out of it by his advisors. The emperor met with a German military advisor who had been present at the Battle of the Yalu, Constantin von Hanneken, to learn what exactly happened, suggesting that he may have not trusted his ministers to tell him the truth. He also signed edicts calling for
10593-611: Was buried in the Chongling Mausoleum of the Western Qing Tombs. The emperor's life was turbulent and full of hardships. He was not originally the heir to the throne but was forcibly elevated after Emperor Tongzhi died without an heir. From a young age, he was forced to leave his home and enter the palace, where he was strictly controlled and disciplined by Cixi, enduring many hardships and sorrows. Even after he reached adulthood and began his personal rule, Cixi
10700-571: Was distracted by events in Cuba and the Spanish–American War . In the six months between November 1897 and May 1898 China had received unprecedented demands from foreign powers. After the Qing Empire's defeat to Japan and forced agreement to the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the Guangxu Emperor reportedly expressed his wish to abdicate. He wrote that by giving away Taiwan to Japan, as
10807-595: Was first reported externally as the "National Righteousness Group" ( 義民會 ; 义民会 ; Yìmínhuì ; I-min-hui ) in an 1899 Qing report intent on solving disturbances in the Shandong and Zhili Provinces. This is later clarified in a follow-up report to have been a mistake, and that the actual name is in fact " League of Harmony and Justice " ( 義和團 ; 义和团 ; Yìhétuán ; I-ho-t'uan ), alternatively translated as " Militia United in Righteousness ". During 1898,
10914-429: Was forced by Empress Dowager Cixi to marry her niece (his cousin) Jingfen , who was two years his senior. Jingfen's father, Guixiang (Cixi's younger brother), and Cixi selected her to be the Guangxu Emperor's wife in order to strengthen the power of their own family. After the marriage, Jingfen was made empress and was granted the honorific title of "Longyu" ( 隆裕 ; lit. ' auspicious and prosperous ' ) after
11021-519: Was his regent for much of his nominal rule except in the time from 1889 to 1898. He initiated the radical Hundred Days' Reform in the summer of 1898 but was abruptly stopped when the Empress Dowager launched a coup on 21 September, after which he was held under virtual house arrest until his death one decade later. Emperor Guangxu was the second son of Yixuan, Prince Chun (a son of the Daoguang Emperor ), and his mother, Yehenara Wanzhen,
11128-411: Was reportedly seen with swollen eyes, had poor concentration and was seeking consolation from Weng. Weng too expressed his concern that Cixi was the one who had been suffering from chronic ill health, not Ci'an. During this time, the imperial eunuchs often abused their influence over the boy emperor. The Guangxu Emperor had also reportedly begun to hold some audiences on his own as an act of necessity in
11235-417: Was the sister of Empress Dowager Cixi . After Emperor Tongzhi 's death in 1874, he was supported by the two Empress Dowagers (Ci'an and Cixi) to succeed the throne, being adopted at the age of three by Emperor Xianfeng and the two Empress Dowagers, thereby inheriting the throne. During the early years of his reign, the two dowagers jointly handled state affairs. As Ci'an died in 1881, Cixi continued to act as
11342-519: Was unable to effectively defend himself to Cixi from Yang's accusation. Both sides began plotting to take action against each other. Some of the reformers around the emperor asked Yuan Shikai to use the Beiyang Army to arrest Cixi and to execute Ronglu , a member of the conservative faction who had been appointed to command the military forces in Zhili earlier. According to one account, this
11449-501: Was unwilling to relinquish her control over state power, making him continue to be a puppet, unable to enjoy the majesty and power of a monarch. During his reign, the Qing dynasty became increasingly impoverished and weak. The Sino-French War , the First Sino-Japanese War , and the Boxer Rebellion followed one after another, causing the dynasty to cede territory and pay indemnities, losing sovereignty and humiliating
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