General note: Names given in Chinese, then in Manchu (full posthumous name in Chinese only). ——— 1. Xian means "the Clear", or "the Illustrious". 2. The first 22 characters are the honorific names (徽號) given to him during his reign (on 11 occasions, 2 characters at a time), with possibly the 21st and 22nd characters, Zhuangjian (莊儉), given to him after his death only, according to some sources.
He was born at the Old Summer Palace, 8km./5 miles northwest of the walls of Beijing, and was given the name Yizhu (奕詝).
He was the fourth son of Emperor Daoguang. His mother was the concubine of the 2nd rank Quan (全貴妃), of the (Manchu) Niohuru clan, who was made empress in 1834, and is known posthumously as Empress Xiaoquan Cheng (孝全成皇后).
He died on August 22, 1861 at the Rehe Traveling Palace (熱河行宫), 230 km./140 miles northeast of Beijing, where the imperial court had fled in the wake of the Second Opium War. He was survived by his empress, who became Empress Dowager Ci'an (慈安太后), and by the concubine of the second rank Yi (懿貴妃), who became Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) and went on to rule China as its de facto leader for the next 47 years.
He was interred amidst the Eastern Qing Tombs (清東陵), 125 kilometers/75 miles east of Beijing, in the Dingling (定陵 - meaning "Tomb of quietude") mausoleum complex.
Xianfeng was interred amidst the Eastern Qing Tombs (清東陵), 125 kilometers/75 miles east of Beijing, in the Dingling (定陵 - meaning "Tomb of quietude") mausoleum complex.
On April 27, 1856, she gave birth to a son, the only son of EmperorXianfeng (the empress consort had been unsuccessful in producing an heir), and was immediately made "Concubine of the third rank Yi" (懿妃).
In 1840, at the death of Xianfeng's mother, Empress Xiaoquan Cheng (孝全成皇后), the then concubine of the first rank Jing (靜皇貴妃) had raised the 8-year-old boy, and when he had become EmperorXianfeng in 1850 at the death of Emperor Daoguang, she had been made Concubine Dowager Kangci.
The Dingling tomb (literally: the "Tomb of quietude") is the tomb of EmperorXianfeng, the emperor of Ci'an and Cixi, which is located indeed west of the Dingdongling.
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