Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-12-15
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EMPRESS TSU Tsl AN.
Interesting Facts About Chna's Grand
Old Woman.

|
Old Woman.
The death Of the masterful and un.
scrupulous woman, who has for sc
many years held the reins Of power ir
China, and so long exerted all her vas
influence against foreigners" Of ever!
description, is an event Of great inter
est and significance, says the New
York Evening Post, although the i'm
mediate consequences are difficult tc
foretell. For more than a generation
acting as the power behind the throne
she has continued to monopolize all ac-
tual authority, and although her infiu'
ence has been, until lately, malign ant
reactionary, it impaired to the Chinese
government about all the stability
which 1t possessed. This remarkable
woman was the daughter Of pool
Manchurian noble, and followed the
fortunes of her family from Pekin tc
Canton, until, when she was about sew
en- years old, she was sold as a slave
into the family Of a Canton merchant
Her beauty even at that time was pro-
nounced, according to Chinese stand
ards, and her cleverness notable. Hel
opportunity came when she was about
III. At that time the Emperor Hier
Flung, as Is the Chinese custom, issued
a proclamation calling upon the daugh-
ters of Manchuria to present them
selves at Pekin for q choice to be made
among them for the imperial harem
Tsu Tsi travelled up to Pekin, triumph
antly passed the ordeal Of inspection
by the emperor's officers, and was in
stalled in the imperial palace among
the emperor's women.
This was in 1S4S. Beautiful, accom-
plished and possessed Of consummate
tact, Tsu Tsi soon attracted the atten-
tion Of the empress, or "chief wife" OF
the emperor, and it is recorded that the
little Manchu princess actually sue
ceeded in being brought to the notice
Of the emperor, largely through the
interest taken in her by his empress
When later she presented the emperor
with a son and heir to his throne, and
still managed to preserve the friend
ship of the "chief wife," who was
childless, she established her clever
ness beyond cavil.
In 1860, while her boy was still
young his father died. At the time
1t was only vaguely limited that his
death was not due to natural causes.
In the light Of subsequent events, how
ever, the opportuneness Of his death
becomes significant. Since 1860, at ev-
cry difficult crisis in Tsu Tsi's affair
death has removed any person imped-
ing her progress. Certain 1t Is that
her SON was the next heir, and the
sooner he began to reign the longer
the regency would be. In due course
the small boy was proclaimed emperor
under the title of Tung Chi, with the
dowager empress and mother empress
as co-regents.
Cautious and Strong.
Things moved smoothly for a time.
The junior regent was cautious, but
hers was the strong hand, and was so
recognized by Prince Kung, brother of
the late emperor and chief adviser of
the two regents. 1t was towards the
end of the emperors minority that his
mother noticed certain signs Of inde-
pendence in her royal son. Too shrewd
to resent them openly, she allowed
matters to continue their course until
Tung Chi attained his majority was
duly proclaimed emperor, and the
regency ended. y
Apparently her career was closed,
but she was merely watching for an
opening. Presently there was ru-
NOR that the emperor's health was
failing seriously, and what more suit
able than that the regents should be
summoned again to take the reins of
state? Within a month the youthful
emperor became, as his subjects were
piously informed, "a guest on high.
But the government was saved for the
two expresses were in full authority.
Tung Chi had married a young wife
not long before his death, and as she
was about to become a mother, it was
supposed that If she bore a son he
would naturally be proclaimed the heir
of his father. Tsu Tsi did not wait for
any such development, but presented at
peror in the person Of Kwang Hsu, q
young son of brother Of the Emperor
Hien Fung. Her choice Of the new
boy emperor was distinct violation
Of one Of the most sacred traditions of
the country, that Of ancestral worship,
but Tsu Isl had reasons Of her own,
and carried her point. In order that
no possible complications should arise,
a mysterious illness fell upon the young
wife Of the late Tung Chi, and the
next imperial funeral was that of her
self and her unborn babe.
About 1881, however, 1t began to be
rumored that there was friction be-
tween the senior and junior regents;
it was not at all extraordinary, there
fore, that the former should develop
heart failure and finally died, leaving
Tsu Tsi dowager empress and sole
ruler.
In due time Kwang Hsu attained his
majority, and Tsu Tsi once more NOM
inally retired. The peace OF the pal
ace continued unbroken until Kwang
Hsu declared himself strongly in favor
of progressive reform in the Chinese
empire, and failed in health, when Tsu
Tsi once more assumed the regency.
Her son soon rebelled, and in 1898 1t
became a question whether the en-
press and her friends would have to
fly for their lives or the advisers Of the
emperor In September a decision was
reached by the empress dowager, who,
having first possessed herself Of the
military force Of the capital, compelled
the emperor to sign a decree ordering
his own deposition. This was dated
September %, 1898, and, in addition to
the order deposing himself, the en-
peror was made to appoint his aunt re-
gent OF the empire. 1t was feared at
IL L.