慈禧太后
However, on 21 September 1898, the conservative faction in the Qing government, led by Empress Dowager Cixi, saw the Hundred Days' Reform programme as a foreign plot to overthrow the government. The State Protection Association was disbanded and the Hundred Days' Reform was terminated, while the Six Gentlemen were arrested and imprisoned. Seven days later, on 28 September, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the Six Gentlemen to be executed outside Xuanwu Gate in Beijing.