Yixin, better known by his title Prince Gong (or Prince Kung), was an imperial prince of the Aisin Gioro clan and an important statesman of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in China.
Background
He was born in 1833, the sixth son of Emperor Daoguang. He had eight brothers and ten sisters, of whom only he and princess Shouan were born to Empress Xiaojingzheng, a concubine of Emperor Daoguang. For reasons unknown, the empress also took care of Daoguang s fourth son Yiju (the heir prince) along with her own children after Yiju’s own mother died in 1840. Yiju and Yisin were thus brought up together and established a very close relationship.
Education
Following Prince Yiju'ss enthronement as Emperor Xianfeng in 1851, Yisin was granted a special imperial title, that of Gong Zhong Qing Wang (or “Respectfully Loyal Prince”, popularly known as Gong Wangor Prince Gong. As the highest ranking prince in the Qing court, Prince Gong was entitled to direct access to the emperor on court and state affairs. Prince Gong’s growing power at court and occasional arrogance toward his emperor brother soon bred rifts betweem them.
Career
In 1855, under the pretext that Prince Gong had mismanaged the funeral service for Empress Dowager Xiaojingzheng, Emperor Xianfeng deprived Prince Gong of all his posts in the government and ordered him to return to study in the Palace School for Princes,a gesture showing the Emperor’s disfavor.
However, the Qing government at this time faced internal and external crises. Internally, the Taiping Rebellion was on the rise and threatened the survival of the Qing dynasty. Externally, the Western powers were dissat-isfied with the implementation of the Treaty of Nanjing (1842) and demanded more open ports in south China. Emperor Xianfeng desperately needed Prince Gong advice and support. In 1857, Prince Gong was recalled and appointed commanding general of the palace guards and director of the Grand Council. In 1859, he also assumed his position as senior chamberlain of the imperial forces in Beijing.
Even with Prince Gong in control of state affairs, China was too weak to cope with these crises. The British French Joint Expeditionary Forces pressed aggressively into Tianjin and Beijing in the summer of 1860. Em-peror Xianfeng had to flee the city and take refuge in Jehol. Prince Gong, left alone in Beijing to deal with the allied forces under Lord Elgin of Great Britain and Baron Gras of France, secured a peace treaty (i.e” The Beijing
Convention) in November 1860. The treaty opened China to the West diplomatically, and also liberated the conservative mind of Prince Gong. He became the highest Manchu prince to adopt a realistic attitude toward the West and seek realistic policy changes to cope with the military superiority of the Western powers.
Right at that time in Jehol,Emperor Xianfeng died. Prince Gong’s life had always been surrounded by ultraconservative officials, such as Sushun, who detested Prince Gong’s “pro-Barbarian policy. They prepared to challenge the new treaty upon their return to Beijing. The politically ambitious Empress Dowager Cixi,mother of the new infant Emperor Tongzhi,ex-ploited the power struggle between Prince Gong and the ultraconservatives to enhance her own power. In late 1861, she sided with Prince Gong and launched a coup d'etat, which successfully ousted all ultraconservatives from the government.
The cooperation and alliance of Prince Gong and Empress Dowager Cixi created an atmosphere of openness in the 1860s and 1870s that brought new strength to China. Prince Gong recruited Han Chinese leaders, such as Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and Li Hongzhang, and supported their self-strengthening programs in south China. The outstanding results included the Fuzhou Shipyard, the Jiangnan Arsenal, the Tongwenguan, the appointment of Robert Hart as Inspector-General of Chinese Maritime Customs, and the establishment of the Zongli Yamen. With the help and support of Zeng, Zuo, and Li, the Taiping Rebellion was finally suppressed in 1864, and the Muslim uprisings quelled by 1873. Prince Gong’s prestige and power,however, were short-lived. Empress Dowager Cixi began to suspect that Prince Gong had become too pro-Han Chinese and upro-Barbarian in his policies, arid questioned his loyalty to the Manchu imperial household.
Allied with Woren, a powerful Manchu conservative at court, Cixi harshly attacked Prince Gong’s alleged mishandling of the crises in 1871 and 1879. Some Han-Chinese officials, such as Zhang Zhidong and Zhang Peilun, who belonged to the conservative faction called Qingyi at this time, also criticized Prince Gong's leadership. Thus, Prince Gong became increasingly timid and unsure of himself, which further eroded his political power in Beijing. Finally in 1884, he was forced to retire to private life and left the Empress Dowager Cixi to rule the Qing court and government. Prince Gong’s defeat seriously weakened China’s self-strengthening movement. He died reproachfully in 1898.
Connections
Lady Guwalgiya, Prince Gong's primary consort and the daughter of Guiliang, Viceroy of Huguang. Her grandfather Yude was the Viceroy of Min-Zhe. Prince Gong married her in 1848 under an imperial decree issued by his father.