A report on Prince Gong and Self-Strengthening Movement

Photo of a 39- or 40-year-old Prince Gong, taken by John Thompson in 1872 at the prince's residence.

Gulun Princess Rongshou (centre, seated)

Front gate of the Zongli Yamen, the de facto foreign affairs ministry.

Nanjing Jinling Arsenal (金陵造局), built by Li Hongzhang in 1865.

The Fuzhou Arsenal in Mawei District, Fuzhou, Fujian.

Chinese warship Yangwu, built at the Fuzhou Arsenal in 1872.

Builder of the Fuzhou Arsenal, Prosper Giquel

Chinese Qing officers with a Montigny mitrailleuse.

Premier Li Hongzhang with former President Ulysses S. Grant, 1879

Chinese fortifications, Sino-Vietnamese border

Gun transportation at Shanghai Jiangnan Arsenal (上海江南製造兵工廠).

Prince Gong was made regent, Grand Councilor, and head of the newly formed Zongli Yamen (a de facto foreign affairs ministry).

- Self-Strengthening Movement

As the longstanding leader of the Zongli Yamen, which he established in 1861, Prince Gong was responsible for spearheading various reforms in the early stages of the Self-Strengthening Movement, a series of measures and policy changes implemented by the Qing government with the aim of modernising China.

- Prince Gong

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Qing dynasty

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Manchu-led conquest dynasty and the last imperial dynasty of China.

The Qing dynasty in 1890. Territory under its control shown in dark green; territory claimed but uncontrolled shown in light green.

Italian 1682 map showing the "Kingdom of the Nüzhen" or the "Jin Tartars"

Manchu cavalry charging Ming infantry battle of Sarhu in 1619

Sura han ni chiha (Coins of Tiancong Khan) in Manchu alphabet

The Qing conquest of the Ming and expansion of the empire

Emperor with Manchu army in Khalkha 1688

Putuo Zongcheng Temple, Chengde, Qianlong reign; built on the model of Potala Palace, Lhasa

Campaign against the Dzungars in the Qing conquest of Xinjiang 1755–1758

Lord Macartney saluting the Qianlong Emperor

Commerce on the water, Prosperous Suzhou by Xu Yang, 1759

British Steamship destroying Chinese war junks (E. Duncan) (1843)

View of the Canton River, showing the Thirteen Factories in the background, 1850–1855

Government forces defeating Taiping armies

Empress Dowager Cixi (Oil painting by Hubert Vos c. 1905))

Britain, Germany, Russia, France, and Japan dividing China

Foreign armies in the Forbidden City 1900

A pitched battle between the imperial and revolutionary armies in 1911

A postage stamp from Yantai (Chefoo) in the Qing dynasty

The emperor of China from The Universal Traveller

2000–cash Da-Qing Baochao banknote from 1859

The Eighteen Provinces of China proper in 1875

The Qing dynasty in ca. 1820, with provinces in yellow, military governorates and protectorates in light yellow, tributary states in orange

Brush container symbol of elegant gentry culture

Chen Clan Ancestral Hall (陈家祠) built in 1894

Placard (right to left) in Manchu, Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian Yonghe Lamasery, Beijing

Silver coin: 1 yuan/dollar Xuantong 3rd year - 1911 Chopmark

Xián Fēng Tōng Bǎo (咸豐通寶) 1850–1861 Qing dynasty copper (brass) cash coin

Puankhequa (1714–1788). Chinese merchant and member of a Cohong family.

Pine, Plum and Cranes, 1759, by Shen Quan (1682–1760).

A Daoguang period Peking glass vase. Colored in "Imperial Yellow", due to its association with the Qing.

Jade book of the Qianlong period on display at the British Museum

The Tongzhi Restoration of the 1860s brought vigorous reforms and the introduction of foreign military technology in the Self-Strengthening Movement.

Prince Gong, a younger half-brother of the emperor, who had been left as his brother's proxy in the capital, was forced to sign the Convention of Beijing.

Empress Dowager Cixi

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Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty for 47 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908.

An early portrait of the Consort Dowager Kangci, foster mother of the Xianfeng Emperor. She hosted the selection of the Xianfeng Emperor's consorts in 1851, in which Cixi participated as a potential candidate.

The Pavilion of Beautiful Scenery, where Cixi gave birth to the Tongzhi Emperor

Portrait of Empress Dowager Ci'an (co-regent with Cixi), with whom Cixi staged the Xinyou Coup.

Photograph of Princess Rongshou (center seated), Prince Gong's daughter. As a way to show gratitude to the prince, Cixi adopted his daughter and elevated her to a first rank princess (the highest rank for imperial princesses).

Ceremonial headdress likely worn by Cixi. The small phoenixes emerging from the surface represent the empress. The Walters Art Museum

Portrait of Empress Xiaozheyi, also known as the Jiashun Empress and "Lady Arute", who had the approval of Empress Dowager Ci'an but never Cixi's. It is widely speculated that the Empress was pregnant with the Tongzhi Emperor's child and that Cixi orchestrated the empress's demise.

Portrait of the Tongzhi Emperor doing his coursework. Cixi's high expectations of him may have contributed to his strong distaste for learning.

Empress Dowager Cixi (front middle) poses with her court attendants and the Guangxu Emperor's empress (second from left), who was also her niece

Empress Dowager Cixi holds hands with the fourth daughter of Prince Qing (to her left) and chief palace eunuch Li Lianying (to her right). The lady standing in the background is Consort Jin (later Dowager Consort Duankang).

Consort Zhen, the Guangxu Emperor's most beloved consort, was initially liked, but eventually hated by Cixi.

Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor holding court, drawing by Katharine Carl

Empress Dowager Cixi and women of the American legation. Holding her hand is Sarah Conger, the wife of U.S. Ambassador Edwin H. Conger.

Empress Dowager Cixi, by Katharine Carl, 1904, commissioned by the Empress Dowager Cixi for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis World's Fair) and later given to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, transferred to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art collections and later the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.

Entrance to the burial chamber in Cixi's tomb

Memorial tower of the tomb of Empress Dowager Cixi

Katharine Carl oil portrait painted for exhibit at St. Louis World's Fair of 1904

The plaque hanging above Cixi is inscribed with her title in full

The Empress Dowager was a devoted Buddhist and seized every opportunity to dress up as Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin), the goddess of mercy. This photograph shows her sitting on a barge on Zhonghai. The white smoke forms the character for longevity, and on top of the smoke was her Buddhist name "Guangrenzi" (literally Universal Benevolence).

Although Cixi refused to adopt Western models of government, she supported technological and military reforms and the Self-Strengthening Movement.

Among them was Prince Gong, who had been excluded from power, yet harboured great ambitions, and Prince Chun, the sixth and seventh brothers of the Xianfeng Emperor, respectively.