The reign of Guangxu (“Glorious Succession”) lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, under Empress Dowager Cixi's influence, only from 1889 to 1898. He was taken from his home and for the remainder of his life would be cut completely off from his family. While addressing Ci'an conventionally as Huang Eniang (Empress Mother), Zaitian was forced to address Cixi as Qin Baba (親爸爸; lit. "Biological Father"), in order to enforce an image that she was the fatherly power figure in the house. He began his education at five, taught by Imperial Tutor Weng Tonghe, with whom he would develop a lasting bond.
Upbringing
Zaitian was the second son of Yixuan, Prince Chun, and his primary spouse was a younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi. When, on 12 January 1875 the Tongzhi Emperor died childless, Empress Dowager Ci'an suggested enthroning one of Prince Gong’s sons as the next emperor, but she was overruled by Cixi. Instead, breaking the imperial convention that a new emperor must always be of a generation after that of the previous emperor, Cixi nominated her five-year-old nephew and the imperial family agreed with her choice. Cixi adopted the boy as her son so she could act as regent and dominate the court, as she had since 1861.
The Guangxu Emperor's accession
Guangxu technically gained the right to rule at the age of 16 in 1887 after Cixi issued an edict for Guangxu to have his accession ceremony. Because of her prestige and power, however, court officials voiced their opposition to Guangxu's personal rule, citing the Emperor's youth as the main reason.Cixi, with her reputed reluctance, accepted the "advice" and legitimized her continued rule through a new legal document that allowed her to "aid" Guangxu in his rule indefinitely.
As his empress, and much to Guangxu’s annoyance, Cixi chose her niece (Guangxu's cousin), Jingfen, who would become the Empress Longyu. Cixi also selected two concubines for him who were sisters, Consorts Jin and Zhen. With Guangxu married off, Cixi retired from the regency, but continued to influence his decisions and actions. Guangxu eventually preferred to spend time with Zhen, neglecting his Empress, much to Cixi's dismay. In 1894, Cixi, citing intervention in political affairs as the main reason, degraded Zhen, and according to some reports, had her flogged.
Third phase of self-strengthening (1885-1895)
By this period, the enthusiasm for reform had slowed down to a crawl, as the conservative faction at court managed to overwhelm Prince Gong and his supporters.
New types of enterprises sprouted in this period: joint government and merchant enterprises, even incipient "private enterprises." Whereas the Chinese government had traditionally discriminated against private merchants, the new encouragement of private enterprises seemed to mark a change in policy. However, the government was only interested in getting capital from private enterprises, and was still unwilling to let them take an active role in economic development. Thus, control of such enterprises remained firmly in the government's hands.
Examples of such enterprises included Kweichow Ironworks, established in 1891, and the Hupeh Textile Company, established in 1894. Like all other newly sprouted enterprises, they were very weak and represented only a small fraction of the total investment in industry.
Court politics
Two sources of conflict characterized Court politics during the period of the Self-Strengthening Movement. The first was the struggle for influence between the conservative and progressive/pragmatic factions in court. The other was the conflict between the central government's interests and new regional interests. These tensions determined the character and ultimately the successes and failures of the movement.
Both the conservative and the progressive factions believed in military modernization and adopting military technology from the West; where they differed was whether or not to reform the political system. Conservatives like Prince Duan, who were xenophobic and disliked foreigners, still adopted western weaponry and used it to equip their armies. During the Boxer Rebellion, the Conservative faction was led by Prince Duan and Dong Fuxiang, who equipped their troops with western rifles and weapons, but made them wear a traditional Chinese military uniform rather than a western style uniform.
The conservative faction was also led by Empress Dowager Cixi. She had to accept the reforms of Prince Gong and his supporters initially because of Prince Gong's role in helping her seize power and because of her relative inexperience in political affairs. However, as her own political acumen developed over the years, her support of either faction would depend on the political circumstances. Increasingly, fearing that reforms would undercut her authority, she began to undermine the influence of Prince Gong's faction by supporting conservatives' opposition to reforms. Self-Strengthening ultimately foundered due to lack of careful planning and coordination, an inadequate understanding of the West, lack of capital, corruption in the government, a shortage of competent officials, the conservative Qing approach, and foreign threats. China’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War proved once and for all that traditional Chinese feudal society also needed to be modernized if China was to survive in the brutal environment of the 19th century.