Empress Dowager Longyu (隆裕太后)

Overview

Empress Dowager Longyu was a consort and Royal Family Member.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Posthumous name	Jing	景	Jing
Temple name	Xiaoding	孝定	Xiaoding

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 1911 宣統三年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 472, passage 60
AD 1911 辛亥變起
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 473, passage 22

Key source chapters

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 472 Volume 472 Biographies 259: Lu Runxiang, Shi Xu, Yi Ketan, Liang Dingfen, Xu Fang, Lao Naixuan, Shen Cengzhi 4 passages
Draft History of Qing, Chapter 473 Volume 473 Biographies 260: Zhang Xun, Kang Youwei 3 passages

Events and relationships

Issued edict changing polity / abdication
AD 1911 宣統三年 · Political · Issuer
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 472, passage 60

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 473, passage 56

References in the histories

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 472Volume 472 Biographies 259: Lu Runxiang, Shi Xu, Yi Ketan, Liang Dingfen, Xu Fang, Lao Naixuan, Shen Cengzhi · 4 passages

Open chapter

而新內閣又成立，總理大臣袁世凱議修和息戰禍，取隆裕太后懿旨，頒示天下，改建國體，於是遜位詔下矣。 A new cabinet was formed; Prime Minister Yuan Shikai sought peace to end the war, secured an edict from Empress Dowager Longyu, and proclaimed a change of polity to the empire—and so the abdication decree came down.

太后令磋商優待條件，授太保。 The empress dowager ordered negotiations on favorable terms for the abdication and appointed him Grand Guardian.

我皇太后、皇上或未盡知，臣但有一日之官，即盡一日之心。 Our empress dowager and emperor may not fully know; yet as long as I hold office for a day, I will give my whole heart for that day.

及孝定景皇后升遐，奉安崇陵，恭送如禮，自原留守陵寢，遂命管理崇陵種樹事。 When Empress Dowager Xiaoding Jing passed away and was interred at Chongling, he escorted her with full rites; having asked to remain and guard the mausoleum, he was ordered to manage tree-planting at Chongling.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 473Volume 473 Biographies 260: Zhang Xun, Kang Youwei · 3 passages

Open chapter

辛亥變起，我孝定景皇后至德深仁，不忍生民塗炭，毅然以祖宗創垂之重，億兆生靈之命，付託前閣臣袁世凱，設臨時政府，推讓政權，公諸天下，冀以息爭弭亂，民得安居。 When the Xinhai revolution broke out, Empress Dowager Xiaoding, in her deep virtue and compassion, could not bear to see the people brought to ruin. She resolutely entrusted the ancestral enterprise and the fate of the multitudes to the former grand councillor Yuan Shikai, set up a provisional government, and yielded power to the nation, hoping to still contention and restore peace so the people could live securely.

海內囂然，喪其樂生之氣，使我孝定景皇后不得已遜政恤民之舉，轉以重苦吾民。 The realm has grown turbulent, and the people's will to live in peace has been broken; the very act by which Empress Dowager Xiaoding reluctantly abdicated to spare the people has instead deepened their affliction.

此誠我孝定景皇后初衷所不及料，在天之靈，惻痛難安； This was truly beyond what Empress Dowager Xiaoding could have foreseen in her original intent; her spirit in Heaven must ache with unbearable sorrow;