Introduction: As the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing Dynasty has a more obvious feature that is different from other dynasties, that is, the three emperors at the end of the Qing Dynasty did not have imperial heirs, which also promoted the demise of the Qing Dynasty to a certain extent.
As for the reason why the three emperors of Tongzhi, Guangxu and Xuantong were unable to produce imperial heirs, many scholars in later generations believe that this is the result of the long-term accumulation of the qing dynasty, under the adherence of the members of the imperial family to the principles of "early marriage and early childbearing" and "marriage of close relatives" for marriage.
The Manchus, the ethnic group where the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty is located, is a hierarchical system and a strong nationality concept, especially after they entered the Central Plains, the marriage restrictions of the emperor and the emperor and the emperor's grandson, especially the restrictions on the scope of marriage, make it easy for them to enter the whirlpool of marriage of close relatives; coupled with the feudal imperial society, the early birth of the imperial heir is not only the traditional custom requirement that makes its royal family flourish, but also the political necessity of the inheritance of the imperial throne and the eternal stability of the country, so early marriage and early childbearing have also become a significant feature of the Qing Dynasty royal family.
According to the interpretation of modern medicine, because the consort has too many similar genetic factors, the offspring cannot produce mutations from them, and the harmful gene is passed on to the offspring, if this gene is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner, the children may develop the disease because they are mutant homozygotes. Therefore, inbreeding increases the risk of certain autosomal recessive genetic disorders. Inbreeding increases the probability of children getting such a homozygous or identical gene, that is, a significant increase in the probability of disease.
Although during the feudal society period, people did not have a clear understanding of the genetic harm caused by the marriage of close relatives, under the ethical and moral requirements of traditional culture, especially Confucian culture, they generally avoided the marriage of close relatives as much as possible in the marriage process. However, due to the specific environment of the times at that time, especially the ethnic customs and traditional habits of the Manchus, the ethnic group where the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty was located, in order to ensure the purity of the imperial bloodline, the Qing Imperial Family respected "marriage of close relatives" far more than at any time.
Under the influence of the feudal society's idea of "early birth of noble children, early blessings", under the inheritance of traditional cultural habits, the qing dynasty from the royal family to the bottom of the people for "early marriage and early childbearing" behavior are enshrined as the guideline, all think that this is an effective way to "add children and blessings" and even change the status quo of family life.
For the Qing Dynasty royal family, early marriage and early childbearing are more related to the inheritance of the imperial throne and the unification of the country and the world, and the emperors and even the princes and grandchildren of the Qing Dynasty strictly follow the concept of "early marriage and early childbearing".
However, according to today's scientific research, the phenomenon of early marriage and early childbearing will lead to the emergence of psychological disorders in adolescents; it will seriously affect the physical health of both men and women and the survival rate and physical fitness of babies.
There is no doubt that the marriage of close relatives and early marriage and early childbearing will seriously affect the survival rate, physical fitness and even fertility of the offspring, and the impact is negative and irreparable!
So, the "principle of close relatives" and the principle of "early marriage and early childbearing" adhered to by members of the imperial family during the Qing Dynasty, especially the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, in terms of marriage, were really the fundamental reasons that directly led to the failure of the Tongzhi Emperor, the Guangxu Emperor, and the Xuantong Emperor to give birth to imperial heirs or even lose their fertility in the late Qing Dynasty?
What was the real reason for the extinction of all three emperors at the end of the Qing Dynasty?
According to the records of historical documents, we will clearly explain them according to the birth, inheritance and ruling conditions of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty.
<h1>01 How much influence did inbreed marriage and early marriage and early childbearing have on the fertility of the three emperors at the end of the Qing Dynasty? </h1>
Since the beginning of the Later Jin Dynasty, including nurhaci, the founder of the Later Jin Dynasty, the customs of "close relatives" and "early marriage and early childbearing" have been clearly defined in terms of marriage; after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, in the face of a large number of Han nationalities with a long history and advanced culture, the ruling class of the Qing Dynasty took various measures to avoid being assimilated by the Han people and ensure the purity of the imperial bloodline. The strict implementation of the "Manchu-Han non-marriage" regulation among the bannermen is one of the means, and for the members of the Qing Dynasty royal family, the marriage of close relatives or even the marriage of the clan with close blood relations; early marriage and early childbearing, and even early marriage and childbirth at an age when the reproductive system is far from mature, are all important means of the Ruling Class of the Qing Dynasty.
1. The impact of the marriage of close relatives on the fertility of the three emperors at the end of the Qing Dynasty
Close relatives are those who have a common blood relationship within three or three generations. In the Qing Dynasty royal family, the usual aunt cousins, uncle cousins, aunts and cousins, and even the same brothers and sisters were typical representatives of the marriage of close relatives. There is no doubt that the marriage of close relatives greatly increased the probability of the early death of the imperial infants of the Qing Dynasty, and also seriously reduced the physical quality of the royal babies.
Genetic profiles
However, if we study the emperors of the Qing Dynasty in detail, especially the relationship between the family and the imperial family of their birth mothers, we will find that for the Emperors of the Qing Dynasty, there is no problem of marriage between close relatives.
What does that mean?
That is to say, from the beginning of Emperor Taiji to the birth mother of Ai Xinjue Luo Puyi, Yehenara, the birth mother of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty and the father and emperor were not related by blood, and there was no close relative at all.
Open the "Qing History Manuscript and The Biography of the Empress Dowager" to learn more about the information of the birth mother of the Qing Dynasty emperor, and we will explain one by one:
Emperor Taiji's birth mother, "Empress Xiaocigao, Nala, and Yehe Minister Yang Jiling", had nothing to do with Nurhaci's Ai Xinjue Luoshi, and was not half related by blood;
The birth mother of the Shunzhi Emperor, "Empress Xiaozhuangwen, Borjigit, Horqin Bellezhai Sangnu, Empress Xiaoduan's nephew", was not related to Emperor Taiji, which was a typical representative of the "Manchu-Mongolian marriage" system in the post-Jin dynasty, with different ethnic groups, different regions and even different beliefs.
The Kangxi Emperor's biological mother "Empress Xiaokangzhang, Tong Jia, Shaobao, Gushan Erzhen Tong Tulai", according to historical documents and the examination of the Tong Jia clan, Tong Jia was originally a Tong clan, a Sinicized Manchu, and even less related to the Shunzhi Emperor.
The Yongzheng Emperor's biological mother", "Empress Xiaogongren, Wu Ya Clan, Escort Army Counselor Mighty Woman", according to the "Qing History Draft", the Wu Ya Clan was born in manchuria, belonging to the "slave talent" birth, before even the Manchurian nobles were not counted, and the only Empress Wu Ya of the Qing Dynasty was not related to the Kangxi Emperor.
The birth mother of the Qianlong Emperor, "Empress Xiaoshengxian, Niu Hulu Clan, Sipin Dian Yi Lingzhu Daughter", was the first Empress Niu Hulu of the Qing Dynasty to give birth to an emperor, and was not related to the Qing Dynasty royal family.
The jiaqing emperor's biological mother, "Empress Xiaoyi Chun, Wei Jiashi, and the daughter of the Qing Dynasty", was the only han emperor's biological mother in the Qing Dynasty, and was not related to the Qianlong Emperor of the Manchus.
The Daoguang Emperor's biological mother, "Empress Xiaoshurui, The Xitara Clan, Deputy Governor, Governor of the Internal Affairs Department, and Erjing'er'er", was the only Empress of the Xitara Clan in the Qing Dynasty, and although she belonged to the Manchurian nobility, her foreign relatives and royal families had no blood relations, and she was not related to the Jiaqing Emperor.
The Xianfeng Emperor's biological mother "Empress Xiao Quancheng, Niu Hulu Clan, Second Class Attendant", although Empress Xiao Quancheng and The Qianlong Emperor's biological mother Empress Xiao Shengxian belonged to the same "Niu HuLu Clan", but according to the "Imperial Dynasty Tongzhi Clan Luo Manchuria Eight Banner Surnames":
Niu Hulu, originally a place name, because it was a surname. Its clans are very diverse, scattered in Changbai Mountain, Ying'e and various places.
Empress Xiaoshengxian was the great-granddaughter of Er Yi Teng (Er Yi Teng was a cousin of Er Yi Du) and belonged to the Manchurian White Banner;
Empress Xiao Quancheng was not a descendant of Eyidu, and belonged to the Manchurian Zhenghong Banner NiuHulu clan.
That is to say, although the two belong to the same NiuHulu clan, the original birthplace of their family ancestors belongs to the same "Changbai Mountain, Ying'e and various places", but there is no blood relationship between them.
The Tongzhi Emperor's biological mother, "Empress Xiaoqinxian, of the Yehenara clan, anhui Huiningchi Guangtai Dao Huizheng daughter", was also known as Empress Dowager Cixi. Similarly, Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Xiaocigao, the biological mother of Emperor Taiji, belonged to the same "Yehenara clan".
There is no need to verify the blood relationship between the two, even if the two have a direct blood relationship, because the age between the two spans more than 200 years, even if there is a blood relationship, even according to the standards of modern medical testing, it will not have a specific impact on future generations, and it does not belong to the category of close relatives marriage.
That is to say, from the beginning of the Qing Dynasty taiji to the Xianfeng Emperor, there was a common "tacit understanding" of "avoiding" the princes born under the marriage of close relatives in terms of imperial succession. This is the Qing Dynasty emperor for the sake of the future emperors out of the unified consideration of the "consort marriage drawbacks of close relatives", or a purely coincidental arrangement, we leave it alone, but this can at least prove that the last three emperors of the Qing Dynasty were not affected by the "marriage of close relatives" between the emperors of the past, that is, their loss of fertility was not affected by the "marriage of close relatives".
2. The early marriage and early childbearing of the emperors of the Qing Dynasty had an impact on the fertility of the three emperors at the end of the Qing Dynasty
Like the custom of "marriage of close relatives", "early marriage and early childbearing" is also an important marriage tradition of the Qing Imperial Family, especially the Qing Emperor, for political purposes and traditional thinking.
For example, the famous young monarch Shunzhi Emperor had a total of 14 imperial heirs in his lifetime, of which 9 died prematurely, and the proportion of early deaths was as high as 64.3%. In the eighth year of Shunzhi, the Shunzhi Emperor was not yet 14 years old, and his eldest son, Ai Xinjueluo Niu Niu, was already born, but the prince only lived for 89 days and died early, which is enough to explain the great harm of "early marriage and early childbearing" to the babies born.
Similarly, we list them in detail based on the records of the Draft History of the Qing Dynasty and the Biography of the Kings and the Manuscript of the History of the Qing Dynasty:
Emperor Taiji was born on October 25, 1592, the 20th year of the Ming Dynasty, when his biological father Nurhaci was 34 years old and his biological mother Empress Xiaocigao was 18 years old;
Shunzhi Emperor, born in the third year of Chongde, 1638 AD, when his father Taiji was 47 years old, and his birth mother Empress Xiaozhuangwen was 26 years old;
The Kangxi Emperor was born in the eleventh year of Shunzhi, 1654 AD; at that time, his biological father, the Shunzhi Emperor, was 17 years old, and his biological mother, Empress Xiaokangzhang, was 15 years old;
The Yongzheng Emperor was born in the seventeenth year of the Kangxi Dynasty, 1678 AD; at that time, his biological father the Kangxi Emperor was 25 years old, and his biological mother Empress Xiaogongren was 19 years old;
The Qianlong Emperor was born in the 50th year of the Kangxi Dynasty, in 1711 AD; at that time, the fourth son of his father, Yin Chan, was 34 years old, and his biological mother, Empress Xiaoshengxian, was 19 years old;
The Jiaqing Emperor was born in the 25th year of Qianlong, 1760 AD; at that time, his biological father qianlong emperor was 50 years old, and his biological mother Empress Xiaoyichun was 24 years old;
The Daoguang Emperor was born in the 47th year of Qianlong, in 1782 AD; in that year, yongyan, the fifteenth son of his father, was 23 years old, and his birth mother, Empress Xiaoshurui, was 23 years old;
Xianfeng Emperor, born in the eleventh year of Daoguang, 1831 AD; when his biological father, The Daoguang Emperor, was 50 years old, and his biological mother, Empress Xiao Quancheng, was 24 years old;
The Tongzhi Emperor was born in the sixth year of Xianfeng, in 1856 AD; at that time, the Xianfeng Emperor was 26 years old, and his birth mother Empress Xiaoqinxian was 20 years old.
As far as the entire Qing Dynasty emperor was born, the age of his parents, that is, the Shunzhi Emperor, the 6-year-old emperor who ascended the throne, belonged to the category of "early marriage and early childbearing", but the subsequent Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, and Daoguang all used their high life expectancy and the multiplicity of breeding imperial heirs to prove that the Shunzhi Emperor had little influence on future generations. Moreover, the Shunzhi Emperor to the Tongzhi Emperor has been passed down for six generations, and even if it has an impact on future generations, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, it is almost negligible.
Therefore, the impact of the marriage custom of early marriage and early childbearing on the loss of fertility of the three emperors at the end of the Qing Dynasty can be ignored.
<h1>02 What was the real reason why the three emperors at the end of the Qing Dynasty lost their fertility or fertility opportunities</h1>
Removing the influence of the previous emperors on future generations, we need to analyze the subjective reasons of the three emperors of Tongzhi, Guangxu and Xuantong, as well as the specific background of the times in which they lived and the specific conditions of the political period, to explore the reasons for their loss of fertility or the opportunity to have children.
1. Tongzhi Emperor
For the Tongzhi Emperor, it needs to be emphasized that the Tongzhi Emperor is not infertile. The Tongzhi Emperor and his empress Arute had conceived a child, but they were stillborn and could not give birth, so it is generally believed that the Tongzhi Emperor had no heirs. But this is enough to prove that the Tongzhi Emperor had fertility, but only lost the opportunity to procreate.
The Tongzhi Emperor had an empress, four concubines, and countless official women or palace women who could be fortunate for him, so why did he lose the opportunity to have children?
Stemming from the great disagreement between The Tongzhi Emperor's biological mother, Empress Dowager Cixi, and his concubine over the choice of empress for the Tongzhi Emperor, the History of the Qing Dynasty believes that:
The court of the Muzong Dynasty was mainly centered around the empress dowagers of the two palaces. On the issue of Muzong's election, it can also be seen that the two palace empresses are secretly wrestling. Empress Xiaozheyi's maternal grandmother, Duanhua The Prince of Zheng, was empress dowager of Empress Dowager Ci'an, so Empress Xiaozheyi was empress dowager's niece. Empress Dowager Cixi, on the other hand, preferred the Fucha clan, later the Shushen Emperor's concubine.
Empress Dowager Cixi's failure in the post-election issue led her to start making every effort to harass and even rent to interfere with the conjugal life between the Tongzhi Emperor and the Empress, and according to the wild history, the fetus in Empress Xiaozheyi's womb was also victimized by Empress Dowager Cixi.
In addition, for the cause of Empress Xiaozheyi's death, the qing dynasty official explanation is that "the pain of the Daxing Emperor Long Yu Shangbin, the damage is too much, so she hugs the sunken", that is to say, she died for the martyrdom of the Tongzhi Emperor; but the "Diary of Weng Tonggong" records:
Empress Jiashun has been ill for a long time, and (after Cixi's illness) is now a drama.
In addition, in an article published by the People's Daily entitled "The Historical Facts of the Qing Dynasty's Imperial Family's Shame: The Tongzhi Emperor Died of Venereal Diseases", there was such a description:
In the afternoon of the fourth day of December, the Arut clan came to Dongnuan Pavilion to see the disease, and Zaichun was sober at that time. The empress cried and complained about the hardships of her mother, and the emperor also felt it personally, advising her to be patient for the time being, and after the illness was cured, there would always be a day to come out.
All this is enough to show the seriousness of Empress Xiaozheyi's harassment and even deliberate interference in the conjugal life between the emperor and the empress. The Tongzhi Emperor simply abandoned the entire harem, and under the leadership of Prince Gong's second son, Ai Xinjueluo Zaiying, began to linger in the land of smokey willows.
After the Tongzhi Emperor suffered from what the Qing Dynasty officially said was smallpox, in fact, it was hualiu disease, and Empress Dowager Cixi directly explained the cause of his illness:
The upper body is safe and must seek entertainment.
That is to say, as long as the Tongzhi Emperor is slightly better, he will definitely appear in the "Eight Hutongs" and other places in the capital, looking for "entertainment", and will be infected with hualiu shame disease, so that he died early at the age of 19 and lost the opportunity to give birth forever.
2. The Guangxu Emperor
Compared with the Tongzhi Emperor, the Guangxu Emperor was a veritable puppet emperor, and empress dowager Cixi, in order to better control and monitor the Guangxu Emperor and realize her desire for power, forced the Guangxu Emperor to marry her own niece Yehenara, later Empress Longyu.
Empress Longyu (front row right stand)
Of course, the Guangxu Emperor did not like this ugly-looking empress with the shadow of Empress Dowager Cixi.
"China Daily" once said of Empress Longyu:
After marrying the Guangxu Emperor as a concubine in his ugly years, he was soft and cowardly in nature, and he lost his western happiness; especially he and Guangxu had a bad relationship and were depressed for more than twenty years. It is neither prestigious nor deprecating.
That is to say, Empress Longyu's posture was not outstanding, and her personality was soft and cowardly, as an empress, she was not favored, nor did she get the favor of Empress Dowager Cixi in the palace, and she did not have much prestige when she met with the princesses of the various wives on weekdays. In the end of Empress Longyu's life, she did not receive the blessing of the Guangxu Emperor.
Emperor Guangxu was under the strict control of Empress Dowager Cixi all his life, and he still had only one empress and two concubines, even his favorite concubine, in the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu, the Eight-Nation Alliance gathered troops to attack Beijing, and Empress Dowager Cixi took Emperor Guangxu hostage and fled in a hurry. Before leaving, the eunuch summoned Zhenfei, who was imprisoned in the Shou Pharmacy in the North Three Houses, and pushed her into the well located at the Zhenshun Gate behind the Ningshou Palace and drowned. At that time, Zhenfei was only 24 years old.
And Zhenfei's sister, Concubine Jin, is also an obese woman who likes to eat pork, and is not allowed to be favored by the Guangxu Emperor.
This provided an objective constraint for the Guangxu Emperor's failure to produce an imperial heir!
In addition, the Guangxu Emperor explained the reasons for his failure to produce an imperial heir:
Sperm disease will be twenty years, the first few years will occur more than a dozen times a month, in recent years only two or three times a month, and if there is no dream or not, that is, self-leakage, winter is worse. In recent years, those who have lost less are not gradually healing, but because the kidneys have lost too much and are unable to vent.
That is to say, the Guangxu Emperor suffered from severe sperm disease a long time ago, so that from the age of thirty, it had reached the point of "no sperm to drain", which directly led to the sterilization of the Guangxu Emperor.
In addition, the Guangxu Emperor, who had been weak since childhood, and the puppet emperor who had been under cixi's control for a long time, his depressed mood could be imagined. After the failure of the Wushu Reform Law, the Guangxu Emperor was put under house arrest, which aggravated the depressed mood of the Guangxu Emperor and even the complete severance of the opportunity to have children.
Moreover, under the cruel control of Empress Dowager Cixi, the Guangxu Emperor was unable to eat enough and did not eat well for a long time.
The book "The Hanging Curtain Empress" describes the situation in which the Guangxu Emperor was imprisoned in Yingtai:
The Guangxu Emperor was imprisoned in the Hanyuan Hall, which had only a table, a chair and a hard bed, and the diet was very rough, and it was common not to have enough to eat. Imprisoned here, the Guangxu Emperor not only lost his personal freedom, but was also tortured in many ways. The Guangxu Emperor often sat on the terrace, clasping his hands and knees, thinking about sorrow and sorrow, and often sighing: Shuo is not as good as Emperor Xian of Han!
It can be seen that in this environment and mood, even if the Guangxu Emperor could meet with the harem concubines, I am afraid that he was not in the mood to contribute to the reproduction of the imperial heir. Coupled with a decade of dietary torture, the Guangxu Emperor's opportunity and ability to bear an imperial heir were completely and artificially deprived.
In the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu, the famous Jiangsu physician Cao Yuanheng wrote in his diagnosis of the Guangxu Emperor:
The emperor's liver and kidney yin deficiency, spleen and yang deficiency, qi and blood loss, has no medicine to cure, only prescribe some conditioning drugs.
But anyone who has a slight understanding of the pathology of Chinese medicine can understand the specific meaning of this "diagnosis", behind these terms until the Guangxu Emperor has long lost fertility.
That is to say, under the double blow of his own factors and external influences, the Guangxu Emperor will completely lose the opportunity to have children and fertility!
3. Emperor Xuantong
Friends who have read his book "The First Half of My Life" are probably familiar with why the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty lost his fertility.
When he was a teenager in the Forbidden City, when the eunuchs were afraid that he would run out at night, they often let some palace women "accompany the bed" for him at night, and the palace women who longed to conceive the "dragon species" and change their humble status were also very enthusiastic about this, and often "enlightened" the little emperor; in order to "help" the little emperor, the eunuchs often took drugs to Puyi to eat, to which Puyi once recalled:
"Almost every night, slept until daylight, walked out of the room in a trance and saw that the sun was all green"
This premature indulgence also made Puyi fall into the lifelong root of infertility.
Therefore, the failure of the three emperors at the end of the Qing Dynasty to produce imperial heirs was partly due to the forcible deprivation of their reproductive opportunities by external influences, and partly because of the inevitable result of their premature indulgence and infertility caused by their own diseases. The problem of the three emperors of Tongzhi, Guangxu and Xuantong is the inevitable result of the double blow of subjective factors and objective environment, and is not directly related to the "early marriage and early childbearing" and "marriage of close relatives" pursued by the emperors of the qing dynasty in marriage before the Qing Dynasty.
References: "Qing History Manuscripts , Later Concubines " Biographies " Qing History Manuscripts " Legends of kings " Dynastic Tongzhi • Clan Sketches • Manchurian Eight Banners Surname "Qing History Manuscripts " Emperor Benji "Qing Dynasty Chronicles " Qing Dongling History " Weng Tonggong Diary "People's Network - Historical Facts of the Qing Dynasty Imperial Family's Shame to Speak Of: Emperor Tongzhi Died of Venereal Diseases", "Hanging Curtain Empress", "My First Half of Life", "Donghua Continuation"