The Qing Dynasty was the last feudal dynasty in China, and after the Qing army entered the customs, the Manchurian nobles began to learn Han culture, because it borrowed from the Han people's clan view and family view, which gave the Qing dynasty royal family a unique succession system. In fact, in the early days of the founding of the Qing Dynasty, due to the concept of their own clan held by the Manchu nobility, the phenomenon of clan succession was rare. However, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, the situation of extinction among the various tribes of the near branch clan became increasingly prominent. According to the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", in the late Qing Dynasty, there were 17 people in the Yizi generation, of which 12 were childless; there were 22 people in the Zaizi generation, of which 13 were childless. In the end, even the heir to the Qing throne had to rely on stepchildren. ???
Inui Takashi Images
Especially since the eighth year of Xianfeng, after the birth of the second son of the Xianfeng Emperor, there have been no princes born in the Qing Dynasty since then, and the last two emperors of this feudal dynasty, Zai Xiang and Puyi, were inherited by the Zong clan. This makes many readers wonder, since there were few princes at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the last emperor Puyi, who was born in the first year of Guangxu, was the son of Zaifeng, the regent of the Near branch, then was Puyi and the Yongzheng Emperor, who was the concubine of Kangxi, related by blood? Since the Yongzheng Emperor, the Qing Dynasty began to implement the system of primogeniture, although the Hongli who later inherited the imperial throne, that is, the Qianlong Emperor, was not nominally the eldest son, but in fact he also sat on the throne of the eldest son.
Stills from the Calendar
There were three brothers who were older than Hongli, and his eldest brother died prematurely, leaving only Yongzheng's third son, Hongshi. According to the system of primogeniture, Hongshi should have been the most reasonable heir to the throne of the Yongzheng Emperor, but this prince was indulgent in temperament, and when Yongzheng participated in the Ninth King's conquest, he actually got very close to the eighth master, causing Yongzheng to be dissatisfied with this son, and finally he was eliminated from the clan and depressed; so when he ascended to the throne to the fourth son Hongli, he also became the eldest son of the concubine.??
Portrait of the Jiaqing Emperor
The Qianlong Emperor had a very high lifespan, and he reigned for a full 60 years, causing many princes to go before him, and eventually those who could inherit the throne were only the fifteenth son, Yuanyan, who was the later Jiaqing Emperor. After Jiaqing fell ill and died, the Qing Dynasty finally ushered in the first emperor to ascend the throne as the eldest son of a concubine: the Daoguang Emperor. The Daoguang Emperor had actually been hesitant to make up his mind on the matter of establishing the Crown Prince, he had a total of 9 princes, three of whom died prematurely, which made YiXuan, who was the fourth son of the Emperor, the eldest son of the emperor, the eldest son of the emperor, very much; however, the Daoguang Emperor was extremely fond of the emperor's sixth son, YiXuan, but unfortunately this prince was a concubine. In the end, the Daoguang Emperor still chose the eldest and filial Piety Yixuan as the crown prince, and he was the later Xianfeng Emperor.
Portrait of the Xianfeng Emperor
As mentioned earlier, since the birth and early death of Emperor Xianfeng's second son, King Mercy Junwang, the Qing Dynasty royal family no longer had a princely origin, and eventually The only son of The Xianfeng Emperor, that is, Zaichun, the biological son of Empress Dowager Cixi, inherited the throne, with the era name Tongzhi. Cixi bowed to the government, as a young son of heaven, the Tongzhi Emperor did not have real power, and died suddenly at the age of 19, so the Tongzhi Emperor did not leave any heirs. In order to continue to control the power of the imperial court, Cixi began to look for the next puppet emperor. After Tongzhi's death, the Xianfeng lineage was completely extinct, and could only find an heir to the throne from the near branch of the clan. Cixi set his sights on his sister's own son Zai Xiang, the father of this child is Yi Zhen, the seventh son of the Daoguang Emperor, so he is the grandson of the Daoguang Emperor, whether it is the bloodline of the clan or his status as the son of Cixi's own sister, he can meet Cixi's request to continue to control the imperial power, and in this way, Zai Xiang became the Guangxu Emperor.
Puyi
Because emperor Guangxu was not in good health, it was not a secret that it was difficult to give birth to a prince in the government and the opposition, so during the reign of Emperor Guangxu, the matter of inheriting the heir of the Zong clan was put on the agenda. Eventually, Puyi, the great-grandson of the Daoguang Emperor and the half-brother of Zaifeng the Prince of Zaifeng, was made crown prince, the last emperor under the Chinese feudal system. Although the imperial throne of the late Qing Dynasty was inherited by the successor Zong clan, in terms of blood relations, these heirs to the throne were all descendants of the Yongzheng lineage, and Puyi was certainly no exception.