In China's ancient feudal society, the emperor has always been the supreme existence, the peak of a country's power. Such words as "the king wants the subject to die and the subject has to die" and "the whole world can not be the king's land", all of which show the supreme power and status of the emperor. However, even so, there are still some emperors in history who, for various reasons, have never been able to exert power in their hands. These great powers were monitored by those who really held great power, and the suppressed emperor was in many cases inferior to a small official. For example, during the Three Kingdoms period, Emperor Xian of Han was first held hostage by Dong Zhuo and was precarious. Later, he was raised by Cao Cao, although compared with Dong Zhuo's chaotic government, he had a little more sense of security and the guarantee of food and clothing, but he still had no power and was always suppressed. Compared with the Han Xiandi, the situation of the Guangxu Emperor at the end of the Qing Dynasty was even more miserable.
Empress Dowager Cixi's obsession with power was terrible, and immediately after the death of her son, Empress Dowager Cixi began to search for a new successor, with the ultimate goal, of course, to better control the government. The Father of the Guangxu Emperor was a very intelligent man, and he could see Cixi's obsession with power, and in order to protect himself and his family, he was very low-key during Cixi's control of the government, and no matter what he did, the first thing he did was to ensure that he would not be noticed by Cixi. However, although this indisputable low-key behavior did not make Cixi notice him, it hit his son's idea. Because cixi needed an "obedient" emperor, and what the Guangxu Emperor's father did was the most suitable performance of the emperor in Cixi's mind. Therefore, in line with the idea that her son was like her father, Cixi decided to let the Guangxu Emperor inherit the throne, so that he could control the government.
It is said that when the father of the Guangxu Emperor learned of this, he cried and fainted on the spot. But it was useless to pass out, and in January 1975, the four-year-old Guangxu Emperor officially succeeded to the throne, and the empress dowager Cixi and Ci'an were curtained to listen to the government. At this time, Empress Dowager Cixi still took good care of Emperor Guangxu, on the one hand, because of Guangxu's quiet and obedient. On the other hand, because of the existence of Empress Dowager Ci'an, Cixi could not do whatever she wanted. Therefore, the education received by the Guangxu Emperor when he was a child was still very perfect, in addition to the special Yuanlang teaching Guangxu to read and write, many times Cixi would personally teach Guangxu some truths. It can even be said that at this time, Cixi still hoped that the Guangxu Emperor would have the ability to manage the country, rather than just as a puppet. Until 1881, Empress Dowager Ci'an collapsed, and the actual power of the Great Qing State completely fell into the hands of Empress Dowager Cixi.
Cixi, who is fully in power, is very terrible, on the one hand, her family is dominant, and she frantically attacks those who disagree with her politics. On the one hand, she was also more and more jealous of the Guangxu Emperor, who had already understood things. The Guangxu Emperor was originally a very intelligent person, and with a well-established education in his early years, he knew his situation very well and knew that cixi's actions were taking away his power. In this case, the contradiction between Cixi and Guangxu became more and more intense. In particular, the strong ships and cannons of the great powers opened the door of the Great Qing Kingdom, and Guangxu, who wanted to change the fate of the country and make the Great Qing Country rich and strong, was increasingly unable to understand Cixi's greed for pleasure. Until Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei found the Guangxu Emperor, making the Guangxu Emperor think that his dream of a strong country could be realized through the change of law, ignoring that the change without the support of power was doomed to failure.
After the failure of the Wushu reform, the contradiction between Cixi and Guangxu completely broke out, and Cixi, in a fit of rage, put the Guangxu Emperor under house arrest in Yingtai. Saying that it is house arrest is actually more like imprisonment. Because the place where the Guangxu Emperor lived was surrounded by water on all sides, only a small wooden bridge could lead to the hut where the Guangxu Emperor lived, and even the food had to wait until Cixi ordered it before the ingredients were brought in, and starvation was a common thing. And Guangxu's every move will be monitored and returned to Cixi, which is very miserable. And this misery lasted for 10 years. On November 14, 1908, the Guangxu Emperor died of illness at the age of 38. There are many opinions about Guangxu's death, and finally in 2008, after the identification of Guangxu's hair, it was confirmed that he died of arsenic poisoning. In fact, on September 21, 1898, the Guangxu Emperor died along with the failure of the Wushu Reform Law. The Guangxu who studied the laws of various countries in the cabin only had a trace of his obsessive shell.