Empress Dowager Cixi Ends Hundred Days of Reform in China (1898)

Empress Dowager Cixi was the de facto ruler of China for much of the period between 1861 and 1908. After the death of Emperor Xianfeng, as well as that of his only heir—his son by Cixi—she violated normal succession order and named her adoptive infant nephew Guangxu to the throne. In 1898, during the “hundred days of reform,” Guangxu issued a series of radical decrees modernizing China’s political and social structure. Cixi opposed the reforms and engineered a coup. What became of Guangxu? Discuss

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