The Ritual Politics of Imperial Death in Modern China

In 1908 the Qing Court faced two crises, just days apart: the deaths of the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi. In the late nineteenth century, the Court was no stranger to the rituals and politics surrounding imperial death, having planned funerals for the Xianfeng Emperor in 1861 and the Tongzhi Emperor in 1875. Yet now in the midst of the transition to a constitutional monarchy, new forms of engagement with the global community, and growing revolutionary fervor, both the imperial deaths and funeral arrangements took on new meaning. The chapter explores the late Qing funerals of the Tongzhi Emperor (1875), the Guangxu Emperor (1909), and Empress Dowager Cixi (1909) to examine their role in the long process of transforming private Court rituals into public moments of national myth making. Across the post-Taping era, funerary rituals for imperial leaders underwent multiple transformations: from private events to public performances; from a primarily textual articulation of ritual legitimacy to a more corporeal one; and from attempts to separate the imperial body from the larger population to an argument for oneness and unity with the people. Issues surrounding imperial death thus suggests new connections between empire and nation in China.