QOTD: “The Qing dynasty began with Dorgon’s regency (1643-50), and it was to end with another, Zaifeng’s. Zaifeng had come to power because Cixi, thinking that she would outlive the dying Guangxu emperor, wanted another infant emperor with a compliant father as regent who would allow her to continue to “listen to government from behind the screen”. Her unexpected death only one day after Puyi’s ascension as the Xuantong emperor thrust the young and inexperienced Zaifeng into a complex and rapidly changing political scene that perhaps no one, not even Cixi herself, could have understood and mastered.” Manchus & Han by Edward J.M Rhoads
QOTD
