Imperial Authority in Crisis
An Interpretation of the Coup D'état of 1861
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3624412 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Luke S K Kwong (Chinese University of Hong Kong, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1983 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 221-238 |
| Publication date | 1983-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern Asian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0026749x00015614 |
| OpenAlex | W2097824180 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 3 |
The significance of the coup d'état of 1861 in late-Ch'ing history has been appraised by many scholars. A fairly typical viewpoint has been expressed by the eminent Chinese historian Wu Hsiang-hsiang: 'Had there not been the coup of 1861, there would not have been the coup of 1898.' One need not entertain the same degree of determinism to acknowledge, with Wu, that the coup of 1861 was important in its effects on the exercise of imperial power in later decades. The coup did, in fact, not only provide the immediate circumstances which favored an unprecedented experiment with the Ch'ing imperial form, namely, a regency formed by the empresses-dowager, but it did also enable the famous (or infamous) empress-dowager, Tz'u-hsi, to secure her rise to a supremacy in court affairs which ended only with her death in 1908. In view of this second development, scholars have long argued that Tz'u-hsi was both the mastermind and chief beneficiary of the coup, which was the product of her intrigues and manipulations. In fact, it has been called her (Yehonala's) coup d'état. While this view will presently be examined, my main purpose here is to define the nature of the political crisis from which the coup of 1861, as well as the idea of the female regency, originated. This, I believe, is one aspect of the subject that has not been sufficiently investigated
Beneficiary · Economic history · Humanities · Interpretation (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Subject (documents · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,11 |
| Citation span | 1988 - 2016 (29) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |