Cixi first entered the court as a concubine to the Xianfeng Emperor and gave birth to his only surviving son, who would become the Tongzhi Emperor.

* Emperor Xianfeng ( China )

* August 22 – Xianfeng Emperor, Qing Dynasty the 9th emperor ( b. 1831 )

* July 17 – Xianfeng Emperor of China ( d. 1861 )

In June 1858, shortly after the Qing Court agreed to the disadvantageous treaties, more hawkish ministers prevailed upon the Xianfeng Emperor to resist encroachment by the West.

On 2 June 1858, the Xianfeng Emperor ordered the Mongolian general Sengge Rinchen to guard the Taku ( Dagu ) Forts near Tianjin.

The Xianfeng Emperor then dispatched ministers for peace talks, but relations broke down completely when a British diplomatic envoy, Harry Parkes, was arrested during negotiations on 18 September.

With the Qing army devastated, Emperor Xianfeng fled the capital, leaving his brother, Prince Gong, to be in charge of negotiations.

Following the death of the Xianfeng Emperor in 1861, Sushun, his elder brother Duanhua, and Zaiyuan, along with five other prominent people in the Qing Court, were appointed Regents to oversee administrative affairs during the young Tongzhi Emperor's minority.

The palace was then occupied only by a few eunuchs, the Xianfeng Emperor having fled.

Selected by the Xianfeng Emperor as an imperial concubine in her adolescence, she gave birth to his son, who became the Tongzhi Emperor upon Xianfeng's death.

In 1851, Cixi participated in the selection process for concubines for the new Xianfeng Emperor alongside sixty other Manchu girls.

The Xianfeng Emperor and his entourage, including Cixi, fled Beijing for the safety of Rehe in Manchuria.

On hearing the news of the destruction of the Old Summer Palace, the Xianfeng Emperor ( who was already showing signs of dementia ) fell into a depression, turned heavily to alcohol and drugs, and became seriously ill.

On 22 August 1861 the Xianfeng Emperor died at Rehe Palace in the city of Rehe ( now Chengde, Hebei ).

Zaitian was named heir and successor to his uncle, the Xianfeng Emperor, rather than his cousin and predecessor, the Tongzhi Emperor, so as to maintain the father-son succession law.

The only surviving son of the Xianfeng Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi, Tongzhi attempted political reform in the period of the Tongzhi Restoration.

Tongzhi became emperor at the age of five upon the death of his father, the Xianfeng Emperor.

* Father: Xianfeng Emperor

The Xianfeng Emperor ( Wade-Giles: Hsien-feng Emperor ;, pinyin: Xiánfēngdì ; 17 July 183122 August 1861 ), born Aisin-Gioro I Ju, was the ninth Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1850 to 1861.

Xianfeng died on 22 August 1861, at the imperial summer resort ( 行宮 xinggong ) in Jehol, 230 kilometers northeast of Beijing.

Yanbozhishuang Hall – Emperor Xianfeng died in this Hall on 22 August 1861

On 15 February 1850 the Daoguang Emperor died and his fourth son, Prince Yizhu, succeeded him as the Xianfeng Emperor.

On 22 August 1861, in the wake of the Second Opium War, the Xianfeng Emperor died at the Rehe Traveling Palace (), northeast of Beijing, where the imperial court had fled.

In February 1850, the Daoguang Emperor died and was succeeded by his fourth son Yizhu, who became known as the Xianfeng Emperor.

The Xianfeng Emperor died on 22 August 1861 and was succeeded by his young son, who became known as the Tongzhi Emperor.

Before the Xianfeng Emperor died in 1861, he appointed Zaiyuan, Sushun, Duanhua and five others as regents to assist his son and successor, the Tongzhi Emperor.

Emperor Jiaqing and Xianfeng both died while staying at Chengde in 1820 and 1861 respectively.

File: Yanbozhishuang hall. JPG | Yanbozhishuang Hall-Emperor Xianfeng died in this Hall on August 22, 1861

# Fourth son: Yichu ( 1831 – 1861 ), future Xianfeng Emperor, son of Empress Xiaoquancheng

Empress Dowager Ci ' an ( Wade-Giles: Empress Dowager Tzu-an ;, Manchu: Hiyoošungga Jekdun Iletu Hūwanghu ; 20 August 1837 – 8 April 1881 ), popularly known in China as the East Empress Dowager (), and officially known posthumously as Empress Xiao Zhen Xian ( Wade-Giles: Empress Hsiao Chen Hsien ; ), was the second Empress Consort of the Xianfeng Emperor ( b. 1831 – d. 1861 ) of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China, and then Empress Dowager after 1861.

* Xianfeng Emperor ( 1831 – 1861 ), Emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty

At the top of Shibaozhai is a three-storied hall dedicated to Manjusri built during the reign of the Xianfeng Emperor ( 1850 – 1861 ), called the Purple Rain Pavilion.

Although Yixuan kept a low profile in the Qing imperial court during the Xianfeng Emperor's 11-year reign, his fortune was made by his sister-in-law Noble Consort Yi ( later Empress Dowager Cixi ) after Xianfeng's death in 1861.

* Xianfeng Emperor ( 1831-1861 ), born Yizhu, of the Qing Dynasty, who served between 1850 and 1861

Xianfeng first fled to the Chengde Summer Palace and then to Rehe Province.

The Emperor Xianfeng had fled with all of his court to Chengde.

The Xianfeng Emperor himself fled from Beijing and moved his imperial court to the Chengde Summer Palace in Hebei.

After three weeks time the negotiations for their release were successful, but they had only been liberated ten minutes when orders were received from the Xianfeng Emperor, then a fugitive in Chengde, for their immediate execution.

After the Xianfeng emperor and his entourage fled Beijing, the June 1858 Treaty of Tianjin was finally ratified by the emperor's brother, Yixin, the Prince Gong, in the Convention of Peking on 18 October 1860, bringing The Second Opium War to an end.

Following the death of Wenqing, one of the Xianfeng emperor's closest aides, Sushun was increasingly consulted by the emperor on many important policy matters.

In 1855, the Lady Yehenara ( as Cixi's name was recorded upon entering the Forbidden City ) became pregnant, and on 27 April 1856, she gave birth to Zaichun, the Xianfeng Emperor's only son.

Emperor Xianfeng was interred in the Eastern Qing Tombs ( 清東陵 ), 125 kilometers / 75 miles east of Beijing, in the Dingling ( 定陵 " Tomb of Quietude ") mausoleum complex.

Lady Niuhuru stayed childless and it was the Imperial Concubine Yi ( 懿嬪 ) ( the later Empress Dowager Cixi ) who bore the Xianfeng Emperor a son, the later Tongzhi Emperor, on 27 April 1856.

Some biographers state that Lady Niuhuru gave birth to the Xianfeng Emperor's only daughter, State Princess Rong ' an, who was actually the daughter of the Xianfeng Emperor's concubine Consort Li.

Eventually Noble Consort Yi was officially created " Holy Mother Empress Dowager " ( 聖母皇太后 ), a great privilege considering that she had never been an Empress Consort while the Xianfeng Emperor was alive ; she was only able to become empress dowager because she was the biological mother of the new Emperor.

One of the most believed rumors is that Ci ' an was given a secret edict by the Xianfeng Emperor just before his death.

A popular view of Empress Dowager Ci ' an is that she was a highly respectable person, always quiet, never hot-tempered, and that she treated everybody very well and was highly respected by the Xianfeng Emperor.

He was the sixth son of the Daoguang Emperor and a half brother of Daoguang's successor, the Xianfeng Emperor.

When the Daoguang Emperor was selecting an heir from among his sons, he was unable to decide between Yixin and his fourth son Yining ( the future Xianfeng Emperor ), but eventually wrote a secret edict in 1846 announcing that he had designated the latter as his successor.

Xianfeng was greatly displeased, but did not rescind the edict so as to save himself from public embarrassment.