Empress Dowager Cixi's obscure younger brother: Elder sister's cruel treatment, tragic ending

Empress Dowager Cixi was a very famous and powerful figure during the Qing Dynasty. Few people knew that she had a beautiful and talented younger sister, but her life was not peaceful or glorious despite being the mother of the Emperor.

Empress Dowager Cixi's younger sister was Yehe Nara Wanzhen (1841 - 1896). When Cixi entered the palace, she was only 11 years old. She is a testament to the tragedies of the palace, where identity, family love and personal happiness are buried under political intrigue.

Peaceful childhood and fateful marriage

Born into the prestigious Yehe Na La family, Uyen Trinh was 6 years younger than her older sister Tu Hi. Her childhood was probably not much different from that of other young ladies of the time: studying, embroidering, and waiting for an arranged marriage.

However, since childhood, Uyen Trinh was considered to be more beautiful than her sister. But it seems that "the heavens are used to jealou.s women", so her fate encountered many difficulties, even being used by her own sister as a tool to fight for power and gain, and in the end, she had to breathe her last breath in cold loneliness.

Cixi's tool to consolidate power

In the 5th year of Xianfeng (1855), when Cixi entered the palace and gradually won the Emperor's favor, but in the harem of 3,000 beauties, which concubine could exclusively win the Emperor's heart? Realizing this early, Cixi (then Imperial Noble Consort Yi) gradually sought ways to consolidate her power.

She reported to Ham Phong to arrange a marriage between her younger sister Uyen Trinh and Prince Thuan Than Dich Hoan - the king's half-brother. Prince Thuan Than was still very young at that time, a man of great spirit, it could be said that this was a good marriage.

This marriage, on the surface, was a match made in heaven, promising a life of luxury and comfort. But who would have thought that this would be the beginning of a series of tragedies in Uyen Trinh's life. Her marriage to Dich Hoan was not simply a normal political marriage.

Historians, such as renowned scholar Mary Wright, have pointed out that the marriage was part of Cixi’s plan to consolidate power. By marrying her younger sister to her husband’s younger brother, Cixi created a strong network of power within the royal family. Wanzhen, from a young lady of the boudoir, naturally became a tool for her sister to seize power.

In 1861, after the deat.h of Emperor Xianfeng, Cixi, together with Empress Dowager Ci'an and Prince Gong Yixin, launched a coup, overthrew Sushun's faction, and took over as regent. Her son Aisin Gioro Zaichun, also known as Emperor Tongzhi, ascended the throne, and Cixi naturally became Empress Dowager.

At this time, Uyen Trinh was pregnant. The following year (1862), she gave birth to a healthy bab.y boy, named Tai Diem. However, the happiness of motherhood was short-lived. In 1875, Tong Tri De suddenly passed away at the ag.e of 19 without leaving any heir.

Power was once again on the brink of collapse. To preserve her position, Cixi made a cruel decision: she chose Zai Tian, Wanzhen's son, as her successor. She called her sister and said she wanted to make her nephew emperor.

This decision not only deprived Uyen Trinh of her motherhood, but also put her in an extremely difficult situation. She had to witnes.s her biological son become Emperor, but could not openly acknowledge him, could not care for and protect him like a normal mother.

This pai.n, perhaps, was greater than any other. Historical records show that, even after Guangxu ascended the throne, Wanzhen remained reserved and respectful towards Cixi, because she understood that her fate and that of her son lay in the hands of her powerful older sister.

When he ascended the throne, Guangxu was only 4 years old, and had no real power, but was only a puppet in the hands of his aunt. Empress Dowager Cixi continued to rule behind the curtain and decide all major and mino.r matters. Even when Guangxu came of ag.e, he wanted to make his beloved concubine Zhen Fei the Empress, but Cixi forbade it and forced him to make her niece the Empress.

Living in the shadow of power, tragic ending

As for Uyen Trinh, she continued to stay at Thuan Than Vuong's mansion. Although she and her husband later had another chil.d, he unfortunately died young, and her only son was locked in the palace, unable to see him. In the following years, Uyen Trinh lived in loneliness and depression.

Wanzhen missed her son, and as she grew older and weaker, her appearance was no longer as before, causing Prince Chun to become indifferent. He continuously took in more concubines, causing her to lose her position. With no power or voice, Wanzhen was just a shadow beside her cruel sister. She witnessed the decline of the Qing Dynasty, the wars of invasion, and the helplessness of her son Guangxu.

In the summer of 1896, Wanzhen fell ill. Cixi saw this and relented, allowing Emperor Guangxu to return home to visit his mother. When Guangxu returned, Wanzhen was so weak that she could no longer speak. In the end, she died alone and uncared for at the ag.e of 55, carrying with her the pai.n and tragedy of a woman caught up in the vortex of power.

The life of Yehe Nara Wanzhen is a costly lesson about the price of power. She was a victi.m of political intrigue, deprived of personal happiness, even the right to be a mother. Wanzhen, the younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi, will forever be a symbol of the tragedies of the palace, where small people are crushed under the wheels of history.

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