During These Years The Young Emperor Kwangsu Was Growing Up.
In February,
1887, in which month falls the Chinese New Year, it was announced that his
marriage was postponed
In consequence of his delicate health, and it was
not until the new year of 1889, when Kwangsu was well advanced in his
eighteenth year, that he was married to Yeh-ho-na-la, daughter of a Manchu
general named Knei Hsiang, who had been specially selected for this great
honor out of many hundred candidates. The marriage was celebrated with the
usual state, and more than $5,000,000 is said to have been expended on the
attendant ceremonies. At the same time the empress-regent issued her
farewell edict and passed into retirement, but there is reason to believe
that she continued to exercise no inconsiderable influence over the young
emperor.
The marriage and assumption of governing power by the Emperor Kwangsu
brought to the front the very important question of the right of audience
by the foreign ministers resident at Pekin. This privilege had been
conceded by China at the time of the Tientsin massacre, and it had been
put into force on one occasion during the brief reign of Tungche. The time
had again arrived for giving it effect, and, after long discussions as to
the place of audience and the forms to be observed, Kwangsu issued in
December, 1890, an edict appointing a day soon after the commencement of
the Chinese New Year for the audience, and also arranging that it should
be repeated annually on the same date.
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