Chongqi (official)

In this Manchu name, the given name is Chongqi. In accordance with Manchu custom, it should be used alone or with titles but not with the clan name Alut.
Third Class Duke Cheng'en
Chongqi
崇綺
Minister of Revenue
In office
16 July – 26 August 1900
Serving with Wang Wenshao
Preceded byLishan
Succeeded byJingxin
In office
11 November 1884 – 3 January 1886
Serving with Yan Jingming
Preceded byElhebu
Succeeded byFukun
Minister of Personnel
In office
3 January – 16 March 1886
Serving with Xu Tong
Preceded byEncheng
Succeeded byXizhen
General of Mukden
In office
30 August 1881 – 19 January 1884
Preceded byQiyuan
Succeeded byQingyu
Personal details
Born1829
DiedAugust 26, 1900(1900-08-26) (aged 70–71)
Baoding
Spouse(s)Lady Aisin Gioro (daughter of Duanhua),
Lady Aisin Gioro (sister of Fukun),
Lady Gūwalgiya
RelationsDuanhua (father-in-law), Imperial Noble Consort Gongsu (sister), Empress Xiaozheyi (daughter), Baochu (son), Yixiang (daughter-in-law)
Parents
Educationzhuangyuan degree in the 1865 imperial examination
Occupationpolitician
Clan nameAlut (阿魯特)
Courtesy nameWenshan (文山)
Posthumous nameWenjie (文節)
Military service
AllegianceQing dynasty
Branch/serviceMongolian Plain Blue Banner, later Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner[1]
Battles/warsTaiping Rebellion
Second Opium War
Boxer Rebellion

Chongqi (Chinese: 崇綺, 1829–1900), courtesy name Wenshan (文山), was a Qing dynasty official from the Alut clan[2] (阿魯特氏). He was the father of Empress Xiaozheyi.

Chongqi was the third son of Saišangga. He started out in official life by purchasing the degree of a licentiate.[3] In 1865, he obtained zhuangyuan degree in the imperial examination and was selected a xiuzhuan (修撰) of the Hanlin Academy. He was the only Mongolian zhuangyuan in the Qing Dynasty, scholar-officials praised him highly. Chongqi had served as Secretary of Cabinet (內閣學士), Vice Minister of Personnel (吏部侍郎), Vice Minister of Revenue (戶部侍郎), deputy lieutenant-general of the Han Chinese Bordered Yellow Banner (鑲黃旗漢軍副都統), lieutenant-general of Rehe (熱河都統), general of Mukden (盛京將軍), Minister of Personnel and other positions.[4]

As an official hostile to Christianity, Chongqi was promoted to the Minister of Revenue by Empress Dowager Cixi during the Boxer Rebellion.[5] He and Xu Tong, submitted a memorial to the court unambiguously demanding the killing of all Chinese Christians and foreigners in China.[6] When Beijing fell to the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900, Sawara Tokusuke (佐原篤介), a Japanese journalist, wrote in Miscellaneous Notes about the Boxers (拳事雜記) about the rapes of Manchu and Mongol banner girls. Sawara alleged that a daughter and wife of Chongqi were allegedly gang-raped by soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance.[7] Chongqi's wife, Lady Gūwalgiya, jumped into a pit and ordered her servants to bury her alive. His son Baochu (葆初), and four grandsons, met the same fate.[4] In the meantime Chongqi fled to Baoding together with Ronglu. After learning of his family's tragic fate, Chongqi committed suicide by hanging.[8]

  1. ^ "(阿魯特)崇綺".
  2. ^ "Baqi Manzhou shizu tongpu 八旗滿洲氏族通譜".
  3. ^ Hummel, Arthur W. Sr., ed. (1943). "Ch'ung-ch'i" . Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.
  4. ^ a b Works related to 清史稿/卷468 at Wikisource (Draft History of Qing Volume 468)
  5. ^ "奕劻在义和团运动中的庐山真面目". National Qing History Compilation Committee.
  6. ^ Clark, Anthony E. (2015). Heaven in Conflict: Franciscans and the Boxer Uprising in Shanxi. University of Washington Press. p. 45. ISBN 9780295805405.
  7. ^ Tokusuke, Sawara (1973). "Miscellaneous Notes about the Boxers" (Quanshi zaji)". Compiled Materials on the Boxers (Yihetuan wenxian huibian). Dingwen. p. 266–268.
  8. ^ "庚子劫——八国联军劫掠北京".