3-053-788 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The young Emperor of China, Tung-Che, Whang-Ti, 1873. 'Since October last the young Emperor of China must have had a busy time of it. On the 16th of that month he was married. He at that time took unto himself an Empress and four other wives, with a hopeful prospect of many more. At the winter solstice he had to fast and to appear as high priest at the Temple of Heaven, where he offered incense and sacrifices. Since the death of his father, in 1862, the government had been carried on by the Dowager Empress and by the young Emperor's mother, who had been raised to the dignity of an Empress on her son's elevation to the throne. These two ladies had acted as Regents till it became necessary for the Emperor to assume full power...The Emperor of China is such a very "sacred person" that he will not give an artist or a photographer a sitting. For this cause the only way to get a representation of him that may convey some notion of his visible presence is to copy a native drawing. The costume in the Portrait we have engraved is that worn on ordinary occasions...The Imperial colour is yellow. On the Emperor's breast, and spotted over the dress, are conventional representations of the great Lung or Dragon, in red'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.