• 94: Are the Ching shih stories true or just exaggerated rumors?, submitted on 2022-01-24 04:49:51+08:00.
• 95: Why are there no photographs of 19th Century Chinese Emperors? Was there a rule against it?, submitted on 2022-01-24 18:41:30+08:00.
• Sources and Further Reading
• 96: The State of HoloNeko, submitted on 2022-01-25 12:58:38+08:00.
• 97: Did Alexander the Great really visit Jerusalem and read the book of Daniel?, submitted on 2022-01-26 10:01:47+08:00.
• 98: Can anyone help translate what these symbols on the lucky coins mean?, submitted on 2022-01-27 03:18:06+08:00.
• 99: How many decks would an 18th century brigantine ship have had?, submitted on 2022-01-27 15:28:16+08:00.
• 100: Any historians here with a scientific leaning interested in collaborating?, submitted on 2022-01-28 11:38:47+08:00.
• 101: Were there any cultures/languages in history that had more than 9 digits?, submitted on 2022-01-28 16:36:04+08:00.
• 102: What countries made up Prussia in the 19th century?, submitted on 2022-01-30 21:30:55+08:00.
• 103: What conditions were needed in order to do be offensive in a war according to just war theories of early Christian theologians?, submitted on 2022-01-30 22:09:58+08:00.
• 104: Was Austria a victim of or perpetrator with Nazi Germany?, submitted on 2022-01-30 22:26:07+08:00.
• 105: [Hobby Scuffles] Week of January 31, 2022, submitted on 2022-01-30 23:00:28+08:00.

94: Are the Ching shih stories true or just exaggerated rumors?, submitted on 2022-01-24 04:49:51+08:00.

—– 94.1 —–2022-01-24 18:21:42+08:00:

While more can of course be said, you may find this answer by /u/Anekdota-Press covers a good deal of your question.

95: Why are there no photographs of 19th Century Chinese Emperors? Was there a rule against it?, submitted on 2022-01-24 18:41:30+08:00.

—– 95.1 —–2022-01-25 00:08:01+08:00:

So, to be rather pedantic, there are photos of one emperor who reigned in the 19th century, albeit taken in the 20th: a French photographer for the periodical L’Illustration snapped the Guangxu Emperor disembarking from a sedan chair in 1908, the year before the emperor’s death – you can see this photo on page 21 of this PDF scan of the relevant publication. Now, this photo was taken somewhat illicitly by what seems to have been a prototype paparazzo, so obviously wasn’t a commissioned photographic portrait. Yet as you may be aware, a substantial number of Qing nobles and officials were photographed – Zuo Zongtang, Prince Gong, and Dowager Empress Cixi, to name a few; even the Guangxu Emperor’s consorts, Zhen and Jin, were photographed. So why not the emperor himself?

This is something with no firm explanation: simply put, people tend to give more reasons for the few things they do, than the many things they don’t. However, if we look at the history of Qing imperial portraiture, that of Qing court photography, and that of Qing coup attempts, we do get a few ideas as to why the Guangxu Emperor in particular seems to have gone unphotographed.

Imperial portraiture was always slightly symbolic, and never intended to depict the exact, actual appearance of the emperor at a given time. The face was left mostly unchanged, but otherwise emperors were generally shown in peak bodily health and sometimes in exaggerated stature relative to their surroundings. Moreover, these portraits were primarily for use within the imperial clan, and especially the emperor himself; the image of the monarch was not really something for mass distribution in a way comparable to European monarchies. Photographs, then, didn’t necessarily fulfil the functions that painted portraits did, at least not any better: they couldn’t (yet) be ‘brushed up’ to emphasise the idealised self-image of the emperor, and their arguably greater reproducibility wasn’t a particular draw either.

More importantly, perhaps, is the simple fact that photographs of imperial family members were generally taken at those people’s behest. With the exception of Felix Beato’s 1860 photograph of Prince Gong (which took place during the negotiations for the Convention of Peking that ended the Second Opium War), the photographs we have of Princes Gong and Chun were taken without significant duress – indeed, Prince Chun, the Guangxu Emperor’s father, was particularly photogenic and made a point to pose in casual dress for several photographic portraits, taken principally by Liang Shitai (also known as Seetay). Consort Zhen seems, herself, to have had an interest in photography that led to her being photographed at some point in the late 1890s. The Dowager Empress Cixi’s photographic portraits, taken between 1903 and 1904 by a Manchu photographer named Xunling need to be understood in a particular context, as the Qing re-established relations with the foreign powers after the 1900 Boxer Uprising. This period saw suggestions that Cixi embrace Western-style depictions of herself, suggestions she decided to heed, leading to oil portraits by Katharine Karl in 1904 and Hubert Vos in 1905, as well as the photographs taken by Xunling.

By the time that Xunling was photographing Cixi, though, the Guangxu Emperor was not exactly in a position of substantial power. Indeed, he had been effectively deposed in a coup in 1898 and placed under house arrest, with his contact with the outside world kept to a minimum. It is unlikely that Cixi, who deposed him, would have been interested in sending over her court photographer to take a few shots, nor would she have been particularly keen on permitting close contact with a foreign photographer either. Of course, the Guangxu Emperor did hold power before the coup, having reached a reasonable age of majority in 1889 (when he turned 18), but at this stage his father’s photographer, Seetay, seems to have ceased activity, so unless he was particularly interested in getting his photograph taken – which, as noted above, was far from a guarantee – there wasn’t anyone around able to take one whenever.

In short, portrait photographs are the sort of thing you want to get taken, and during the nine years he was actually ruling, the Guangxu Emperor just didn’t really bother getting a photograph done. And by the time there was a decently active court photographer, he was living under house arrest so it didn’t really matter what he wanted.

Sources and Further Reading

• Ying-Chen Peng, ‘Lingering Between Tradition and Innovation: Photographic Portraits of Empress Dowager Cixi.’ Ars Orientalis 43 (2013)

• Claire Roberts, ‘The Empress Dowager’s Birthday: The Photographs of Cixi’s Long Life Without End.’ Ars Orientalis 43 (2013)

• Yi Gu, ‘Prince Chun Through the Lens: Negotiating the Photographic Medium in Royal Images.’ Ars Orientalis 43 (2013)

—– 95.2 —–2022-01-25 01:43:55+08:00:

Ah, sorry if the sentence parsed weirdly – I meant the Guangxu Emperor was under house arrest, not Xunling.

—– 95.3 —–2022-01-25 03:26:15+08:00:

Sure, see this post which I ought to have linked.

96: The State of HoloNeko, submitted on 2022-01-25 12:58:38+08:00.

—– 96.1 —–2022-01-25 16:31:22+08:00:

Noel should be in the ‘can use other animal ears’ category because she has the cow ears.

97: Did Alexander the Great really visit Jerusalem and read the book of Daniel?, submitted on 2022-01-26 10:01:47+08:00.

—– 97.1 —–2022-01-27 11:01:06+08:00:

Sorry, but we have removed your response, as we expect answers in this subreddit to be in-depth and comprehensive, and to demonstrate a familiarity with the current, academic understanding of the topic at hand. Before contributing again, please take the time to better familiarize yourself with the rules, as well as our expectations for an answer such as featured on Twitter or in the Sunday Digest.

98: Can anyone help translate what these symbols on the lucky coins mean?, submitted on 2022-01-27 03:18:06+08:00.

—– 98.1 —–2022-01-27 20:36:35+08:00:

Manchu mint mark reads boo ciowan for the Board of Revenue. The coin looks to be a fake though, the crispness of the detail is just too high and the lack of tarnishing is suspicious too.

99: How many decks would an 18th century brigantine ship have had?, submitted on 2022-01-27 15:28:16+08:00.

—– 99.1 —–2022-01-27 16:03:41+08:00:

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100: Any historians here with a scientific leaning interested in collaborating?, submitted on 2022-01-28 11:38:47+08:00.

—– 100.1 —–2022-01-28 12:01:04+08:00:

Thank you for your submission to /r/badhistory! Unfortunately, it has been removed for the following reason(s):

Your submission is in violation of Rule 2. Your submission Is a question and should be directed at one of the weekly free for all posts or history subs that allows these like AskHistorians.

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101: Were there any cultures/languages in history that had more than 9 digits?, submitted on 2022-01-28 16:36:04+08:00.

—– 101.1 —–2022-01-28 17:39:51+08:00:

Please repost this question to the weekly “Short Answers” thread stickied to the top of the subreddit, which will be the best place to get an answer to this question; for that reason, we have removed your post here. Standalone questions are intended to be seeking detailed, comprehensive answers, and we ask that questions looking for a name, a number, a date or time, a location, the origin of a word, the first/last instance of a specific phenomenon, or a simple list of examples or facts be contained to that thread as they are more likely to receive an answer there. For more information on this rule, please see this Rules Roundtable.

Alternatively, if you didn’t mean to ask a question seeking a short answer or a list of examples, but have a more complex question in mind, feel free to repost a reworded question. Examples of questions appropriate for the ‘Short Answers’ thread would be “Who won the 1932 election?” or “What are some famous natural disasters from the past?”. Versions more appropriate as standalone questions would be “How did FDR win the 1932 election?”, or “In your area of expertise, how did people deal with natural disasters?” If you need some pointers, be sure to check out this Rules Roundtable on asking better questions.

Finally, don’t forget that there are many subreddits on Reddit aimed at answering your questions. Consider /r/AskHistory (which has lighter moderation but similar topic matter to /r/AskHistorians), /r/explainlikeimfive (which is specifically aimed at simple and easily digested answers), or /r/etymology (which focuses on the origins of words and phrases).

102: What countries made up Prussia in the 19th century?, submitted on 2022-01-30 21:30:55+08:00.

—– 102.1 —–2022-01-30 22:12:09+08:00:

Please repost this question to the weekly “Short Answers” thread stickied to the top of the subreddit, which will be the best place to get an answer to this question; for that reason, we have removed your post here. Standalone questions are intended to be seeking detailed, comprehensive answers, and we ask that questions looking for a name, a number, a date or time, a location, the origin of a word, the first/last instance of a specific phenomenon, or a simple list of examples or facts be contained to that thread as they are more likely to receive an answer there. For more information on this rule, please see this Rules Roundtable.

Alternatively, if you didn’t mean to ask a question seeking a short answer or a list of examples, but have a more complex question in mind, feel free to repost a reworded question. Examples of questions appropriate for the ‘Short Answers’ thread would be “Who won the 1932 election?” or “What are some famous natural disasters from the past?”. Versions more appropriate as standalone questions would be “How did FDR win the 1932 election?”, or “In your area of expertise, how did people deal with natural disasters?” If you need some pointers, be sure to check out this Rules Roundtable on asking better questions.

Finally, don’t forget that there are many subreddits on Reddit aimed at answering your questions. Consider /r/AskHistory (which has lighter moderation but similar topic matter to /r/AskHistorians), /r/explainlikeimfive (which is specifically aimed at simple and easily digested answers), or /r/etymology (which focuses on the origins of words and phrases).

103: What conditions were needed in order to do be offensive in a war according to just war theories of early Christian theologians?, submitted on 2022-01-30 22:09:58+08:00.

—– 103.1 —–2022-01-30 22:37:43+08:00:

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104: Was Austria a victim of or perpetrator with Nazi Germany?, submitted on 2022-01-30 22:26:07+08:00.

—– 104.1 —–2022-01-30 22:37:49+08:00:

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105: [Hobby Scuffles] Week of January 31, 2022, submitted on 2022-01-30 23:00:28+08:00.

—– 105.1 —–2022-02-05 14:40:17+08:00:

It’s at moments like these where it really shines through that Ian’s background was in engineering rather than history.