ABSTRACT
Hien Fung was only nineteen years old when he ascended the throne. In the summer of A.D. 1850 the first act of the great Taiping rebellion was committed by the seizure and fortifying of the market town of Lien-chu, in Kwang-si. On the 8th of October, A.D. 1856, twelve of the crew of the lorcha Arrow were seized by the orders of Yeh. In the year A.D. 1867 the regents, seeing that official relationships with the West were inevitable, determined that the various countries there should have an opportunity of learning more fully the character of the Chinese and the nature of their laws and institutions. On the 16th of October, A.D. 1872, T'ung Chih was married to Aluteh, the daughter of a distinguished Manchu. On February 23, A.D. 1873, he attained his majority, and nominally took the reins of power into his own hands, though in point of fact the regents were the supreme rulers of China.
