The Dragon Flag in the Republican Nation: The Dowager Empress Longyu’s Death Ritual in 1913 and Contested Political Legitimacy in Early Republican China

Abstract

In 1911, the outbreak of a riot in Wuchang ended in a watershed event in Chinese history. This revolution created a paradoxical situation: while the new republican government was established, the Qing court continued to reside in the Forbidden City. The early years of the republic thus saw the rise of a contested terrain of political legitimacy, with warlords struggling militarily for presidency in Beijing, and the abdicated Qing court sustaining its latent legitimacy through ritualized court life.

This chapter examines the lingering imperial legacy of the Qing through the lens of China’s last empress’ death rituals in 1913. I argue that in contrast to the nationalist narrative of modern China, the process of transitioning from a dynastic monarchy to a national republic was not a linear one. Although forced to descend from the national center of political rule, the Qing court continued to be an important source of political legitimacy, thanks to its survived ritual sovereignty constituted by continued exercises of court rituals. Tellingly, the latent legitimacy of the Qing court returned to the center of national politics in the 1930s, when its political ambition of restoring Manchu glory aligned with the Japanese imperialist project in Manchuria.