The Well of Concubine Zhen

The Well of Concubine Zhen

The Well of Concubine Zhen is located in the Outer Eastern Road area of the Forbidden City. After the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform in the 24th year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign (1898), Empress Dowager Cixi harbored deep resentment toward Emperor Guangxu, who supported the reform, and his beloved concubine, Concubine Zhen. She had them imprisoned separately in the Ocean Terrace of the South Sea and in a cold palace. In 1900, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, as Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu fled the capital, she ordered an eunuch to push Concubine Zhen into the well, where she drowned. This well came to be known as the “Well of Concubine Zhen.”

Concubine Zhen was the favorite consort of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. She was the daughter of Chang Xu, an official in the Ministry of Rites. At the age of 13, she and her elder sister (Concubine Jin) were both selected to enter the imperial palace. In the 15th year of Guangxu’s reign, she was conferred the title of Noble Lady Zhen, and five years later was promoted to Concubine Zhen. She incurred the hatred of Empress Dowager Cixi because she sympathized with Guangxu and supported the reform. After the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform, Concubine Zhen was confined to a small courtyard near Jingqi Pavilion in the Outer Eastern Road of the Forbidden City (and during the summer when Cixi went to the Summer Palace to escape the heat, Zhen was placed under house arrest in the "Western One" building inside the Summer Palace). In 1900, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi decided to flee to Xi’an with Guangxu. Before the escape, using the excuse that “with the foreigners entering the city, she might be humiliated,” Cixi ordered Concubine Zhen to commit suicide by jumping into a well — referred to as being “granted death.” But Concubine Zhen resisted and refused to comply, so Cixi then ordered the second chief eunuch, Cui Yugui, to push her into the well, where she drowned. She was only 25 years old at the time.

A year later, Concubine Zhen’s body was finally recovered and buried outside Xizhimen. Later, she was posthumously granted the title of Imperial Noble Consort by Emperor Guangxu. After Guangxu’s death, she was laid to rest in the Chongling Mausoleum in the Western Qing Tombs alongside him. Due to this incident, the well became known as the “Well of Concubine Zhen.”