[centre][img=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/China_Qing_Dynasty_Flag_1889.svg]
[b]The Empire of the Great Qing[/b]
[i]An Edict of the Qing Imperial Government (21st August, 1861)[/i][/centre]

I have been ill, deathly ill, for the last year of my life. So close I am to leaving this realm and moving on to the afterlife, where I may only hope that the Ruler of Diyu judges me worthy during my reign of the Great Qing. It is on my deathbed that I therefore name my son, Aisin Gioro Zaichun, as my successor. He may be young, but so too was the Paragon of Benevolence, the Emperor Réndì, who was seven years old when he ascended to the throne; and can it not be said that he ushered in one of the most prosperous reigns that the Middle Kingdom has ever witnessed?

To guide the child Emperor into a life fitting of a most esteemed ruler, I thereby entrust his life to my brother Prince Gong of the First Rank. I decree that he shall serve as Prince-Regent, and in this capacity he shall care for and educate my son so that he may become nothing less than a most glorious Emperor. Pragmatic and wise that he is, I pass to my brother the Imperial Seal through which all decisions of the Qing Empire must be approved with. 

My beloved Empress Consort Niuhuru, who has earnestly loved and cared for my young son like no other has, shall be bestowed upon the noble title the Holy Mother Empress Dowager Ci'an. She too shall become regent, and shall assist Prince Gong in the upbringing of the future Emperor. She has served my son well before as a mother, and shall continue to do so. The remaining members of the Imperial Consorts shall be escorted by select soldiers of the Imperial Guards Brigade to the famed Yuantong Temple, where they shall become honourable nuns of under the auspices of the Buddha.

Therefore, it is under the guidance of Prince-Regent Gong and the Empress Dowager Ci'an that the mighty Celestial Empire be led until my son is old enough. I wish nothing less than for universal prosperity to be ushered in for All Under Heaven. It is my last wish that my dearest son shall be able to fulfil such a noble ideal for this Most Illustrious Empire. Where I have failed, he shall succeed.

[b]- His Imperial Majesty the Xianfeng Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, Son of Heaven, Lord of Ten Thousand Years[/b]

[i]...The following day, the Xianfeng Emperor was found dead in the Imperial Summer Resort. The beginning of a new era was paved. His six-year old son was christened as the new Qixiang Emperor, and he would be watched over by the regents Prince Gong and the Empress Dowager Ci'an....[/i] 
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[centre][img=http://i.imgur.com/DRfTzMM.png]
[i]An Edict of the Qing Imperial Government[/i][/centre]

As the Great Sage Confucius once told us, [i]"The superior man is all-embracing and not partial. The inferior man is partial and not all-embracing."[/i] Never before has such words echoed so truly throughout the Middle Kingdom in its tens of thousands of years of history. For years has the Most Illustrious Empire been partial towards the peoples of Occident, and for years have we refused to embrace them. Does this not make us inferior? 

It is time to throw off the burdens of war and isolation that have brought nought but ruin to this Noble Land. The horrors of the Taiping Rebellion have defiled the Middle Kingdom's precious land and peoples, and shown us the dangers that face us should we continue our current path. It is not an existence that any of us hundreds of millions of Chinese deserve and so together we must overcome such a regressive path. Instead it is friendship and inclusion with the foreign powers that can better the Middle Kingdom and bring about eternal peace for the Great Qing.

Accordingly I would like to eternally thank the Queen of the United Kingdom and the Emperor of France for their most generous assistance in crushing the despised Taiping rebellion. Serving alongside the Imperial Army are foreign commanders such as Charles George Gordon, Auguste Léopold Protet, Frederick T. Ward and Henry Andres Burgevine, who have all shown a most distinguished conduct in battle against the loathsome Taiping rebels. Due to the assistance of these noble foreigners in co-operation with our own soldiers, the reactionary Taiping bandits are upon their last legs - what awaits them is not war but merely pest control.

Therefore it is clear that the Occident has much to offer the Celestial Empire as has been proven by recent events. From them may our Great Empire learn and grow. As the Qixiang Emperor succeeds his father, a new era awaits the Middle Kingdom. I proclaim this era to be one of [b]Self-Strengthening.[/b] The Empire of the Great Qing wishes to embark upon friendly relations with the wise peoples of the West, and as such we seek to conduct treaties through the auspices of the newly established Zongli Yamen - from trading to armaments, from education to cultural exchanges. 

May the Orient and the Occident pursue a path of peace and prosperity in partnership.

[b]- His Imperial Highness Prince-Regent Gong of the First Rank[/b]; on behalf of His Imperial Majesty the Qixiang Emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, Son of Heaven, Lord of Ten Thousand Years