Yixin, the first Prince Gong, was the sixth son of Daoguang Emperor. I regard him as the most competent aristocrat in the royal family of the late Qing Dynasty. In 1861, he established Zongli Yamen, which later became China's foreign ministry. Thereof he had a close relation with the western powers. In 1862, he founded the Tongwen Guan, affiliated with the Yamen, which functioned as a training center for translators. He was experienced in diplomacy.

Besides handling foreign affairs, he also took charge most of the internal matters, for instance, the Grand Council, the actual central government of the Qing empire, as well as the royal house.

In addition to that, he was known as one of the leaders of "Self-strengthening Movement", together with Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang, and Li Hongzhang. They introduced western technology and educational systems into China, which promoted China's modernization, though at fist they adopted the advanced weapons in order to put down the Taiping Tianguo uprising.

Anyway, the corrupted empire was destined to decline and collapse, which nobody could reverse. Prince Gong had done what he could.

He was a skillful pragmatist who led China's diplomacy, a melancholic aristocrat who aroused envy from his Dowager Empress Cixi, his brother's wife, a helpless witness who saw his family's empire go downhill.

Puru, one of his grandsons, was a prominent painter in China, who was the counterpart of Qi Baishi. He moved to Taiwan as the Nationalist Party fell from power and they forced him to go to the island. He refused to teach Soong May-ling, Chiang Kai-shek's wife, also the first lady in Taiwan at that time.

Indeed, he had the blue blood!

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