Ministers › Statesman / Official
Zai Lan
Manchu duke and brother of Prince Duan who helped direct the Boxers in Beijing in 1900 and was exiled to Xinjiang, returning only after the dynasty fell
In the courtyard of a district government hall, a line of petitioners waits before a raised bench with a long table and document boxes; a blue umbrella stands beside it, a large drum stands at the gate where a few people wait, and a lake with sailboats lies beyond.
- Roles
- Statesman / Official
Zailan, a son of Yicong, Prince Dun, and younger brother of Prince Duan, Zaiyi, was born in 1856 and rose from a minor title to duke of the third class. In 1900, as acting commander of the right wing of the Beijing garrison, he helped Zaixun direct the Boxers and is said to have joined in hunting down Chinese Christians. He followed the court west when the allies entered Beijing, and in the 1901 peace terms the powers listed him among the culprits; the court first sentenced him to death with reprieve and then commuted this to permanent confinement in Xinjiang. He lived for years at Dihua and Ili under fairly loose supervision, and after the 1911 revolution made his way back through Siberia to Manchuria, dying at Fengtian in 1916.
Life and times
Dates 1856 CE–1916 CE