Campaigners › Naval Commanders
Zai Xun
Qing imperial clansman, younger brother of the regent Zaifeng, who toured foreign navies and became the first Qing minister of the navy in 1911
In a harbour at dawn, many wooden junks with pale battened sails lie moored in rows on still blue water; bales sit on the stone quay in the foreground, a small boat with two people crosses the water, and a tower stands on a far island under a rising sun.
- Roles
- Naval Commanders
Zai Xun was the sixth son of Yixuan, Prince Chun, and a younger brother of Zaifeng, the regent for the last emperor; he was born in 1885. In 1902 he was adopted as heir to Yizhi, Prince Rui, and inherited the rank of beile, receiving the honorary rank of prince of the second degree in 1908. In 1909 he and the admiral Sa Zhenbing were named commissioners for building a navy, and that year he led a mission to inspect the fleets and dockyards of Europe, followed in 1910 by visits to the United States and Japan. When the Ministry of the Navy was created in 1911 he became its minister in the new cabinet, which contemporaries called the imperial clan cabinet because so many of its members were princes. After the abdication he lived quietly in Beijing and Tianjin and died in Tianjin in 1949.
Life and times
Dates 1885 CE–1949 CE