The Well of  Concubine Zhen in the Forbidden City is the site where Concubine Zhen, a beloved  concubine of Emperor Guangxu, was drowned on the command of Empress Dowager Cixi.

 

In 1875, Emperor Guangxu ascended the throne at just four years old. When it came time for him to choose consorts, he had little say in the matter. Empress Dowager Cixi forced him to marry Empress Longyu, a member of her own family, while also selecting two sisters—Consort Jin and Consort Zhen—as his concubines.

 

Over time, Guangxu grew distant from Empress Longyu and favored Concubine Zhen, who was intelligent, politically aware, and supportive of the emperor’s modernization efforts. However, her influence made her a target of Empress Dowager Cixi’s resentment.
 

In 1898, Emperor Guangxu launched the Hundred Days' Reform to modernize China. However, Empress Dowager Cixi, opposed to these reforms, staged a coup, seized power, and imprisoned Emperor Guangxu in Zhongnanhai. Concubine Zhen was banished to an isolated palace in the southeastern corner of the Forbidden City, where she lived in complete isolation, growing weak from malnutrition.

 

The Empress Dowager commanded the confiscation of all imperial seals and the annulment of all recently issued reform edicts. The Emperor was imprisoned in the Hall of Nourishing Vitality (Hamyuan Hall) at the Yingtai Pavilion, located in Zhongnanhai, which today serves as a key political complex in Beijing. Meanwhile, Consort Zhen was confined to a cold palace in the southeastern corner of the Forbidden City, completely cut off from the outside world and forbidden from seeing the Emperor. She lived in isolation, receiving only small portions of food through a slit in the door, her body gradually wasting away.

 

In the 26th year of the Guangxu reign (1899), the Boxer Rebellion erupted in northern China, targeting the expanding influence of foreign powers in trade, politics, culture, technology, and religion. The Eight-Nation Alliance—a coalition of Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire—intervened militarily to suppress the uprising and lift the siege on foreign legations in China

 

Initially, Empress Dowager Cixi supported the Boxers, as she harbored deep resentment toward the West, and thus dispatched imperial troops to assist their cause. However, on August 14, 1900, the allied forces defeated the Qing army, occupied Beijing, and relieved the besieged foreign legations. With the fall of Beijing, the Qing royal family and high-ranking officials were forced to flee to Xi’an.

 

Before leaving the Forbidden City, Empress Dowager Cixi did not forget about Concubine Zhen. There are multiple accounts regarding her fate, but according to the book Emperor Guangxu and Concubine Zhen by Xianpu, her death aligns with the testimonies of those close to her: “Before departing, the Empress Dowager ordered Concubine Zhen to flee with them, but as she was gravely ill, she was unable to travel. Concubine Zhen pleaded to return to her family home, but the Empress Dowager refused and instead ordered her to be drowned in a well.”

 

Another account suggests that Concubine Zhen refused to leave and urged Emperor Guangxu to remain in the Forbidden City. This infuriated Empress Dowager Cixi, who then commanded the eunuch Cui Yugui to drown her in the well.

 

Some records state that Concubine Zhen’s body was only retrieved from the well a year later. After her remains were properly prepared, her coffin was interred in the burial grounds for palace maids outside the Forbidden City. It is said that her sister,  Concubine Jin, later had two small holes drilled into the well’s opening and installed an iron bar across it, rendering it permanently unusable.