Chongqi (Chinese: 崇綺, 1829–1900), courtesy name Wenshan (文山), was a Qing dynasty official from the Alut clan[2] (阿魯特氏). He was the father of Empress Xiaozheyi.
Chongqi was the third son of Saišangga. He started out in official life by purchasing the degree of a licentiate.[3] In 1865, he obtained zhuangyuan degree in the imperial examination and was selected a xiuzhuan (修撰) of the Hanlin Academy. He was the only Mongolian zhuangyuan in the Qing Dynasty, scholar-officials praised him highly. Chongqi had served as Secretary of Cabinet (內閣學士), Vice Minister of Personnel (吏部侍郎), Vice Minister of Revenue (戶部侍郎), deputy lieutenant-general of the Han Chinese Bordered Yellow Banner (鑲黃旗漢軍副都統), lieutenant-general of Rehe (熱河都統), general of Mukden (盛京將軍), Minister of Personnel and other positions.[4]
As an official hostile to Christianity, Chongqi was promoted to the Minister of Revenue by Empress Dowager Cixi during the Boxer Rebellion.[5] He and Xu Tong, submitted a memorial to the court unambiguously demanding the killing of all Chinese Christians and foreigners in China.[6] When Beijing fell to the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900, Sawara Tokusuke (佐原篤介), a Japanese journalist, wrote in Miscellaneous Notes about the Boxers (拳事雜記) about the rapes of Manchu and Mongol banner girls. Sawara alleged that a daughter and wife of Chongqi were allegedly gang-raped by soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance.[7] Chongqi's wife, Lady Gūwalgiya, jumped into a pit and ordered her servants to bury her alive. His son Baochu (葆初), and four grandsons, met the same fate.[4] In the meantime Chongqi fled to Baoding together with Ronglu. After learning of his family's tragic fate, Chongqi committed suicide by hanging.[8]
Works related to 清史稿/卷468 at Wikisource (Draft History of Qing Volume 468)