Qing succession and inheritance policies made it difficult for empresses and their relatives to build power at court, as they had in the Han dynasty for example.
The reign of the Shunzhi Emperor ended when he died of smallpox in 1661 at the age of 22. His last will-which was tampered and perhaps even forged by its beneficiaries-appointed four co-regents for his son and successor the six-year-old Xuanye, who was to reign as the Kangxi Emperor [REF].