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Qianlong Emperor
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The Qianlong Emperor (Chinese: ???, pinyin: Qiánlóngdì, Wade-Giles: Ch'ien-lung Ti, Mongolian: Tengeriin Tetgesen Khaan, born Hongli, September 25, 1711 – February 7, 1799) was the fifth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from October 11, 1736 to February 7, 1795. On February 8 (the first day of that lunar year), he abdicated in favor of his son, the Jiaqing Emperor - a filial act in order not to reign longer than his grandfather, the illustrious Kangxi Emperor.
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The Qianlong Emperor (Chinese: ???, pinyin: Qiánlóngdì, Wade-Giles: Ch'ien-lung Ti, Mongolian: Tengeriin Tetgesen Khaan, born Hongli, September 25, 1711 – February 7, 1799) was the fifth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from October 11, 1736 to February 7, 1795. On February 8 (the first day of that lunar year), he abdicated in favor of his son, the Jiaqing Emperor - a filial act in order not to reign longer than his grandfather, the illustrious Kangxi Emperor. Despite his retirement, however, he retained ultimate power until his death in 1799. Although his early years saw the continuity of an era of prosperity in China, he was of unrelentingly conservative and sinocentric attitude. As a result, the Qing Dynasty's comparative decline began later in his reign.
Early years
There are myths and legends that say Hongli was actually a Han and not of Manchu descent, whilst there were some that say Hongli was only half Manchu and half Han Chinese descent. Nevertheless, looking at historical records, Hongli was adored both by his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor and his father, the Yongzheng Emperor. Some historians argue that the main reason why Kangxi Emperor appointed Yongzheng as his successor was because Qianlong was his favourite grandson. He felt that Hongli's mannerisms were very close to his own. As a teenager he was very capable in martial arts, and possessed a high literary ability.
After his father's succession in 1722, Hongli became the Prince Bao (???/???). Like many of his uncles, Hongli entered into a battle of succession with his older half-brother Hongshi, who had the support of a large faction of court officials, as well as Yinsi, the Prince Lian. For many years the Yongzheng Emperor did not allow the position of Crown Prince, but many speculated his favoring of Hongli. Hongli went on inspection trips to the south, and was known to be an able negotiator and enforcer. He was also chosen as chief regent on occasions, when his father was away from the capital.
Ascension to the throne
Even before Hongli's succession was read out to the assembled court, it was widely known who the new emperor would be. The young Hongli had been a favorite of his grandfather, Kangxi, and his father alike; Yongzheng had entrusted a number of important ritual tasks to him while Hongli was still a prince, and included him in important court discussions of military strategy. Hoping to avoid repetition of the succession crisis that had tainted his own accession to the throne, he had the name of his successor placed in a sealed box secured behind the tablet over the throne in the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing Gong ???). The name in the box was to be revealed to other members of the imperial family in the presence of all senior ministers only upon the death of the Emperor. Yongzheng died suddenly in 1735, the will was taken out and read out before the entire Qing Court, and Hongli became the 4th Manchu Emperor of China. He took the Calender Name of Qianlong, ? means heaven, ? means prosperity, which mean "Heavenly Prosperity".
Frontier Wars
The Qianlong Emperor was a successful military leader, presiding over a large expansion of the territory controlled by the Qing dynasty. This was made possible not only by Qing strength, but also by the disunity and declining strength of the Inner Asian peoples. Under Qianlong, Chinese Turkestan was incorporated into the Qing dynasty's rule and renamed Xinjiang, while to the West, Ili was conquered and garrisoned. The incorporation of Xinjiang into the Qing empire resulted from the final defeat and destruction of the Dzungars (or Zunghars), a coalition of Western Mongol tribes that had caused trouble to the Qing on its norhwestern borders since the 1680s. Between 1755 and 1758, about 80% of the Dzungar population, or between 480,000 and 800,000 people, were killed in what "amounted to the complete destruction of not only the Zunghar state but of the Zunghars as a people." Although, according to a nineteenth-century Chinese estimate, as much as 40% of the Dzungar population may have been killed by smallpox, historian Peter Perdue has shown that the decimation of the Dzungars was the result of an explicit policy of extermination launched by the Qianlong emperor. (See also Genocide in history#Qing-dynasty China.)
Throughout this period there were continued Mongol interventions in Tibet and a reciprocal spread of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. Qianlong again sent armies into Tibet and firmly established the Dalai Lama as ruler, with a Qing resident and garrison to preserve Chinese
suzerainty. Further afield, military campaigns against the Burmese, Nepalese, and Gurkhas forced these peoples to submit and send tribute.
The circumstances in Vietnam were not as successful. In 1787 the last Le king fled Vietnam and formally requested that he be restored to his throne in Thanglong (Hanoi today). The Qianlong Emperor agreed and sent a large army into Vietnam to remove the Tay Son (peasant rebels who had captured all of Vietnam). The capital, Thanglong, was conquered in 1788 but a few months later, the Chinese army was defeated in a surprise attack during Tet by Nguyen Hue, the second and most capable of the three Tay Son brothers. The Chinese
gave formal protection to the Le emperor and his family, and would not intervene in Vietnam for another 90 years.
Overall the Qianlong Emperor's military expansion captured millions of square miles and brought into the empire non-Han-Chinese peoples--such as Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Evenks and Mongols--who were potentially hostile. It was also a very expensive enterprise; the funds in the Imperial Treasury were almost all put into military expeditions. This may have been the cause of the later decline of the dynasty--when faced with a Western threat, the army was unable to develop and upgrade its weapons
.
Though the wars were successful, they were not overwhelmingly so. The army declined noticeably and had a difficult time facing some enemies: the Jin Chuan area took 2-3 years to conquer--at first the Qing army were mauled, though Yue Zhongqi later took control of the situation. The battle with the Dzungars was closely fought, and caused heavy losses on both sides.
At the end of the frontier wars, the army had started to weaken significantly. In addition to a more lenient military system, warlords became satisfied with their lifestyles. Since most of the warring had taken place, warlords no longer saw any reason to train their armies, resulting in a rapid military decline by the end of Qianlong's reign. This is the main reason for the military's failure against the White Lotus Sect, at the very end of Qianlong's years.
Artistic Achievements
The Qianlong Emperor was also a major patron of the arts. The most significant of his commissions was a catalogue of all important works on Chinese culture, the Siku Quanshu. Produced in 36,000 volumes, containing about 3450 complete works and employing as many as 15,000 copyists, the entire work took some twenty years. It preserved numerous books, but was also intended as a way to ferret out and suppress political opponents.
Some 2,300 works were listed for total suppression
and another 350 for partial suppression.
The aim was to destroy the writings that were anti-Qing or rebellious, that insulted
previous barbarian dynasties, or that dealt with frontier or defense problems.
Qianlong was a prolific poet and a collector of ceramics, an art which flourished during his reign; a substantial part of his collection is in the Percival David Foundation in London.
Burning of books and modification of texts
The full editing of Siku Quanshu was completed in about ten years, during these ten years, 3100 titles (or works), about 150,000 copies of books were either burnt or banned. Of those volumes that had been categorized into Siku Quanshu, many were subjected to deletion and modification. Books published during the Ming dynasty suffered the greatest damage.
The Manchu rulers used literary inquisition to silence opposition. The accusation of individuals began with the authority's own interpretation of the true meaning of the corresponding words, the necessary 'evidence' needed to achieve a successful persecution would come from further interpretation of the words. The authority would judge any single character or any single sentence's neutrality; if the authority had decided these words, or sentence were derogative or cynic towards the rulers, then persecution would begin. In Qianlong's time, there were 53 cases of literary inquisition , resulting in the victims being beheaded, or corpses being mutilated, or victims being slowly sliced into pieces until death, which may take a few days.(see Qing)
European styles
Architecturally, Qianlong took personal interest in the expansion of the Old Summer Palace and commissioned the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione for the construction of the Xiyanglou, or the Western-style mansion, to satisfy his taste for exotic buildings and objects. He also commissioned the French Jesuit Michel Benoist, to design a series of timed waterworks and fountains complete with underground machinery and pipes, for the amusement of the Imperial family. The French Jesuit Jean Denis Attiret also became "Painter to the Emperor" Qianlong.
During his reign the Emin Minaret was built in Turfan to commemorate his father.
Later years
In his later years, Qianlong was spoiled with power and glory, becoming disillusioned and complacent in his reign, placing his trust in corrupt officials like Yu Ming Zhong, and later Heshen.
As Heshen was the highest ranked minister and most favoured by Qianlong at the time, the day-to-day governance of the country was left in his hands, while Qianlong himself indulged in the arts, luxuries and literature. When Heshen was executed it was found that his personal fortune exceeded that of the country's depleted treasury, amount to 900,000,000 taels of silver, the total of 12 years of Treasury surplus of Manchu Qing court.
Qianlong began his reign with about 33,950,000 taels of silver in Treasury surplus. At the peak of Qianlong's reign, around 1775, even with further tax cuts, the treasury surplus still reached 73,900,000 taels, a record unmatched by his predecessors, Kangxi or Yongzheng both of whom had implemented remarkable tax cut policies.
However, due to numerous factors such as long term embezzlement and corruption by officials, frequent expeditions South, huge palace constructions, many war and rebellion campaigns as well as his own extravagant lifestyle, all of these cost the treasury a total of 150,200,000 silver taels. This, coupled with his senior age and the lack of political reforms, ushered the beginning of the gradual decline and eventual demise of the Qing dynasty and empire, casting a shadow over his glorious and brilliant political life..
The Macartney Embassy
During the mid-eighteenth century, Qianlong began to face severe pressures from the West to increase foreign trade. The proposed cultural exchange between the British Empire at the time and the Qing Empire collapsed due to many factors. Firstly, there was a lack of any precedent interaction with overseas foreign kingdoms apart from neighbouring tributory states to guide Qianlong towards a more informed response. Furthermore, competing worldviews that were incompatible between China and Britain, the former holding entrenched beliefs that China was the "central kingdom", and the latter's push for rapid liberation of trade relations, worsened ties.
The British trade ambassador at the time, George Macartney, felt humiliated when granted an audience with the Qianlong Emperor only to find just an Imperial Edict placed on the Dragon Throne. An intrepretation of this incident is that Qianlong believed that the Qing Empire had no need for goods and services that the British could provide and that the British should respect and recognize the Qing Empire as superior. In Qianlong's Edict on Trade with Great Britain, the frustrated Emperor cites the term "barbarians" to refer to Macartney's crew, displaying the common belief in China
at the time: that all countries are "peripheral" in comparison to China
.
Demands from Heshen and the Qing Court that the British Trade ambassadors should kneel and kowtow to the empty dragon throne provided another point of contention which worsened tensions. The British refused and insisted they would kneel only on one knee and bow to the Dragon throne as was custom for their own monarch. This caused uproar within the Qing Empire at that time as it went against traditional protocol. The Trade ambassadors were dismissed and told to leave China immediately. They were further informed that the Qing Empire had no particular interest in trading with them, with strict orders given to all local governors not to allow the British to carry out any trade or business in China
Qianlong's reluctance in trading with the West became heavily criticised by modern Chinese historians, for example during the documentary film by CCTV on the history of Yuanming Yuan. At the beginning of Qianlong's reign, China was by far the richest nation in the world. While the Western technology took giant leaps due to the Industrial Revolution, technological research in China was at a stand still. Qianlong viewed Western Technology as simply toys and failed to see the great advantage these technology could bring for a country. The Macartney visit to China,with the main objective of opening trade with China failed, highlighted the stubbornness of Qianlong in learning Western technology and the arrogance that the Westerners are simply inferiors.
The cost of Qianlong's arrogance was dear. After the reign of Qianlong, China failed to keep in pace with Western technology, allowing the Western nations to become superior to China both through economy and military. This is especially evident when Chinese forces, though far more superior in numbers and enjoyed home advantage, were no match to the much smaller Western forces, who were much better equipped with the latest weapons during the Opium wars.
To many historians, the Qianlong reign marked the beginning of the downfall of the Qing dynasty, and due to this, many historians prefer to acknowledge the rise of the Qing dynasty more as achievements of Qianlong's father and grandfather. It must be noted that Kangxi, Qianlong's grandfather, had great interest in Western technology, especially in Mathematics and Astrology, and was a much better host to Western visitors.
George Macartney's Manchu Qing observations
In George Macartney's memoirs, there were many passages describing the overall poor and suffering life of inhabitants of Qing dynasty. Macartney experssed opinions which were widely disseminated:
The Titsingh Embassy
A Dutch embassy arrived to the Qianlong court in 1795, and would turn out to be the last occasion in which any European appeared before the Chinese Court within the context of traditional Chinese imperial foreign relations.
Representing Dutch and Dutch East India Company interests, Isaac Titsingh traveled to Pekin in 1794-95 for celebrations of the sixtieth anniversary of the Qianlong Emperor's reign. The Titsingh delegation also included the Dutch-American Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest, whose detailed description of this embassy to the Chinese court was soon after published in the U.S. and Europe. Titsingh's French translator, Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de Guignes published his own account of the Titsingh mission in 1808. Voyage a Pékin, Manille et l'Ile de France provided an alternate perspective and a useful counterpoint to other reports which were then circulating. Titsingh himself died before he could publish his version of events.
In contrast to Macartney, Isaac Titsingh, the Dutch and VOC emissary in 1795 did not refuse to kowtow. In the year following Mccartney's rebuff, Titsingh and his colleagues were much feted by the Chinese because of what was construed as seemly compliance with conventional court etiquette.
Abdication
In October 1795, Qianlong officially announced that in the spring of the following year he would voluntarily abdicate his throne and pass the crown to his son. It was said that Qianlong had made a promise during the year of his ascension not to rule longer than his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor, who had reigned for 61 years.
Qianlong anticipated moving out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Forbidden City. These Imperial apartments had been conventionally dedicated for the exclusive use of the reigning sovereign, and the emperor ordered the beginning of construction on what was ostensibly intended as his retirement residence in another part of the Forbidden City. Despite the lavish attention devoted to these new chambers, Qianlong never moved into what was called Juanqinzhai or Studio of Exhaustion From Diligent Service.
He resigned the throne at the age of 85, in the 60th year of his reign, to his beloved son, the Jiaqing emperor at 1795. For the next four years, he held the title "Senior Emperor(???)." He died in 1799..
Despite his voluntary abdication, from 1796 to 1799 Qianlong continued to hold on to power and the Jiaqing Emperor ruled only in name.
Legends
Qianlong was the son of Chen Yuanlong of Haining. Emperor Kangxi chose the heir to his throne based not just on his son's capability to govern the Empire, but also whether his grandson was of no lesser calibre, to ensure the Manchus' everlasting reign over the country. Yongzheng's own son was a weakling and he surreptitiously arranged for his daughter to be swapped for Chen Yuanlong's son, who became the apple of Kangxi's eye. Thus, Yongzheng got to succeed the throne, and his "son", Hongli, subsequently became Emperor Qianlong. Later, Qianlong went to the southern part of the country four times, he stayed in Chen's house in Haining, leaving behind his calligraphy and also frequently issued imperial decrees making and maintaining Haining as a tax-free state.
However there are major problems with this story being:
1) His eldest surviving son Hongshi was only 7 when Hongli was born far too early to make the drastic choice of replacing a child of royal birth with an outsider (and risking disgrace if not death)
2) Yongzheng had three other princes that survived to adulthood who had the potential of ascending the throne.
Indeed given the fact that Hongshi was forced to commit suicide, the story would have been far more logical if he was the adopted child of Yongzheng.
Stories about Qianlong's 6 visits to the Jiangnan area disguised as a commoner had been a popular topic for many generations. In total, he has visited Jiang Nan for eight times, as opposed to the Kangxi emperor's 6 inspections.
Family
- Mother: Empress Xiao Sheng Xian (1692-1777) of the Niuhuru Clan (Chinese: ?????; Manchu: Hiyoošungga Enduringge Temgetulehe Huwanghu)
Consorts
Children
Sons
- Eldest son: Prince Yong Huang (1728 - 1750), son of Imperial Noble Consort Che Min
- 2nd: Prince Yong Lian [??] (1730 - 1738), 1st Crown Prince, son of Empress Xiao Xian Chun
- 5th: Prince Yong Qi [??] (1741-1766), bore the title Prince Rong of the blood
- 7th: Prince Yong Zhong [??] (1746 - 1748), 2nd Crown Prince, son of Empress Xiao Xian Chun
- 8th: Prince Yong Xuan [??], son of the Imperial Noble Consort Shu Jia
- 11th: Prince Yong Xin [??], son of the Imperial Noble Consort Shu Jia
- 12th: Prince Yong Ji, son of The Step Empress, Ulanara
- 15th: Prince Yong Yan [??] (born 1760) the (Jia Qing Emperor), son of Empress Xiao Yi Chun. In 1789 he was made Prince Jia of the 1st rank.
- 17th: Prince Yong Lin [??], given the title as the 1st Prince Qing Yong Lin. His grandson is Prince Yi Kuang, bore the title Prince Qing [?????] (February 1836 - January 1918).
- 18th: Prince ?
- Famous general Fu Kang'an was rumored to be an illegitimate son of Qianlong but this has never been proven, however, he was the most favoured general in the Qianlong's reign
Daughters
- 1st: Princess ? (1728 - 1729), daughter of Empress Xiao Xian Chun
- 3rd: Princess He Jing [??????] (1731 - 1792), daughter of Empress Xiao Xian Chun
- 4th: Princess He Jia [??????] (1745 - 1767), daughter of the Imperial Noble Consort Chun Hui
- 5th: Princess ?, daughter of The Step Empress, Ulanara
- 7th: Princess He Jing [??????] (1756 - 1775), daughter of Empress Xiao Yi Chun
- 10th: Princess He Xiao (daughter-in-law of He Shen) was spared execution when the Jia Qing Emperor prosecuted Heshen in 1799. She was given some of He Shen's estate.
See also
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