Qianlong Emperor
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.
In Vietnam, things did not work out so well. In
1787 the last Le king fled Vietnam and formally requested aid to restore him to his throne in
Hanoi. 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, Hanoi, was conquered in
1788 but a few months later, the Chinese army was defeated in a surprise attack during
Tet by Nguyen Hue, the youngest and most capable of the three Tay Son brothers. The Chinese government gave formal protection to the Le emperor and his family but did 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-Chinese peoples - such as
Uyghurs,
Kazakhs,
Kirghiz,
Evenks and
Mongols - who were at least potentially hostile. It was also a very expensive enterprise. In fact, the funds in the Imperial Treasury were almost used up due to the military expeditions. This may have been the cause of the later decline of the dynasty when the army was unable to develop and upgrade their weapons when faced with a Western threat.
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 (四庫全書). 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 many books, but it was also intended as a means of ferreting out and suppressing those deemed offensive to the rulling manchurians. Some 2,300 works were listed for total suppression and another 350 for partial suppresion. 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 in his reign; a substantial part of his collection is in the
Percival David Foundation in
London.
In his later years, Qianlong was rather disillusioned and sedated with power and glory. With
Heshen as the highest ranked minister and most favoured by Qianlong at the time, the day to day governance of the country was left in the hands of Heshen whilst Qianlong himself indulged on everyday luxuries and his favourite pastime of hunting. It is widely said that Heshen laid the foundation for further collapse and corruption of the Qing government and eventually came to a point where it was impossible to reverse the negative impact already done to all levels of Qing Government at the time.
Worse still, the proposed cultural exchange between the British Empire at the time and the Qing Empire collapsed when Heshen further encouraged Qianlong to maintain the belief that the Qing Empire was the centre of the world and need not pay much attention to the British proposal for trade and cultural exchange. The British trade ambassador at the time,
George Macartney, was humiliated when granted an audience with the Qianlong Emperor only to find just an Imperial Edict placed on the
Dragon Throne. This announced to him that the Qing Empire had no need for any goods and services that the British could provide and that the British should recognize that the Qing Empire was far greater.
Insistent demands from Heshen and the Qing Court that the British Trade ambassadors should kneel and
kowtow to the empty dragon throne worsened matters. The British of course rejected these demands and insisted they would kneel only on one knee and bow to the Dragon throne as they did for their own monarch. This caused uproar in the Qing Empire at that time. The Trade ambassadors were dismissed and told to leave China immediately. They were further told that the Qing Empire had no particular interest in doing trade with them, with strict orders given to all local governors not to allow the British to carry out any trade or business in China.
According to an unofficial "Field History" of the Qing Dynasty, 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 too 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 visiting the
Jiang Nan 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.
Some stories say that Qianlong had multiple
Samurai Swords in his possession.
*Father: The
Yongzheng Emperor (of whom he was the 4th son)
*Mother:
Empress Xiaosheng Xian (1692-1777) of the Niuhuru Clan (Chinese: 孝聖憲皇后; Manchu: Hiyoošungga Enduringge Temgetulehe Hūwanghu)
Consorts
*
Empress Xiaoxian Chun (1712 - 1748), of the Fucha clan.
* Demoted Empress of the Wuya clan (1718 - 1766).
*
Empress Xiaoyi Chun, of the Weigiya clan, natural birth mother of Emperor Jiaqing.
*
Huixian Huang Kuai Fei (? - 1745), of the Gaogiya clan.
*
Chunhui Huang Kuai Fei (1713 - 1760), of the Sugiya clan.
*
Shujia Huang Kuai Fei (? - 1755), of the Gingiya clan.
*
Qinggong Huang Kuai fei (1724 - 1774) of the Lu clan.
*
Ying Kuai Fei (1731 - 1800) of the Silam clan of Mongol origin.
*
Wan Kuai Fei (1717 -1812).
*
Dun Fei (1745 - 1806) mother of Hexiao, Qianlong's 10th daughter.
*
Shu Fei (1728 - 1778) of the Yehenala clan.
*
Rong Fei (1734 - 1788), who is better know as
Xiangfei or
Fragrant Concubine.
Children
|
The Qianlong Emperor and the Royal Children on New Year's Eve (detail). Attributed to Giuseppe Castiglione, 1736 |
Sons * 2nd: Prince
Yonglian [永'] (1730 - 1738), 1st Crown Prince, son of
Empress Xiaoxian Chun* 5th: Prince
Yongqi [永琪] (1741-1766), bore the title Prince Rong of the blood (榮親王)
* 7th: Prince
Yongzhong [永琮] (1746 - 1748), 2nd Crown Prince, son of
Empress Xiaoxian Chun* 8th: Prince
Yongxuan [永']
* 11th: Prince
Yongxin [永瑆]
* 15th: Prince Yongyan [永琰] (
Emperor Jiaqing), son of
Empress Xiaoyi Chun. In 1789 he was made Prince Jia of the 1st rank (嘉親王).
* 17th: Prince
Yonglin [永'], given the title as the 1st Prince Qing Yonglin. His grandson is Prince
Yikuang, bore the title Prince Qing [慶親王奕劻] (February 1836 - January 1918).
* 18th: Prince ?
Daughters * 1st: Princess ? (1728 - 1729), daughter of
Empress Xiaoxian Chun* 3rd: Princess
Hejing [固倫'敬公主] (1731 - 1792), daughter of
Empress Xiaoxian Chun* 4th: Princess Hejia ['硕'嘉公主] (1745 - 1767), daughter of Chunhui Huang Kuai Fei
* 7th: Princess Hejing [固伦'静公主] (1756 - 1775), daughter of emppress Xiaoyi Chun
* 10th: Princess
Hexiao (daughter-in-law of
Heshen) was spared execution when
Emperor Jiaqing prosecuted Heshen in 1799. She was given some of Heshen's estate.
*
Jean Joseph Marie Amiot*
Giuseppe Castiglione*
Manwen Laodang*
Canton System*
Xi Yang Lou
