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Qianlong was and remains an enigmatic man and Emperor.  To many he is one of China's greatest Emperors. To others, he is a scapegoat for many of the woes the Qing Dynasty would incur in the next century.  Qianlong’s reign occurred during some of the momentous events in modern world history: The Seven-Years’ War (or the French and Indian War), the American Revolution, and the French Revolution.   Qianlong died the same year as George Washington.

The Qing Dynasty reached its zenith, culturally, geographically, and economically, during his rule.  He pushed China out in all directions like a balloon. During his reign, there were parts of China that rivaled the same standard of living as the richest parts of Europe.

In the early 1770s he commissioned the writing and publishing of essentially a Chinese encyclopedia.  When it was published in 1782, it contained seven sets of over 36,000 bound volumes each over 2,000,000 pages. But Qianlong also ordered the destruction and editing of any book or text he found to be anti-Manchu, or undesirable, or unacceptable.

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This forgotten Emperor is sandwiched between his father and his son. Both of which had very long reigns of sixty years or more. The three of them together account for nearly fifty percent of the Qing Dynasty.   His official emperor name was Emperor Yong Zheng.  He is easily forgotten because he reigned only a short time, and was bookended by the long reigns held by his father and his son.

He was a decent emperor.  This is so despite the questions regarding the legitimacy of his reign from the succession crisis caused by his father's death.  He was a workaholic like his father. He was efficient, vigorous, and well educated. He fought corruption. He settled the Southwest region of China. He replenished a badly depleted national treasury. In 1727, he negotiated the Kyakhta Treaty between China and Russia. This treaty established trade relations between China and Russia.

The emperor died unexpectedly in 1735.  He named his son, Hong Li, to succeed him.  He became the great Qianlong emperor.  I will spend the next two episodes talking about the reign of Qianlong.

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There were issues along the border with Russia.  After a couple of impressive Manchu military campaigns to the fort at Albazin, both sides in 1689, met at Nerchinsk, a Siberian outpost.  The Treaty of Nerchinsk settled the border between China and Russia.   It was the first treaty between a Far East Asian State and a European State.

While the Emperor was tolerant, there were limits.  Those limits were exposed in the Rites Controversy.  Pope Clement XI in 1704, banned some of the rituals practiced by Chinese Catholics. Kangxi was enraged and issued his own edict banning Christianity in China and Christian missions. 

Issues with his many sons all seeking to be designated as the crown prince plagued his reign.   In 1721, Kangxi fell ill during a deer hunting trip.  On his death bed about a year later he assembled seven of his non-disgraced sons and told them which son was to succeed him.  Emperor Kangxi epitomized the Mandate of Heaven. A true Renaissance Emperor and man.

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Emperor Kangxi has been compared to the Renaissance King, the Sun King, Louis XIV of France. Kangxi had the longest reign of all the Qing Dynasty Emperors. He ascended the throne in 1661. 

He took over his Dynasty from the regents appointed by his father.  Nearly immediately, the War of the Three Feudatories began. One of the feudatories rebelled in September 1673.  The other two joined.  For the first few years there was little resistance from the Manchus. Kangxi fought back.  By 1681, the war was over. 

Kangxi also rebuilt Peking.  He opened seaports to foreign trade. He welcomed Western culture, arts, and European refinements. He also worked on the infrastructure in China.  The Grand Canal is the longest, oldest, artificial river in the world and was built long before the Qing Dynasty.  Kangxi repaired it.  Trade flourished under him.  

He published the first Chinese atlas.  He promoted the use of smallpox vaccination. He had a close relationship with many Jesuit priests. He allowed Catholic churches in China and legalized the practice of Christianity.

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The young Emperor Fulin disliked the Manchu influence. He wanted to move away from that and wanted more outside input into his reign. 

In 1651, he issued an anti-corruption edict. He tried to root out corrupt practices and officials.  He ordered more Han Chinese into the royal household.  He brought back eunuchs. Eunuchs had been disfavored in the Qing Dynasty.

He had deep religious beliefs. He befriended a German Jesuit priest by the name of Adam Schall von Bell.  Later in his life he shifted from Catholicism to Buddhism.

He died in 1661.  There were claims he died of smallpox.  Some claim he was murdered. In his last will and testament he named his third son as his successor.  His last will and testament also named four Manchu nobles that would be co-regents for the new young Emperor.  

Fulin's reign was far too short to make an honest assessment of it.  It was largely overshadowed by his powerful and larger than life uncle, Dorgon.  Fulin's greatest legacy was he fathered the next Emperor. Maybe the greatest of all the Qing Emperors, and the subject of my next episode.

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Emperor Huang Taiji had died.  At that time, decisions on succession were made by a deliberative council. One brother stood out, Dorgon. Two candidates were being considered.  One was Dorgon. The other was Haoge. He was one of Huang Taiji’s sons.  The council chose Dorgon.  Haoge, however, had the best qualification because he was Huang Taiji’s oldest male heir.  But there is one problem with Hoage. Dorgon did not like him.  

But Dorgon refused to become the Emperor out of respect for his father, and because he believed the Emperor designation should go to one of Huang Taiji’s son, as long as it was not Haoge. A compromise was reached.  Hoage's younger brother, Fulin, was chosen. Dorgon and a cousin were co-regents.  Dorgon was the defacto Emperor until Fulin was old enough to rule himself.

Dorgon’s reign is known for his masterful campaigns through Southern China in the late 1640s. He nearly conquered all of China.  Dorgon was an effective, competent, if not brutal military leader.  He was the chief engineer behind the Qing conquest.

Next episode I will talk about the new Emperor Fulin.

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Part of Nurhaci's legacy are the sons that he left behind. Collectively and individually they were powerful, competent, strong, and experienced military leaders. The surviving sons chose a successor and it would be Nurhaci’s 8th son by the name of Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji invaded Ming Dynasty China. It did not go well for the Manchus. Huang Taiji attacked again.  This time via Inner Mongolia.  His army made it to the outskirts of Peking in 1629. But Peking was well defended by the Ming army, and eventually the Manchu army withdrew from this area completely. 

In 1636, Huang Taiji himself led a second assault into Korea.  Again, as before, the Korean King was forced to swear an allegiance to the Manchus, renounce their allegiance to the Ming Dynasty, and give aid and support to the Manchus in their conquest of China.

The way now was open to China. But he never made it.  Huang Taiji died unexpectedly in 1643.  It would be only seven months later from this point that the Ming Dynasty would end.

The new dynasty begins in the next episode.

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Who were the Qing? The traditional mandarin written character for Qing means clear, pure, distinct. 

China has 56 ethnic groups, or 56 minorities. The Han Chinese are the majority. The Qing were Manchus, one of the other 55 minorities or ethnic groups in China.

Their founding father is Nurhaci. The region he was born was, at that time, outside of China bordering its Northeast border. That area is now within China and it comprises parts of its furthest Northeast provinces. 

The Manchus' relationship with the Ming Dynasty was rocky for many decades. While the Manchus paid their annual tribute as they were expected.  They also harassed the Dynasty along the border with China. 

Nurhaci created the eight-banner system.  The banner system was the backbone of the early Qing Dynasty.

In the early 17th century Nurhaci declared that Manchuria was independent from China. The Ming Emperor was not too happy about that declaration.  He sent the army to Manchuria to teach the Manchus a lesson. Nurhaci and his bannerman army defeated the Ming army.  

The next episode I will talk about his son.

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The Ming Dynasty would rule China for nearly 300 years. 

Firmly ensconced in the Chinese pathos is the concept of the Mandate of Heaven. This is similar to the European concept of the Divine Right of Kings. Both the Divine Right of Kings and the Mandate of Heaven are given by heaven.  Beyond that they are different.

For many decades the Ming had been fighting along their long border with Manchuria. There was also a major rebellion late in the 16th century in Sichuan Province. It was called the Bo Zhou Rebellion. The Ming also got involved in a war with Japan.  That war was called the Imjin War. 

A fellow by the name of Li ZhiChang led an uprising in North Central China.  He was called the Dashing King.  There was also another guy by the name of Zhong Xian Zhong that led an uprising.  He had the colorful name of the Yellow Tiger.  The Dashing King eventually made it all the way to Peking in 1644. On June 6, 1644, the combined Ming and Manchu armies defeated the Dashing King and conquered Peking and declared a new dynasty.

Next time I will talk about the Qing Dynasty's founding father.

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When I started my research for this podcast, I did not know that prior to present day China that there was such a thing as a national anthem during the Qing dynasty or any other dynasty prior to that.  It was never officially adopted until October 4th 1911, when the Qing Government made it official. Although they never made it public or never gave it an official debut.

I have several reasons for this podcast. This is personal to me. I have been to the area of China associated with the Qing, that is the northeast part of China, seven times. I have seen firsthand with my own eyes a lot of the geographic areas I am going to talk about. Secondly, I am passionate about history and passionate about all things history not just Chinese history. I also believe that this period of Chinese history as well as what was going on the world is not well known by Westerners.

The next episode I will talk about the end of the Ming Dynasty which is the dynasty that immediately preceded the Qing.

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