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The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his
temple name
Temple names are posthumous titles accorded to monarchs of the Sinosphere for the purpose of ancestor worship. The practice of honoring monarchs with temple names began during the Shang dynasty in China and had since been adopted by other dyna ...
Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth
Emperor of the Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty (1636–1912) was a Manchu-led imperial Chinese dynasty and the last orthodox dynasty of China. It was officially founded in 1636 in what is now Northeast China, but only succeeded the Ming dynasty in China proper in 1644. The Q ...
and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over
China proper
China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions pop ...
, reigning from 1735 to 1796. The fourth son of the
Yongzheng Emperor
The Yongzheng Emperor (13 December 1678 – 8 October 1735), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, born Yinzhen, was the fourth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper. He reigned from ...
, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796. In 1796, he abdicated in favour of his son, the
Jiaqing Emperor
The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, born Yongyan, was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from ...
, out of
filial piety
In Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, and Daoist ethics, filial piety (, ''xiào'') (Latin: pietas) is a virtue of respect for one's parents, elders, and ancestors. The Confucian '' Classic of Filial Piety'', thought to be written around the lat ...
towards his grandfather, the
Kangxi Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to ...
, who ruled for 61 years, so that he not officially usurp him as the longest-reigning emperor.
Despite his retirement, however, the Qianlong Emperor retained ultimate power as the
Emperor Emeritus until his death in 1799, making him one of the
longest-reigning monarchs in history, and dying at the age of 87, one of the longest-lived.
As a capable and cultured ruler inheriting a thriving empire, during his long reign, the Qing Empire reached
its most splendid and prosperous era, boasting a
large population and economy. As a military leader, he led
military campaigns expanding the dynastic territory to the
largest extent by conquering and sometimes destroying
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
n kingdoms. This turned around in his late years: the Qing empire began to decline with corruption and wastefulness in his court and a stagnating civil society.
Early years
![Qianlong 3 years old having a bath IMG 5829 Great Lama Temple Beijing - Jietai Building qianlong era temple treasures](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Qianlong_3_years_old_having_a_bath_IMG_5829_Great_Lama_Temple_Beijing_-_Jietai_Building_qianlong_era_temple_treasures.jpg)
Hongli was the fourth son of the
Yongzheng Emperor
The Yongzheng Emperor (13 December 1678 – 8 October 1735), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, born Yinzhen, was the fourth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper. He reigned from ...
and was born to
Noble Consort Xi. Hongli was adored by both his grandfather, the
Kangxi Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to ...
, and his father, the Yongzheng Emperor. Some historians argue that the main reason why the Kangxi Emperor appointed the Yongzheng Emperor as his successor was because Hongli was his favorite grandson. He felt that Hongli's mannerisms were very similar to his own. As a teenager, Hongli was capable in martial arts and possessed literary ability.
![Anonymous - Portrait of Qianlong Emperor As a Young Man - 42](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Anonymous_-_Portrait_of_Qianlong_Emperor_As_a_Young_Man_-_42.141.8_-_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art.jpg)
After his father's enthronement in 1722, Hongli was made a
''qinwang'' (first-rank prince) under the title "Prince Bao of the First Rank" (). Like his many uncles, Hongli entered into a battle of succession with his elder half-brother
Hongshi
Hongshi (Manchu: ''Hung ši''; 18 March 1704 – 20 September 1727) was a Manchu prince of the Qing dynasty. Born to the ruling Aisin Gioro clan as the third son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he was banished from the imperial clan in 1725, ostensib ...
, who had the support of a large faction of officials in the imperial court as well as
Yunsi, Prince Lian. For many years, the Yongzheng Emperor did not designate any of his sons as the crown prince, but many officials speculated that he favoured Hongli. Hongli went on inspection trips to the south, and was known to be an able negotiator and enforcer. He was also appointed as the chief
regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
on occasions when his father was away from the capital.
Accession to the throne
![Qianlong and the Empress](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Qianlong_and_the_Empress.jpg)
Hongli's accession to the throne was already foreseen before he was officially proclaimed emperor before the assembled imperial court upon the death of the
Yongzheng Emperor
The Yongzheng Emperor (13 December 1678 – 8 October 1735), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, born Yinzhen, was the fourth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper. He reigned from ...
. The young Hongli was the favorite grandson of the
Kangxi Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to ...
and the favorite son of the Yongzheng Emperor; the Yongzheng Emperor had entrusted a number of important ritual tasks to Hongli while the latter was still a prince, and included him in important court discussions of
military strategy. In the hope of preventing a succession struggle from occurring, the Yongzheng Emperor wrote the name of his chosen successor on a piece of paper and placed it in a sealed box secured behind the tablet over the throne in the
Palace of Heavenly Purity
The Palace of Heavenly Purity, or Qianqing Palace (; Manchu:; Möllendorff: ''kiyan cing gung'') is a palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. It is the largest of the three halls of the Inner Court (the other two being the Hall of Union ...
(Qianqing Palace). The name in the box was to be revealed to other members of the
imperial family
A royal family is the immediate family of King, kings/Queen regnant, queens, Emir, emirs/emiras, Sultan, sultans/Sultana (title), sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the ...
in the presence of all senior ministers only upon the death of the emperor. When the Yongzheng Emperor died suddenly in 1735, the will was taken out and read before the entire
Qing imperial court, after which Hongli became the new emperor. Hongli adopted the
era name
A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of ...
"Qianlong", which means "Lasting Eminence".
A valet who accompanied a
British diplomatic mission to the Qing court in 1793 described the emperor:
The Emperor is about five feet ten inches in height, and of a slender but elegant form; his complexion is comparatively fair, though his eyes are dark; his nose is rather aquiline, and the whole of his countenance presents a perfect regularity of feature, which, by no means, announce the great age he is said to have attained; his person is attracting, and his deportment accompanied by an affability, which, without lessening the dignity of the prince, evinces the amiable character of the man. His dress consisted of a loose robe of yellow silk, a cap of black velvet with a red ball on the top, and adorned with a peacock's feather, which is the peculiar distinction of mandarins of the first class. He wore silk boots embroidered with gold, and a sash of blue girded his waist.
Frontier wars
![The Qianlong Emperor in Ceremonial Armour on Horseback](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/The_Qianlong_Emperor_in_Ceremonial_Armour_on_Horseback.jpg)
The Qianlong Emperor was a successful military leader. Immediately after ascending the throne, he sent armies to suppress the
Miao rebellion. His later campaigns greatly expanded the territory controlled by the Qing Empire. This was made possible not only by Qing military might, but also by the disunity and declining strength of the Inner Asian peoples.
Under the Qianlong Emperor's reign, the
Dzungar Khanate
The Dzungar Khanate, also written as the Zunghar Khanate, was an Inner Asian khanate of Oirat Mongol origin. At its greatest extent, it covered an area from southern Siberia in the north to present-day Kyrgyzstan in the south, and from t ...
was incorporated into the Qing Empire's rule and renamed
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, 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
The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') were the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they were one of major tr ...
(or Zunghars), a coalition of Western Mongol tribes. The Qianlong Emperor then ordered the
Dzungar genocide
The Dzungar genocide () was the mass extermination of the Mongol Dzungar people by the Qing dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor ordered the genocide due to the rebellion in 1755 by Dzungar leader Amursana against Qing rule, after the dynasty first co ...
. According to the Qing dynasty scholar
Wei Yuan
Wei Yuan (; April23, 1794March26, 1857), born Wei Yuanda (), courtesy names Moshen () and Hanshi (), was a Chinese scholar from Shaoyang, Hunan. He moved to Yangzhou, Jiangsu in 1831, where he remained for the rest of his life. Wei obtained the ...
, 40% of the 600,000 Dzungars were killed by
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
, 20% fled to the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
or
Kazakh tribes, and 30% were killed by the Qing army,
in what Michael Edmund Clarke described as "the complete destruction of not only the Zunghar state but of the Zunghars as a people." Historian
Peter Perdue has argued that the decimation of the Dzungars was the result of an explicit policy of
massacre
A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
launched by the Qianlong Emperor.
[.]
The Dzungar genocide has been compared to the Qing
extermination of the Jinchuan Tibetan people in 1776, which also occurred during the Qianlong Emperor's reign. When victorious troops returned to Beijing, a celebratory hymn was sung in their honour. A Manchu version of the hymn was recorded by the
Jesuit Amoit and sent to Paris.
The Qing Empire hired
Zhao Yi
Zhao Yi (; 1727–1814) was a poet, historian, and critic during the Qing dynasty in China. Zhao is notable for his innovative poetry, his historical writings (including ''Notes on the Twenty-Two Dynastic Histories''), and for espousing unconve ...
and
Jiang Yongzhi at the Military Archives Office, in their capacity as members of the
Hanlin Academy, to compile works on the Dzungar campaign, such as ''Strategy for the pacification of the Dzungars'' (Pingding Zhunge'er fanglue). Poems glorifying the Qing conquest and genocide of the Dzungar Mongols were written by Zhao, who wrote the ''Yanpu zaji'' in "brush-notes" style, where military expenditures of the Qianlong Emperor's reign were recorded. The Qianlong Emperor was praised as being the source of "eighteenth-century peace and prosperity" by Zhao Yi.
Khalkha Mongol rebels under
Prince Chingünjav had plotted with the Dzungar leader
Amursana
Amursana ( Mongolian ; ; 172321September 1757) was an 18th-century ''taishi'' () or prince of the Khoit- Oirat tribe that ruled over parts of Dzungaria and Altishahr in present-day northwest China. Known as the last great Oirat hero, Amursana wa ...
and led a rebellion against the Qing Empire around the same time as the Dzungars. The Qing army crushed the rebellion and executed Chingünjav and his entire family.
Throughout this period there were continued Mongol interventions in Tibet and a reciprocal spread of
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
in Mongolia. After the
Lhasa riot of 1750, the Qianlong Emperor sent armies into Tibet and firmly established the
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...
as the ruler of Tibet, with a
Qing resident and garrison to preserve Qing presence. Further afield, military campaigns against Nepalese and
Gurkha
The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India.
The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Go ...
s forced the emperor into stalemate where both parties had to submit.
On 23 January 1751, Tibetan rebels who participated in the
Lhasa riot of 1750 against the Qing were
sliced to death by Qing Manchu general Bandi, similar to
what happened to Tibetan rebels on 1 November 1728 during his father, the Yongzheng Emperor's reign. Six Tibetan rebel leaders plus Tibetan rebel leader Blo-bzan-bkra-sis were sliced to death. The rest of the Tibetan rebel leaders were strangled and beheaded and their heads were displayed to the Tibetan public on poles. The Qing seized the property of the rebels and exiled other Tibetan rebels. Manchu General Bandi sent a report to the Qing Qianlong emperor on 26 January 1751 on how he carried out the slicings and executions of the Tibetan rebels. The Tibetan rebels dBan-rgyas (Wang-chieh), Padma-sku-rje-c'os-a
Afghan_
Afghan_may_refer_to:
*Something_of_or_related_to_Afghanistan,_a_country_in_Southern-Central_Asia
*Afghans,_people_or_citizens_of_Afghanistan,_typically_of_any_ethnicity
**_Afghan_(ethnonym),_the_historic_term_applied_strictly_to_people_of_the_Pas_...
_Ahmad_Shah_Durrani.html" ;"title="Afghanistan.html" "title="el (Pa-t'e-ma-ku-erh-chi-ch'un-p'i-lo) and Tarqan Yasor (Ta-erh-han Ya-hsün) were sliced to death for injuring the Manchu ambans with arrows, bows and fowling pieces during the Lhasa riot when they assault the building the Manchu ambans (Labdon and Fucin) were in. Tibetan rebel Sacan Hasiha (Ch'e-ch'en-ha-shih-ha) was sliced to death for murder of multiple individuals. Tibetan rebels Ch'ui-mu-cha-t'e and Rab-brtan (A-la-pu-tan) were sliced to death for looting money and setting fire during the attack on the Ambans. Tibetan rebel Blo-bzan-bkra-sis, the mgron-gner was sliced to death for being the overall leader of the rebels who led the attack which looted money and killed the Manchu ambans. Two Tibetan rebels who had already died before the execution had their dead bodies beheaded, one died in jail, Lag-mgon-po (La-k'o-kun-pu) and the other killed himself since he was scared of the punishment, Pei-lung-sha-k'o-pa. Bandi sentenced to strangulation several rebel followers and bKra-sis-rab-brtan (Cha-shih-la-pu-tan) a messenger. He ordered the live beheadings of Man-chin Te-shih-nai and rDson-dpon dBan-rgyal (Ts'eng-pen Wang-cha-lo and P'yag-mdsod-pa Lha-skyabs (Shang-cho-t'e-pa La-cha-pu) for leading the attack on the building by being the first to go to on the staircase to the next floor and setting fire and carrying the straw to fuel the fire besides killing several men on orders from the rebel leader.
In 1762 the Qianlong Emperor came close to war with the Afghanistan">Afghan
Afghan may refer to:
*Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia
*Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity
** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
Ahmad Shah Durrani">Emir Ahmad Shah Durrani because of Qing China's expansions in Central Asia. While Qing and Durrani Empire troops were sent near the frontier in Central Asia, war did not break out. A year later, Durrani sent an envoy to Beijing gifting four splendid horses to Qianlong, which became the subject of a series of paintings, ''
Four Afghan Steeds
''Four Afghan Steeds'' (Chinese: 爱乌罕四骏图) is a series of four portraits of Afghan horses donated to Emperor Qianlong of China in 1763 by Emir Ahmad Shah of Afghanistan, and painted on a silk roll by the Milanese Jesuit missionary Gius ...
''. However, the Afghan envoy failed to make a good impression to Qianlong after refusing to perform the ''
kowtow
A kowtow is the act of deep respect shown by prostration, that is, kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground. In Sinospheric culture, the kowtow is the highest sign of reverence. It was widely used to show reverenc ...
''.
Qianlong later refused to intervene in the Durrani Empire's killing of the Sultan of
Badakhshan
Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Ba ...
, who was a vassal of Qing China.
![ChineseSoldierByWilliamAlexander1793](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/ChineseSoldierByWilliamAlexander1793.JPG)
The Qianlong Emperor responded to the vassal
Shan States
The Shan States (1885–1948) were a collection of minor Shan kingdoms called '' muang'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' in British Burma. They were analogous to the princely states of British India.
The term "Shan States" was fi ...
's request for military aid against the attacking forces of Burma,
but the
Sino-Burmese War
The Sino-Burmese War (; my, တရုတ်-မြန်မာ စစ် (၁၇၆၅–၆၉)), also known as the Qing invasions of Burma or the Myanmar campaign of the Qing dynasty, was a war fought between the Qing dynasty of China and ...
ended in complete failure. He initially believed that it would be an easy victory against a barbarian tribe, and sent only the
Green Standard Army
The Green Standard Army (; Manchu: ''niowanggiyan turun i kūwaran'') was the name of a category of military units under the control of Qing dynasty in China. It was made up mostly of ethnic Han soldiers and operated concurrently with the Manchu ...
based in
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...
, which borders Burma. The Qing invasion came as the majority of Burmese forces were deployed in their
latest invasion of the Siamese
Ayutthaya Kingdom. Nonetheless, battle-hardened Burmese troops defeated the first two invasions of 1765–66 and 1766–67 at the border. The regional conflict now escalated to a major war that involved military manoeuvres nationwide in both countries. The third invasion (1767–1768) led by the elite
Manchu Bannermen nearly succeeded, penetrating deep into central Burma within a few days' march from the capital,
Inwa
Inwa (, or ; also spelled Innwa; formerly known as Ava), located in Mandalay Region, Myanmar, is an ancient imperial capital of successive Burmese kingdoms from the 14th to 19th centuries. Throughout history, it was sacked and rebuilt numerou ...
.
However, the Manchu Bannermen of northern China could not cope with "unfamiliar tropical terrains and lethal endemic diseases", and were driven back with heavy losses. After the close-call,
King Hsinbyushin redeployed his armies from Siam to the Chinese front. The fourth and largest invasion got bogged down at the frontier. With the Qing forces completely encircled, a truce was reached between the field commanders of the two sides in December 1769. The Qing forces kept a heavy military lineup in the border areas of Yunnan for about one decade in an attempt to wage another war while imposing a ban on inter-border trade for two decades. When Burma and China resumed a diplomatic relationship in 1790, the Qing government unilaterally viewed the act as Burmese submission, and claimed victory. The Qianlong Emperor ordered Manchu general Eledeng'e (also spelled E'erdeng'e (
額爾登額, or possibly
額爾景額)) to be sliced to death after his commander
Mingrui
Mingrui (, Manchu: , ''mingšui'', my, မင်းယွီ, ; (?March 1768) was the first General of Ili from October 1762 to March 1767 and then Governor-general of Yunnan and Guizhou from April 1767 to March 1768. A son-in-law of the Qianlon ...
was defeated at the
Battle of Maymyo
The Battle of Maymyo, fought in March 1768, was the final battle and the end of the Third Qing Invasion of Burma during the Sino-Burmese War (1765–69). In November 1767, the Qianlong Emperor ordered the Third Invasion under the command of his ...
in the
Sino-Burmese war
The Sino-Burmese War (; my, တရုတ်-မြန်မာ စစ် (၁၇၆၅–၆၉)), also known as the Qing invasions of Burma or the Myanmar campaign of the Qing dynasty, was a war fought between the Qing dynasty of China and ...
in 1768 because Eledeng'i was not able to help flank Mingrui when he did not arrive at a rendezvous.
The circumstances in Vietnam were not successful either. In 1787,
Lê Chiêu Thống
Lê Chiêu Thống (1765–1793), born Lê Duy Khiêm and later Lê Duy Kỳ, was the last emperor of the Vietnamese Later Lê dynasty. He was overthrown by the Tây Sơn dynasty. He appealed to the Qing dynasty of China to help regain the thro ...
, the last ruler of the Vietnamese
Lê dynasty, fled from Vietnam and formally requested to be restored to his throne in Thăng Long (present-day
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
). The Qianlong Emperor agreed and sent a large army into Vietnam to remove the
Tây Sơn (rebels who had captured all of Vietnam). The capital, Thăng Long, was conquered in 1788, but a few months later the Qing army was defeated, and the invasion turned into a debacle due to the surprise attack during
Tết
Tết (), short for Tết Nguyên Đán ( Chữ Hán: 節元旦), Spring Festival, Lunar New Year, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations in Vietnamese culture. The colloquial term "Tết" is a shortened form of ...
(Vietnamese New Year) by
Nguyễn Huệ
Emperor Quang Trung ( vi-hantu, 光中, 1753 – 16 September 1792) or Nguyễn Huệ ( vi-hantu, 阮惠), also known as Nguyễn Quang Bình ( vi-hantu, 阮光平), was the second emperor of the Tây Sơn dynasty, reigning from 1788 until 17 ...
, the second and most capable of the three Tây Sơn brothers. The Qing Empire no longer supported Lê Chiêu Thống, and his family were imprisoned in Vietnam. The Qing would not intervene in Vietnam for another 90 years.
Despite setbacks in the south, overall the Qianlong Emperor's military expansion nearly doubled the area of the already vast Qing Empire, and unified many non-Han peoples—such as
Uyghurs
The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...
,
Kazakhs,
Kyrgyzs
The Kyrgyz people (also spelled Kyrghyz, Kirgiz, and Kirghiz; ) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is the nation state of the Kyrgyz people and significant diaspora can be found in China, Russia, and Uzbekistan. T ...
,
Evenks
The Evenks (also spelled Ewenki or Evenki based on their endonym )Autonym: (); russian: Эвенки (); (); formerly known as Tungus or Tunguz; mn, Хамниган () or Aiwenji () are a Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Eve ...
and
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
. It was also a very expensive enterprise; the funds in the Imperial Treasury were almost all put into military expeditions. Though the wars were successful, they were not overwhelmingly so. The Qing army declined noticeably and had a difficult time facing some enemies: the
campaign against the Jinchuan hill peoples took 2 to 3 years—at first the Qing army were mauled, though
Yue Zhongqi
Yue Zhongqi (岳鍾琪, 1686 – 1754) was a Chinese military commander of the Qing dynasty. He was a descendant of Yue Fei, and served as Ministry of War and Viceroy of Chuan-Shaan during the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor.
Yue succeeded Ni ...
(a descendant of
Yue Fei
Yue Fei ( zh, t=岳飛; March 24, 1103 – January 28, 1142), courtesy name Pengju (), was a Chinese military general who lived during the Southern Song dynasty and a national hero of China, known for leading Southern Song forces in the wa ...
) later took control of the situation. The battle with the Dzungars was closely fought, and caused heavy losses on both sides.
The
Ush rebellion in 1765 by
Uyghur Muslims against the
Manchus
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
occurred after Uyghur women were gang raped by the servants and son of Manchu official Sucheng. It was said that ''Ush Muslims had long wanted to sleep on
ucheng and son'shides and eat their flesh'' because of the rape of Uyghur Muslim women for months by the Manchu official Sucheng and his son. The Manchu Qianlong Emperor ordered that the Uyghur rebel town be massacred, the Qing forces enslaved all the Uyghur children and women and slaughtered the Uyghur men. Manchu soldiers and Manchu officials regularly having sex with or raping Uyghur women caused massive hatred and anger against Manchu rule among Uyghur Muslims. The
invasion by Jahangir Khoja was preceded by another Manchu official, Binjing, who raped a Muslim daughter of the Kokan aqsaqal from 1818 to 1820. The Qing sought to cover up the rape of Uyghur women by Manchus to prevent anger against their rule from spreading among the Uyghurs.
At the end of the frontier wars, the Qing 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 already taken place, warlords no longer saw any reason to train their armies, resulting in a rapid military decline by the end of the Qianlong Emperor's reign. This was the main reason for the Qing military's failure to suppress the
White Lotus Rebellion
The White Lotus Rebellion (, 1794–1804) was a rebellion initiated by followers of the White Lotus movement during the Qing dynasty of China. Motivated by millenarian Buddhists who promised the immediate return of the Buddha, it erupted out of s ...
, which started towards the end of the Qianlong Emperor's reign and extended into the reign of the
Jiaqing Emperor
The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, born Yongyan, was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from ...
.
Cultural achievements
![The YEN YEN Qing Dynasty Chinese Vase](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/The_YEN_YEN_Qing_Dynasty_Chinese_Vase.png)
The Qianlong Emperor, like his predecessors, took his cultural role seriously. First, he worked to preserve the
Manchu heritage, which he saw as the basis of the moral character of the Manchus and thus of the dynasty's power. He ordered the compilation of Manchu language genealogies, histories, and ritual handbooks and in 1747 secretly ordered the compilation of the
Shamanic Code, published later in the ''
Siku Quanshu''. He further solidified the dynasty's cultural and religious claims in
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
by ordering a replica of the Tibetan
Potala Palace
The Potala Palace is a ''dzong'' fortress in Lhasa, Tibet. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and a World Heritage Site since 1994.
The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythic ...
, the
Putuo Zongcheng Temple
The Putuo Zongcheng Temple (, ) of Chengde, Hebei province, China is a Qing dynasty era Buddhist temple complex built between 1767 and 1771,Foret, 155. during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735–1796). It is located near the Chengde Mountai ...
, to be built on the grounds of the
imperial summer palace
The Old Summer Palace, also known as Yuanmingyuan () or Yuanmingyuan Park, originally called the Imperial Gardens (), and sometimes called the Winter Palace, was a complex of palaces and gardens in present-day Haidian District, Beijing, China. I ...
in
Chengde
Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about 225 km northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by ...
. In order to present himself to Tibetans and Mongols in Buddhist rather than in Confucian terms, he commissioned a ''
thangka
A ''thangka'', variously spelled as ''thangka'', ''tangka'', ''thanka'', or ''tanka'' (; Tibetan: ཐང་ཀ་; Nepal Bhasa: पौभा), is a Tibetan Buddhist painting on cotton, silk appliqué, usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, ...
'', or sacred painting, depicting him as
Manjushri, the
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
of Wisdom. He was also a poet and essayist. His collected writings, which he published in a tenfold series between 1749 and 1800, contain more that 40,000 poems and 1,300 prose texts, which if he had composed them all would make him one of the most prolific writers of all time.
[
The Qianlong Emperor was a major patron and important "preserver and restorer" of Confucian culture. He had an insatiable appetite for collecting, and acquired much of China's "great private collections" by any means necessary, and "reintegrated their treasures into the imperial collection."] He formed a team of cultural advisers to help locate collections of merchant families who needed to sell or whose heirs had lost interest. He sometimes pressured or forced wealthy officials to surrender precious objects by offering to excuse shortcomings in their performance if they made a certain "gift". On several occasions he claimed that a painting could be secure from theft or fire only if it was taken into the Forbidden City.
The Emperor's massive art collection became an intimate part of his life; he took landscape painting
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...
s with him on his travels to compare them with the actual landscapes, or to hang them in special rooms in palaces where he lodged, in order to inscribe them on every visit there.[ "He also regularly added poetic inscriptions to the paintings of the imperial collection, following the example of the emperors of the Song dynasty and the literati painters of the Ming dynasty. They were a mark of distinction for the work, and a visible sign of his rightful role as emperor. Most particular to the Qianlong Emperor is another type of inscription, revealing a unique practice of dealing with works of art that he seems to have developed for himself. On certain fixed occasions over a long period he contemplated a number of paintings or works of calligraphy which possessed special meaning for him, inscribing each regularly with mostly private notes on the circumstances of enjoying them, using them almost as a diary."][ In particular, the Qianlong Emperor housed within the Hall of Three Rarities (Sanxitang), a small chamber within the Hall of Mental Cultivation, three calligraphy works: "Timely Clearing After Snowfall" by ]Wang Xizhi
Wang Xizhi (; ; 303 AD361 AD) was a Chinese calligrapher, politician, general and writer during the Jin dynasty. He was best known for his mastery of Chinese calligraphy. Wang is sometimes regarded as the greatest Chinese calligrapher in Chines ...
, from the Jin dynasty, "Mid-Autumn" by his son Wang Xianzhi, and "Letter to Boyuan" by Wang Xun.
Most of the several thousand jade items in the imperial collection date from his reign. The Emperor was also particularly interested in collecting ancient bronzes, bronze mirrors and seals,"[ in addition to pottery, ]enameling_
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,_metal_work_and_lacquer_work,_which_flourished_during_his_reign;_a_substantial_part_of_his_collection_is_in_the_Percival_David_Foundation_of_Chinese_Art.html" ;"title="Vitreous_enamel.html" "title="eramics and applied arts such as Vitreous enamel">enameling
Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating. The word comes from the Latin ...
, metal work and lacquer work, which flourished during his reign; a substantial part of his collection is in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art">Percival David Foundation in London. The Victoria and Albert Museum and British Museum also have collections of art from the Qianlong era.
One of his grandest projects was to assemble a team of scholars to assemble, edit, and print the largest collection ever made of Chinese philosophy, history, and literature.