Yuntang (17 October 1683 – 22 September 1726), born Yintang, was a

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

prince of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. He was the ninth son of the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 165420 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 ...

and an ally of his eighth brother

Yunsi Yunsi (29 March 1680 – 5 October 1726), born as Yinsi, was a Manchu prince of the Qing dynasty in China. The eighth son of the Kangxi Emperor, Yunsi was a pivotal figure in the power struggle over the succession to his father's throne. Y ...

, who was the main rival to their fourth brother Yinzhen in the power struggle over the succession. In 1722, Yinzhen succeeded their father and became historically known as the

Yongzheng Emperor The Yongzheng Emperor (13 December 1678 – 8 October 1735), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, personal name Yinzhen, was the fourth List of emperors of the Qing dynasty, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing em ...

, after which he started purging his former rivals. In 1725, the Yongzheng Emperor stripped Yuntang off his ''beizi'' title, banished him from the

Aisin Gioro The House of Aisin-Gioro is a Manchu clan that ruled the Later Jin dynasty (1616–1636), the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), and Manchukuo (1932–1945) in the history of China. Under the Ming dynasty, members of the Aisin Gioro clan served as chie ...

clan, and imprisoned him in

Baoding Baoding is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2020 census, Baoding City had 11,544,036 inhabitants, of which 2,549,787 lived in the metropolitan area made of 4 out of 5 urban distri ...

. Yuntang died under mysterious circumstances later. In 1778, the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, personal name Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China pr ...

, who succeeded the Yongzheng Emperor, posthumously restored him to the imperial clan.

Life

Yintang was born in the

clan as the ninth son of the

. His mother was Consort Yi (宜妃) from the

Gorolo Gorolo (郭络罗氏) was a clan of Manchu nobility belonging to Bordered Yellow Banner Notable figures Males * Antamu (安塔穆) ** Sanguanbao (三官保), served as third rank literary official (侍郎) *** Daobao (道保), served as seco ...

clan. He was not one of the Kangxi Emperor's favourite sons, but nonetheless managed to gain substantial wealth and influence among his brothers. The Kangxi Emperor had designated his second oldest surviving son,

Yinreng Yunreng (6 June 1674 – 27 January 1725), born Yinreng, was a Manchu prince of the Qing dynasty. He was the second among the Kangxi Emperor's sons to survive into adulthood and was designated as Crown Prince for two terms between 1675 and ...

, as Crown Prince, but had also stripped Yinreng from his position twice due to Yinreng's arrogance and violent behaviour. During that two periods of time when the position of Crown Prince was vacant, Yintang supported his eighth brother, Yinsi, in his bid to secure that position, but Yinsi did not succeed both times. The Kangxi Emperor eventually decided to secretly designate an heir apparent, whose identity would only be revealed after his death. In 1722, after the Kangxi Emperor died, his fourth son, Yinzhen, was revealed to be his chosen successor. Yinzhen ascended the throne and became historically known as the

. Yintang and all his brothers had to change the character ''Yin'' (胤) in their names to ''Yun'' (允) to avoid

naming taboo A naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons, notably in China and within the Chinese cultural sphere. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China, but its cultural and possibly ...

, because the reigning emperor's name also contained the character ''Yin''. In the same year, Yuntang was sent to the military garrison at

Xining Xining is the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. As of the 2020 census, it had 2,467,965 inhabitants (2,208,708 as of 2010), of whom 1,954,795 l ...

and placed under the supervision of the general

Nian Gengyao Nian Gengyao (1679 – January 13, 1726), courtesy name Lianggong, was a Chinese military commander of the Qing dynasty. He was born a member of the Han Chinese Bordered Yellow Banner and had extensive military experience on the western fronti ...

. Three years later, in 1725, the Yongzheng Emperor stripped Yuntang off his ''beizi'' title, banished him from the Aisin Gioro clan, and forced him to change his name to "Seshe" (

: ; ). His eight sons were forced to change their name to Fusihūn,"humble" Facuhūn,"rebel" or "unworthy" Ubiyada,"hateful" Eimede,"tyrannical, oppressive to others" Hairakan,"pitiful" Dungki,"lazy" Dusihiyen"silly" and Eihun"daft", "dumb" respectively. Yuntang reportedly pleaded with the emperor to send him to a Buddhist monastery and allow him to spend the rest of his life as a monk, but the emperor refused. Yuntang was later imprisoned in

. He died from an unspecified "abdominal illness". However, there are speculations that Yuntang died from poisoning. Yuntang's sons were rehabilitated by the

, who had succeeded the Yongzheng Emperor in 1735. In 1778, Yuntang was posthumously restored to the imperial clan and had his name changed back from "Seshe" to "Yuntang". However Yuntang was neither rehabilitated nor had his title restored.

Meaning of "Seshe"

"Sàisīhēi" is a Chinese transliterating words of a Manchu term which has traditionally been translated as "dog" in Chinese. However it is a false rumour. According to '' Hetu Dangse'' (Chinese: 黑圖檔), a thematic archive of historical documents from the Qing Dynasty now preserved in the Archives of Liaoning Province (辽宁省档案馆), the original term is "Seshe" (). There is some dispute as to whether that is an accurate translation. Some scholars suggest "Seshe" actually means "to tremble", or "annoying person".

Legacy

Yuntang has been viewed as a pioneer in the

romanisation In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

of the

Manchu language Manchu ( ) is a critically endangered language, endangered Tungusic language native to the historical region of Manchuria in Northeast China. As the traditional native language of the Manchu people, Manchus, it was one of the official language ...

. He was known to have had ties with the Portuguese missionary Joannes Mourão (穆景遠). Mourão allegedly introduced Yuntang to literature written in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

, which allowed Yuntang to establish a basic Manchu romanisation system around 1723, supposedly as a secret code for communication between himself and other supporters of Yunsi. While Paul Georg von Möllendorff's Möllendorff system is often seen as the first Manchu transliteration system, Yuntang's system predates Möllendorff's by over 150 years.

Family

Primary Consort * Primary consort, of the

Donggo Donggo ( mnc, ᡩᠣᠩᡤᠣ, ) was a clan of Manchu nobility belonging to the Manchu Plain White Banner, one of the 3 upper banners of Eight Banner system. Several lineages were members of Manchu Plain Red Banner. Donggo Hala was a branch of I ...

clan (嫡福晉董鄂氏) ** Fourth daughter (12 September 1705 – December 1726 or January 1727) *** Married Zhao Shiyang (趙世揚) in 1721 Concubine * Mistress, of the Wanggiya clan (完顏氏) ** First daughter (10 December 1701 – 16 August 1725) *** Married Sevdenvanbu (Сэвдэнванбу, 色卜騰旺布) of the Oirat Choros clan in August/September 1718 ** Lady of the First Rank (郡君; 14 July 1704 – February/March 1727), third daughter *** Married Yongfu (永福) of the Manchu

Yehe Nara clan The Yehe Nara clan (, ) is one of the main branches of the Nara clan of Manchu people, Manchu origin. It is the family surname of the (chieftains) of the Yehe tribe of the Haixi Jurchens. The clan's progenitor was a Mongols, Mongol named Singgen ...

in March/April 1720 ** Hongding (弘鼎; 19 December 1711 – 28 November 1782), fifth son * Mistress, of the Zhao clan (兆氏) ** Second daughter (20 January 1703 – May/June 1741) *** Married Khambu (Хамбу, 侃布) of the Barin Borjigit clan in June/July 1719 ** Fifth daughter (21 August 1706 – 6 October 1742) *** Married Sevden (Сэвдэн, 色卜騰) in August/September 1739 ** Hongxiang (弘相; 20 February 1710 – 21 April 1739), third son * Mistress, of the Liu clan (劉氏) ** Hongzheng (弘晸; 12 December 1706 – 26 December 1787), first son ** Hongzhang (弘暲; 29 March 1709 – 4 July 1756), second son * Mistress, of the Lang clan (郎氏) ** Hongkuang (弘曠; 15 December 1711 – 20 February 1737), fourth son * Mistress, of the Chen clan (陳氏) ** Sixth daughter (8 July 1719 – 10 December 1767) * Mistress, of the Zhu clan (朱氏) ** Dongxi (棟喜; 24 July 1719 – 19 January 1791), sixth son * Mistress, of the Zhou clan (周氏) ** Sibao (四保; 22 October 1719 – 12 April 1771), seventh son ** Douxixin (都錫欣; 3 December 1720 – 25 October 1775), eighth son

In fiction and popular culture

* Portrayed by Cheung Wai in ''

The Rise and Fall of Qing Dynasty ''The Rise and Fall of Qing Dynasty'' ( Chinese: 滿清十三皇朝) is a long-running four part television series about the history of the Qing dynasty. The series was produced by Hong Kong's ATV and was aired on ATV Home from September 1987 to ...

'' (1988) * Portrayed by Miao Haizhong in ''

Yongzheng Dynasty ''Yongzheng Dynasty'' is a 1999 Chinese historical television series starring Tang Guoqiang and Jiao Huang. The series, spanning 44 episodes, occupied the CCTV-1 prime time slot; after its premiere, there have been many re-runs of the show on tele ...

'' (1999) * Portrayed by Ma Wenlong in ''

Palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

'' (2011) * Portrayed by Han Dong in ''

Scarlet Heart ''Scarlet Heart'' (, lit. ''Startling by Each Step'') is a 2011 Chinese television series based on the novel '' Bu Bu Jing Xin'' by Tong Hua. It premiered in China on Hunan Broadcasting System (HBS) on 10 September 2011. The series tells the s ...

'' (2011) * Portrayed by Zhu Zixiao in ''

The Palace ''The Palace'' is a British drama television series that aired on ITV (TV network), ITV in 2008. Produced by Company Pictures for the ITV network, it was created by Tom Grieves and follows a fictional British Royal Family in the aftermath of t ...

'' (2013) * Portrayed by Derek Wong in '' Gilded Chopsticks'' (2014) * Liu Dekai as Yu Wanting / Yintang in The Book and the Sword (2008 TV series)

Life

Meaning of "Seshe"

Legacy

Family

In fiction and popular culture

See also

Notes

References

Further reading