Qianlong Emperor — A Fortunate Monarch and His Autocratic Reign

Qianlong Emperor (1711 — 1799), born Aisin Gioro Hongli and revered as Emperor Gaozong of Qing, was widely regarded as one of the most outstanding monarchs of the Qing Dynasty and an extraordinarily fortunate individual.

Confident and intelligent, he achieved success effortlessly, leading the Qing Empire to its zenith during his reign.

Hence, the Qianlong Emperor, a monarch with highly centralized power, stayed increasingly ossified, put nomadic aristocrats’ interests before everything, and implemented many Literary Inquisitions that took tens of thousands of lives and confined people’s ideas. In contrast, Industrial Revolutions were being implemented in the Western world.

Hence, under his rule, the Qing Empire also embarked on the road of decline.

Qianlong Emperor in Court Dress, by Giuseppe Castiglione (1688 — 1766) — Palace Museum

The Perfect Life of the Qianlong Emperor

Qianlong Emperor’s life was nearly perfect since he got everything easily.

Born as a royal prince, Hongli had a wealthy, carefree childhood and was taken good care of by his beloved parents.

When he was 12 years old, his father, the Yongzheng Emperor, ascended to the throne and started to raise Hongli as the heir to the empire.

The most talented politicians, scholars, and generals were sent to teach Hongli, a brilliant prince who was excellent at politics, literature, archery, and calligraphy.

When he was 16, he married the love of his life Fu Cha, the future Empress Xiaoxian (1712 — 1748). They had lived happily since after and had some adorable kids.

Empress Xiaoxianchun in Court Dress, by Giuseppe Castiglione (1688 — 1766) — Palace Museum

Hongli ascended to the throne as the Qianlong Emperor smoothly at the age of 24, a mature age at which he could govern the kingdom independently, without the need for manipulative regents or powerful clans.

His father left him a prosperous empire with a rich exchequer, an efficient government with little corruption, and absolute centralized power.

His birth mother, Empress Xiaoshengxian (1693 — 1777), was a caring and longevous woman who always loved and accompanied him.

Summer Palace, the fabulous royal garden in Beijing, was built under his command, as a birthday gift to his beloved mother.

Natural View and Buildings of the Summer Palace

Policy Shift and the Restoration of Ruling Classes' Privileges

However, the young emperor considered some of his father's policies too strict.

Hence, soon after being enthroned, he released many officials his father had imprisoned before and recovered the ruling class's privileges by abrogating the Yongzheng Emperor's "Everyone Pays Taxes" policy.

Then, he burnt some of his father's articles that included "too radical" ideas and adjusted other policies to ensure the ruling class was united and satisfied.

Besides, the Qianlong Emperor was much more tolerant, compared to his father, of corrupt officials.

However, his systemic changes led to further decay in the government.

Exquisite cloisonne Jars with Gilding Lid, and Jade Pieces of the Qing Dynasty

Jade Pieces in Exquisite Cloisonne Jars and Gilding Lids of the Qing Dynasty — Palace Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)

The Great Reign of the Qianlong Emperor

As a feudal empire monarch, Qianlong was brilliant and exceptional.

Under his rule over China, the Qing Empire peaked when agriculture and population steadily increased, and the exchequer was always filled with large numbers of gold.

Besides, he dealt with conflicting borders well as a brilliant military leader and China's current territory was mainly settled during his ruling period.

Gradually, he became quite satisfied with his empire's prosperity and believed himself as a perfect monarch, even one of the best in the history of China.

Exquisite Artifacts Produced During Qianlong Emperor's Reign (Photo by Dongmaiying)

Implementation of Large Scale Cultural Havoc

During his ruling period, England had finished The First Industrial Revolution, America announced independence, and the French Revolution erupted.

While the Western world was advancing rapidly, the Qianlong Emperor led his empire in a different direction.

He commanded the compilation of the Complete Library in Four Sections (Si Ku Quan Shu), which contains approximately 800 million Chinese characters.

However, this turned out to be cultural havoc under the name of compiling.

The means of organizing and compiling ancient books were intriguing and advanced; however, the destruction was vast and irreversible.

Part of Replica of "Wen Yuan Ge" Version of The Complete Book Collection in Four Sections (Si Ku Quan Shu) — Xihu Museum

His government collected as many books as possible and destroyed those the Qing Empire's ruling class disliked.

As for many books that were not too "reactionary", they falsified and deleted lots of content and then compiled them into collections.

The banned and destroyed books were nearly as many as compiled in this huge collection; plenty of historical documents concerning the Ming Dynasty were systematically perished or "decorated" as well.

This was a massive disaster for Chinese culture.

Book Shape Lacquer Box of the Qing Dynasty — Shanghai Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)

Unprecedented Literary Inquisition Accompanied by Substantial Massacres

Qianlong Emperor also initiated the largest number of Literary Inquisitions in the history of China.

During his ruling period, over 130 Literary Inquisitions had been incriminated; each case took away tens of thousands of lives.

In former Chinese dynasties, such as the Tang (618 — 907), Song (960 — 1279), and Ming (1368 — 1644), people wouldn’t be executed because of words.

On the contrary, proper criticism of the emperor was often praised.

In the Qing Dynasty, especially during the Qianlong reign, however, numerous people were sentenced to death only because they or their relatives memorized or grieved for the former Ming Dynasty or even just kept some “reactionary” books.

Weapons of the Qing Dynasty Decorated With Gems and Copper — Palace Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)

Imprints on Valuable and Historical Relics

Qianlong Emperor was a productive poet and a big fan of art who had shown his passion for those masterpieces in a unique, controversial way.

He had over 1000 fancy seals, and he always stamped his seals or just wrote comments directly on many exceptional Chinese paintings and calligraphy works.

Unlike other collectors, Qianlong stamped and wrote in the middle and all the blank areas of those masterpieces.

For instance, on a great calligrapher’s masterpiece with less than 30 Chinese characters, he wrote his comment with over 60 characters, stamped using more than 80 of his seals, most of which were among the great calligrapher’s written characters.

As for jade and porcelain vessels, he carved many of his comments on these extraordinary treasures.

Many people criticize him for ruining those ancient, extremely valuable cultural relics, while others believe he could do whatever he wanted to his collections.

Qianlong Emperor's Seals and Commentary Writing Characters in the Painting "Que Hua Qiu Se Tu" of Artist Zhao Mengfu (1254 — 1322) — Taipei Palace Museum

Isolation from the Outside World

At the same time, Qianlong further and completely banned international trade and cut off communications with other countries on the civilian level.

An important reason for the banning was to prevent national rebel forces from getting connected with foreign troops, most of whom were still loyal to the Ming Dynasty and might threaten Qing’s rule.

Under these policies, along with the encouragement of agriculture, and suppression of the commerce industry, the Qing Empire gradually lagged behind the Western world.

Qianlong in Ceremonial Armour, by Giuseppe Castiglione — Palace Museum

Luxurious and Grand Tours

In 1751, after seeing his empire flourishing, Qianlong started his luxury imperial tours in southern China six times, under the name of investigating southern cities and assessing officials and irrigation projects.

Unlike his father, who visited other cities with much less money and wanted to inspect civilians’ lives to make relevant good policies, let alone some emperors in the Ming Dynasty (such as Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao) who were strongly criticized for having planned or secretly visited other cities, Qianlong Emperor, on the contrary, was quite luxurious and welcomed, without any critics.

Part of "Qianlong Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour" (Qianlong Nan Xun Tu), Painted by Xu Yang in 1751 — National Museum of China

Every time, he took with his queen and most of his concubines, his favorite officials, and large numbers of servants and guards.

Cities along his journey needed to provide him and his giant team with high-quality food, exquisite daily necessities, countless treasures, and valuable specialties.

Millions of civilians were summoned to do labor to serve him.

With the corrupted system and greedy officials of the Qing, plus the emperor’s huge expenses, those large-scale imperial tours cost a great deal of money.

Besides, Qianlong spent considerable money from the national treasury because of the construction of many fancy palaces and the suppression of some uprising forces in his late years.

Bronze Color Enamel Porcelain Wine Jar (Lei) Decorated with Dragons, Produced During Qianlong Emperor's Reign — Shenyang Palace Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)

Abdication and the Legacy of the Qianlong Emperor

When he was 85, Qianlong abdicated the throne to his son.

Due to respect, he didn’t want to be a longer reigning monarch than his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor.

But he still obtained absolute power until he passed away three years later.

He left for his son Yong Yan a lagged-behind and relatively poor empire with many corrupt officials and many uprising armies nationwide.

Danbo Jingcheng Dian, the Main Hall Where Emperors Held Meetings and Ceremonies, Photo from Official Site of Chengde Mountain Resort.

Danbo Jingcheng Dian in Mountain Resort Chengde, the Main Hall Where Qing Emperors Held Meetings and Ceremonies, Photo from Official Site of Chengde.

Qianlong was a brilliant person and a very lucky monarch in the history of China, who gained everything smoothly: the throne, a prosperous empire, and a long and healthy life.

Maybe it was unfair to let him take too much responsibility for the Qing Empire's lagging behind the Western world in the 19th century.

But in an empire where the emperor had absolute centralized power, the vision and action of the monarch were of great importance.

At least, he was not the "All Mighty and Perfect Emperor" as he claimed, and the Qing Empire indeed embarked on the road of declination under his reign.

Jade Seal of Qianlong Emperor, Carved with Exceptional Accomplishments that He Had Achieved — Palace Museum

Next Story: Emperor of Middle of the Road — Jiaqing Emperor