| Daoguang Emperor 道光帝 | |||||||||||||||||
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 Portrait by an anonymous Qing artist,Palace Museum | |||||||||||||||||
| Emperor of the Qing dynasty | |||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 3 October 1820 – 26 February 1850 | ||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Jiaqing Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Xianfeng Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Prince Zhi of the First Rank | |||||||||||||||||
| Tenure | 1813 – 3 October 1820 | ||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1782-09-16)16 September 1782 Xiefang Hall,Forbidden City,Beijing | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | 26 February 1850(1850-02-26) (aged 67) Imperial Gardens,Beijing | ||||||||||||||||
| Burial | Mu Mausoleum,Western Qing tombs | ||||||||||||||||
| Consort(s) | |||||||||||||||||
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| House | Aisin-Gioro | ||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Qing | ||||||||||||||||
| Father | Jiaqing Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Empress Xiaoshurui | ||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 道光帝 | ||||||||||||||||
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TheDaoguang Emperor (16 September 1782 – 26 February 1850), also known by histemple nameEmperor Xuanzong of Qing, personal nameMinning, was the seventhemperor of theQing dynasty, and the sixth Qing emperor to rule overChina proper. His reign was marked by "external disaster and internal rebellion". These include theFirst Opium War and the beginning of theTaiping Rebellion which nearly brought down the dynasty. The historianJonathan Spence characterizes the Daoguang Emperor as a "well meaning but ineffective man" who promoted officials who "presented a purist view even if they had nothing to say about the domestic and foreign problems surrounding the dynasty".[1]
The Daoguang Emperor was born in theForbidden City,Beijing, in 1782, and was given the nameMianning (绵宁;綿寧;Miánníng;Mien-ning). It was later changed toMinning (旻宁;旻寧;Mǐnníng;Min-ning) when he became emperor. The first character of his private name was changed fromMian toMin to avoid the relatively common characterMian. This novelty was introduced by his grandfather, the reigningQianlong Emperor, who thought it was inappropriate to use a common character in the emperor's private name due to the longstanding practice ofnaming taboo.
Mianning was the second son ofPrince Yongyan, the 15th son and heir of theQianlong Emperor. Even though he was Yongyan's second son, he was first in line after Prince Yongyan to his grandfather's throne. This was because according to thedishu system, his mother,Lady Hitara, was Yongyan's primary spouse whereas his elder brother was born to Yongyan's concubine. Mianning was favored by his grandfather, the Qianlong Emperor. He frequently accompanied his grandfather on hunting trips. On one such trip, at the age of nine, Mianning successfully hunted a deer, which greatly amused the Qianlong Emperor. The emperor would abdicate five years after that incident, in 1796, when Mianning was 14. Mianning’s father Prince Yongyan was then enthroned as the Jiaqing Emperor, after which he made Lady Hitara (Mianning's mother) his empress consort. The elderly Qianlong would live three more years in retirement before dying in 1799, aged 87, when Mianning was 17.
In 1813, while he was still a prince, Mianning also played a vital role in repelling and killingEight Trigrams invaders[clarification needed] who stormed theForbidden City.
In September 1820, at the age of 38, Mianning inherited the throne after the Jiaqing Emperor died suddenly of unknown causes. He became the first Qing emperor who was the eldest legitimate son of his father. Now known as the Daoguang Emperor, he inherited a declining empire with Westerners encroaching upon the borders of China. Hisera name, "Daoguang", means "radiant path". The Daoguang Emperor had been ruling for six years when the exiled heir to theKhojas,Jahangir Khoja, attackedXinjiang from Kokand in theAfaqi Khoja revolts. By the end of 1826, the former Qing cities ofKashgar,Yarkand,Khotan, andYangihissar had all fallen to the rebels.[2][3] After a friend betrayed him in March 1827, Khoja was sent to Beijing in an iron litter and subsequently executed,[4] while the Qing Empire regained control of their lost territory. TheUyghur MuslimSayyid andNaqshbandiSufi rebel of theAfaqi suborder,Jahangir Khoja wassliced to death (Lingchi) in 1828 by the Manchus forleading a rebellion against the Qing.
During the Daoguang Emperor's reign, China experienced major problems withopium, which was imported into China by British merchants. Opium had started to trickle into China during the reign of theYongzheng Emperor, but was limited to approximately 200 chests annually. By the time of the Qianlong era, this amount had increased to 1,000 chests, 4,000 chests by the Jiaqing era and more than 30,000 chests during the Daoguang era.[citation needed]
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The Daoguang Emperor issued many imperial edicts banning opium in the 1820s and 1830s, which were carried out byLin Zexu, whom he appointed as an Imperial Commissioner toCanton.[5] Lin Zexu's efforts to halt the spread of opium in China led directly to theFirst Opium War. With China losing the war, Lin Zexu was made a scapegoat. The Daoguang Emperor removed his authority and banished him toYili. During the war, the Daoguang Emperor ordered 187 British and Indian prisoners of war held captive inTaiwan Prefecture to besummarily executed in 1842 in retaliation for the Chinese defeat at theBattle of Ningpo; the executions were carried out on 10 August by Chinese officials. The Chinese defeat in the war exposed Qing China's technological and military inferiority to European powers, which led China in being forced to cede Hong Kong to the British in theTreaty of Nanjing in August 1842, and also pay a hefty indemnity which left the treasury desperate for funds.[6][5] Meanwhile, in the Himalayas, theSikh Empire attempted an occupation of Tibet but was defeated in theSino-Sikh war (1841–1842).
In 1811, a clause sentencing Europeans to death for spreadingCatholicism had been added to the statute called "Prohibitions Concerning Sorcerers and Sorceresses" (禁止師巫邪術) in theGreat Qing Legal Code.[7] Protestants hoped that the Qing government would discriminate betweenProtestantism and Catholicism, since the law mentioned the latter by name, but after Protestantmissionaries gave Christian books to Chinese people[who?] in 1835 and 1836, the Daoguang Emperor demanded to know who were the "traitorous natives" inGuangzhou who had supplied them with books.[8][page needed]
The Daoguang Emperor granted the title of "Wujing Boshi" (五經博士;Wǔjīng Bóshì) to the descendants ofRan Qiu.[9]
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The Daoguang Emperor died on 26 February 1850 at theOld Summer Palace, 8 km/5 miles northwest ofBeijing, being the last Qing emperor to pass away in that Palace before it was burnt down by Anglo-French troops during theSecond Opium War, a decade later. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Yizhu, who was later enthroned as theXianfeng Emperor. The Daoguang Emperor failed to understand the intention or determination of the Europeans, or the basic economics of a war on drugs. Although the Europeans were outnumbered and thousands of miles away from logistical support in their native countries, they could bring far superior firepower to bear at any point of contact along the Chinese coast. The Qing government was highly dependent on the continued flow of taxes from southern China via theGrand Canal, which the British expeditionary force easily cut off atZhenjiang.[citation needed]
The Daoguang Emperor ultimately had a poor understanding of the British and theIndustrial Revolution that Britain and Western Europe had undergone, preferring to turn a blind eye to the rest of the world, though the distance from China to Europe most likely played a part. It was said that the emperor did not even know where Britain was located in the world. His 30-year reign saw risingeconomic tensions, sectarian instability and foreign interventions which would eventually lead to thecollapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911.[citation needed]
The Daoguang Emperor was interred in the Mu (慕; lit. "Longing" or "Admiration") mausoleum complex, which is part of theWestern Qing Tombs,[10] 120 km southwest of Beijing.
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Media related toDaoguang Emperor at Wikimedia CommonsDaoguang Emperor Born: 16 September 1782 Died: 26 February 1850 | ||
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| Preceded by | Emperor of the Qing dynasty Emperor of China 1820–1850 | Succeeded by |
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