| Jiaqing Emperor 嘉慶帝 | |||||||||||||||||
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 Portrait by an anonymous Qing artist (c. 1800s–1810s),Palace Museum | |||||||||||||||||
| Emperor of the Qing dynasty | |||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 9 February 1796 – 2 September 1820 | ||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Qianlong Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Daoguang Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Regent | Qianlong Emperor (1796–1799) | ||||||||||||||||
| Prince Jia of the First Rank | |||||||||||||||||
| Tenure | 1789 – 9 February 1796 | ||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1760-11-13)13 November 1760 Imperial Gardens,Beijing | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | 2 September 1820(1820-09-02) (aged 59) Mountain Estate,Jehol | ||||||||||||||||
| Burial | Chang Mausoleum,Western Qing tombs | ||||||||||||||||
| Consort(s) | |||||||||||||||||
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| House | Aisin-Gioro | ||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Qing | ||||||||||||||||
| Father | Qianlong Emperor | ||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Empress Xiaoyichun | ||||||||||||||||
| Seal[a] |  | ||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 嘉慶帝 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 嘉庆帝 | ||||||||||||||||
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TheJiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by histemple nameEmperor Renzong of Qing, personal nameYongyan, was the sixthemperor of theQing dynasty and the fifth Qing emperor to rule overChina proper. He was the 15th son of theQianlong Emperor. During his reign, he prosecutedHeshen, the corruptfavorite of his father and attempted to restore order within the empire while curbing the smuggling ofopium into China. Assessments of his reign are mixed, either seen as the "beginning of the end" of the Qing dynasty, or as a period of moderate reform that presaged the intellectual movements of the 1860s.[1]
Yongyan was born in theOld Summer Palace, 8 km (5 mi) northwest of the walls ofBeijing. His personal name, "Yongyan" (永琰), was later changed to "Yongyan" (顒琰) when he became the emperor. TheChinese character foryong in his name was changed from the more common 永 to the less common 顒. This novelty was introduced by the Qianlong Emperor, who believed that it was not proper to have a commonly used Chinese character in an emperor's personal name due to the longstanding practice ofnaming taboo in the imperial family since the time of ancient China.
Yongyan was the 15th son of the Qianlong Emperor. His mother wasNoble Consort Ling, the daughter of Wei Qingtai (魏清泰), an ethnicHan Chinese official whose family had been long integrated into the ManchuEight Banners as part of aHan Banner.
The Qianlong Emperor originally had two other sons in mind for succeeding him, but both of them died early from diseases, hence in December 1773 he secretly chose Yongyan as his successor. In 1789, the Qianlong Emperor instated Yongyan as "Prince Jiaof the First Rank" (嘉親王; or simply "Prince Jia").
In October 1795, the 60th year of his reign, the Qianlong Emperor announced his intention to abdicate in favour of Prince Jia. He made this decision because he felt that it was disrespectful for him to rule longer than his grandfather, theKangxi Emperor, who was on the throne for 61 years. Prince Jia ascended the throne and adopted theera name "Jiaqing" in February 1796, hence he is historically known as the Jiaqing Emperor. For the next three years, however, the Jiaqing Emperor was emperor in name and rite only because decisions were still made by his father, who became aTaishang Huang (emperor emeritus) after his abdication.
After the death of the Qianlong Emperor in the beginning of February 1799, the Jiaqing Emperor took control of the government and prosecutedHeshen, afavourite official of his father. Heshen was charged with corruption and abuse of power, stripped of his titles, had his property confiscated, and ordered to commit suicide. Heshen's daughter-in-law,Princess Hexiao, a half-sister of the Jiaqing Emperor, was spared from punishment and given a few properties from Heshen's estates. The Jiaqing Emperor commuted the death sentence of the scholarHong Liangji who had criticised the policies of the Qianlong Emperor and Heshen, instead exiling him to a remote part of northern China and pardoning him altogether in 1800.[2]
Heshen was described as the 'primary evil' effecting the Empire, and after his removal the Emperor pursued a series of reforms of the court, civil service and treasury.[3] He was a traditionalist in terms of his role as an ethnic Manchu leader, taking parts in imperial hunts, inspection tours, and upholding strict court protocol.[4] As part of this traditionalist approach, the Jiaqing Emperor promoted ministers on the basis of their commitment to a 'purist' approach to Confucian rule.[5]
The impact of the Jiaqing Emperor's reforms are questionable, with the Emperor described byJonathan Spence as having 'relied on rhetoric more than specific policies to cleanse his empire', with Heshen's clique soon replaced by other bureaucratic factions.[6]
At the time, the Qing Empire faced internal disorder, most importantly the large-scaleWhite Lotus (1796–1804) andMiao (1795–1806) rebellions, as well as an empty imperial treasury. The Jiaqing Emperor engaged in the pacification of the empire and the quelling of rebellions, although this came at a steep fiscal cost.[7] He endeavored to bring China back to its 18th-century prosperity and power.
In 1813, the Jiaqing Emperor also faced the threat of theEight Trigrams uprising, led by a millenarian Buddhist sect that launched a failed attack on theForbidden City, with the intention of assassinating the Emperor upon his return from a hunting trip. The Jiaqing Emperor was intrigued by the leader of the rising, Lin Qing, and summoned him to a private interrogation.[8] Lin was later executed by slicing.[9]
In 1816,William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst was sent as ambassador extraordinary to the court, intending to establish more satisfactory commercial relations between China and Great Britain. The Amherst Embassy proved a failure as a result of Amherst's refusal to perform a kowtow to the Emperor, but would prove to have a significant impact on British views of China and the Qing dynasty.[10]
The Jiaqing Emperor refused the Vietnamese rulerGia Long's request to change his country's name to Nam Việt, but agreed that it could be changed toViệt Nam instead.[11] Gia Long'sĐại Nam thực lục contains the diplomatic correspondence over the naming.[12]
TheGreat Qing Legal Code includes one statute titled "Prohibitions Concerning Sorcerers and Sorceresses" (禁止師巫邪術). In 1811, a clause was added to it with reference to Christianity. It was modified in 1815 and 1817, settled in its final form in 1839 under theDaoguang Emperor, and repealed in 1870 under theTongzhi Emperor. It sentenced Europeans to death for spreading "the religion of the Lord of Heaven" among Han Chinese and Manchus. While "the Lord of Heaven" (天主,Tiānzhǔ) was primarily used as a translation of the name of the Christian God byCatholic missionaries and this could be taken to imply that the statute was primarily directed against Catholicism, it became clear in the 1830s that the Qing government considered the ban to apply to other forms of Christianity as well. Christians who would not repent their conversion were sent toMuslim cities inXinjiang, to be given as slaves to Muslim leaders andbeys.[13]
The Jiaqing Emperor granted the titleWujing Boshi (五經博士;Wǔjīng Bóshì) to the descendants of Tang essayistHan Yu.[14][15][16][17]
The Jiaqing Emperor commissioned printed compendia of courtly collections, which are an important source for our present understanding of Qing court art.[18] He was a keen scholar of the Confucian classics (to which he devoted much of his time in the early years of his reign when the Qianlong Emperor remainedde facto ruler), with 15,267 poems attributed to him.[19]
On 2 September 1820, the Jiaqing Emperor died at theRehe (Jehol) Traveling Palace (熱河行宫), 230 km (140 mi) northeast ofBeijing, where the imperial court was in summer quarters. TheDraft History of Qing did not record a cause of death. Some have alleged that he died after being struck by lightning, but others prefer the theory that he died of astroke, as the emperor was quite obese. He was succeeded by his second son, Mianning, who became known as theDaoguang Emperor.
The Jiaqing Emperor was interred amidst theWestern Qing Tombs, 120 km (75 mi) southwest ofBeijing, in the Chang (昌; lit. "splendid") mausoleum complex.
InTaiwan, a popular though acrophycal legend claims that Prince Jia, or Lord Jiaqing, travelled to Taiwan and went on a number of adventures there shortly before ascending to the throne. It has been adapted numerous times into literature,Taiwanese opera, films and television.[20][21]
Empress
Imperial Noble Consort
Consort
Concubine
Noble Lady
First Class Attendant
mohammedan slaves to beys.
This article incorporates text fromChina in the light of history, by Ernst Faber, a publication from 1897, now in thepublic domain in the United States. This article incorporates text fromThe Chinese recorder, Volume 27, a publication from 1896, now in thepublic domain in the United States. This article incorporates text fromLife among the Chinese: with characteristic sketches and incidents of missionary operations and prospects in China, by Robert Samuel Maclay, a publication from 1861, now in thepublic domain in the United States.
Media related toJiaqing Emperor at Wikimedia CommonsJiaqing Emperor Born: 13 November 1760 Died: 2 September 1820 | ||
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| Preceded by | Emperor of China 1796–1820 | Succeeded by |
Emperors of theQing dynasty | ||
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Later Jin rulers posthumously regarded as Qing emperors Enthroned in 1626 asKhan,Hong Taiji changed the dynastic name to "Great Qing" in 1636 and claimed the title of emperor. | .svg) | |
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