TheKangxi Emperor (4 May 1654 – 20 December 1722), also known by histemple nameEmperor Shengzu of Qing, personal nameXuanye, was the thirdemperor of theQing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule overChina proper. His reign of 61 years makes him the longest-reigning emperor inChinese history and one of thelongest-reigning rulers in history.[1] He is considered one of China's greatest emperors.[2]
The third son of theShunzhi Emperor, Kangxi was enthroned at the age of seven while actual power was held for six more years by thefour regents nominated by his father.[3] After assuming personal rule, Kangxi's attempt to revoke the fiefdoms of feudal princes sparked theRevolt of the Three Feudatories, which he suppressed. He also forced theKingdom of Tungning in Taiwan and Mongols in the north and northwest to submit to Qing rule, andlaunched an expedition that incorporated Tibet into the empire. Domestically, he initially welcomed theJesuits and the propagation ofCatholicism in China, but tolerance came to an end as a result of theChinese Rites controversy. Later in his reign, Kangxi became embroiled in a prolonged succession dispute. He died in 1722 at the age of 68 and was succeeded by his fourth son, who assumed the throne as theYongzheng Emperor.
The Kangxi Emperor's reign brought about long-term stability and relative wealth after years of war and chaos. He initiated the period known as theHigh Qing era (or the "Prosperous Era of Kangxi and Qianlong"),[4] spanning the reigns of the Kangxi Emperor, his son Yongzheng, and his grandsonQianlong. His court also accomplished such literary feats as the compilation of theKangxi Dictionary, theComplete Tang Poems poetry anthology, and theComplete Classics Collection of Ancient China.
SinologistHerbert Giles, drawing on contemporary sources, described the Kangxi Emperor as "fairly tall and well proportioned, he loved all manly exercises, and devoted three months annually to hunting. Large bright eyes lighted up his face, which was pitted withsmallpox."[5]
Portrait of the young Kangxi Emperor in court dress
Before the Kangxi Emperor came to the throne,Grand Empress Dowager Zhaosheng (in the name ofShunzhi Emperor) had appointed the powerful menSonin,Suksaha,Ebilun, andOboi asregents. Sonin died after his granddaughter becameEmpress Xiaochengren, leaving Suksaha at odds with Oboi in politics. In a fierce power struggle, Oboi had Suksaha put to death and seized absolute power as sole regent. The Kangxi Emperor and the rest of the imperial court acquiesced to this arrangement.
In the spring of 1662, the regents ordered aGreat Clearance in southern China that evacuated the entire population from the seacoast to counter a resistance movement started byMing loyalists under the leadership of Taiwan-based Ming generalZheng Chenggong, also titledKoxinga.
In 1669, the Kangxi Emperor had Oboi arrested with the help of his grandmotherGrand Empress Dowager Zhaosheng, who had raised him.[6] and began taking personal control of the empire. He listed three issues of concern: flood control of theYellow River; repair of theGrand Canal; theRevolt of the Three Feudatories in south China. The Grand Empress Dowager influenced him greatly and he took care of her himself in the months leading up to her death in 1688.[6]
Kangxi's relatives from the Han Chinese Banner Tong 佟 clan ofFushun inLiaoning falsely claimed to be related to theJurchen ManchuTunggiya 佟佳 clan ofJilin, using this false claim to get themselves transferred to a Manchu banner in the reign of Kangxi emperor.[7]
The Emperor mounted on his horse and guarded by hisbodyguardsArmoured Kangxi EmperorThe Kangxi Emperor in ceremonial armor, armed with bow and arrows, and surrounded by bodyguards.
The main army of the Qing Empire, theEight Banners Army, was in decline under the Kangxi Emperor. It was smaller than it had been at its peak underHong Taiji and in the early reign of theShunzhi Emperor; however, it was larger than in theYongzheng andQianlong emperors' reigns. In addition, theGreen Standard Army was still powerful with generals such as Tuhai, Fei Yanggu, Zhang Yong, Zhou Peigong,Shi Lang, Mu Zhan, Shun Shike and Wang Jingbao.[citation needed]
The main reason for this decline was a change in system between the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors' reigns. The Kangxi Emperor continued using the traditional military system implemented by his predecessors, which was more efficient and stricter. According to the system, a commander who returned from a battle alone (with all his men dead) would be put to death, and likewise for a foot soldier. This was meant to motivate both commanders and soldiers alike to fight valiantly in war because there was no benefit for the sole survivor in a battle.[citation needed]
After the Qing takeover of China in 1644, large parts of the south and west were given asfiefs to three Ming generals who aided the Qing; in 1673 the three feudatories were controlled byWu Sangui,Geng Jingzhong, andShang Zhixin. Going against the advice of most of his advisors, Kangxi attempted to force the feudal princes to give up their lands and retire to Manchuria, sparking a rebellion that lasted eight years. For years afterwards Kangxi ruminated on his mistakes and blamed himself in part for the loss of life during the revolt.[8]
Wu Sangui's forces overran most of southwest China and he tried to ally himself with local generals such asWang Fuchen. The Kangxi Emperor employed generals includingZhou Peigong andTuhai to suppress the rebellion, and also granted clemency to common people caught up in the war. He intended to personally lead the armies to crush the rebels but his subjects advised him against it. The Kangxi Emperor used mainly Han ChineseGreen Standard Army soldiers to crush the rebels while the Manchu Banners took a backseat. The revolt ended with victory for Qing forces in 1681.
A score of Ming princes had joined the Zheng dynasty on Taiwan, including PrinceZhu Shugui of Ningjing and Prince Honghuan (朱弘桓), the son ofZhu Yihai. The Qing sent most of the 17 Ming princes still living on Taiwan back to mainland China, where they spent the rest of their lives.[9] The Prince of Ningjing and his five concubines, however, committed suicide rather than submit to capture. Their palace was used as Shi Lang's headquarters in 1683, but hememorialized the emperor to convert it into aMazu temple as a propaganda measure in quieting remaining resistance on Taiwan. The emperor approved its dedication as theGrand Matsu Temple the next year and, honoring the goddessMazu for her supposed assistance during the Qing invasion, promoted her to "Empress of Heaven" (天后Tianhou) from her previous status as a "heavenly consort" (天妃Tianfei).[10][11]Belief in Mazu remains so widespread on Taiwan that her annual celebrations can gather hundreds of thousands of people; she is sometimes evensyncretized withGuanyin and theVirgin Mary.
The end of the rebel stronghold and capture of the Ming princes allowed the Kangxi Emperor to relax theSea Ban and permit resettlement of theFujian andGuangdong coasts. The financial and other incentives to new settlers particularly drew theHakka, who would havecontinuous low-level conflict with the returningPunti people for the next few centuries.
The Russians invaded the northern frontier again in the 1680s. A series of battles. In 1685, the Qing used former Ming loyalistHan Chinese naval specialists who had served under the Zheng family in Taiwan in the siege ofAlbazin.[12][13] Former Ming loyalist Han Chinese troops who had served underZheng Chenggong and who specialized at fighting with rattan shields and swords (Tengpaiying,藤牌营) were recommended to Kangxi to reinforce Albazin against the Russians. Kangxi was impressed by a demonstration of their techniques and ordered 500 of them to defend Albazin, under Ho Yu, a former Koxinga follower, and Lin Hsing-chu, a former General of Wu Sangui. These rattan shield troops did not suffer a single casualty when they defeated and cut down Russian forces traveling by rafts on the river, only using the rattan shields and swords while fighting naked.[14][15][16]
The Inner MongolianChahar leaderLigdan Khan, a descendant of Genghis Khan, opposed and fought against the Qing until he died ofsmallpox in 1634. Thereafter, the Inner Mongols under his sonEjei Khan surrendered to the Qing and he was given the title of Prince (Qin Wang, 親王). The Inner Mongolian nobility now became closely tied to the Qing royal family and intermarried with them extensively. Ejei Khan died in 1661 and was succeeded by his brother Abunai. After Abunai showed disaffection with Manchu Qing rule, he was placed under house arrest in 1669 inShenyang and the Kangxi Emperor gave his title to his son Borni.
Abunai bided his time then, with his brother Lubuzung, revolted against the Qing in 1675 during theRevolt of the Three Feudatories, with 3,000 Chahar Mongol followers joining in on the revolt. The revolt was put down within two months, the Qing defeating the rebels in battle on 20 April 1675, killing Abunai and all his followers. Their title was abolished, all Chahar Mongol royal males were executed even if they were born to Manchu Qing princesses, and all Chahar Mongol royal females were sold into slavery except the Manchu Qing princesses. The Chahar Mongols were then put under the direct control of the Qing Emperor unlike the other Inner Mongol leagues which maintained their autonomy.
Emperor Kangxi's camp onKerulen during the campaign of 1696.
The OuterKhalkha Mongols had preserved their independence, and only paid tribute to the Qing Empire. However, a conflict between the houses of Jasagtu Khan and Tösheetü Khan led to a dispute between the Khalkha and theDzungars over the influence ofTibetan Buddhism. In 1688, the Dzungar chief,Galdan Boshugtu Khan, attacked the Khalkha from the west and invaded their territory. The Khalkha royal families and the firstJebtsundamba Khutuktu crossed theGobi Desert and sought help from the Qing Empire in return for submission to Qing authority. In 1690, the Dzungars and Qing forces clashed at theBattle of Ulan Butung inInner Mongolia, in which the Qing eventually emerged as the victor.
In 1696 and 1697 the Kangxi Emperor personally led campaigns against the Dzungars in the earlyDzungar–Qing War.[17] The western section of the Qing army defeated Galdan's forces at theBattle of Jao Modo and Galdan died in the following year.
The Kangxi Emperor at the age of 45, painted in 1699
In 1700, some 20,000 QiqiharXibe were resettled inGuisui, modernInner Mongolia, and 36,000 Songyuan Xibe were resettled inShenyang,Liaoning. The relocation of the Xibe from Qiqihar is believed by Liliya M. Gorelova to be linked to the Qing's annihilation of the Manchu clan Hoifan (Hoifa) in 1697 and the Manchu tribe Ula in 1703 after they rebelled against the Qing; both Hoifan and Ula were wiped out.[18]
In 1701, the Kangxi Emperor ordered the reconquest ofKangding and other border towns in westernSichuan that had been taken by the Tibetans. The Manchu forcesstormed Dartsedo and secured the border with Tibet and the lucrativetea-horse trade.
The Tibetandesi (regent)Sangye Gyatso concealed the death of the5th Dalai Lama in 1682, and only informed the emperor in 1697. He moreover kept relations with Dzungar enemies of the Qing. All this evoked the great displeasure of the Kangxi Emperor. Eventually Sangye Gyatso was toppled and killed by theKhoshut rulerLha-bzang Khan in 1705. As a reward for ridding him of his old enemy theDalai Lama, the Kangxi Emperor appointed Lha-bzang Khan Regent of Tibet (翊法恭順汗;Yìfǎ Gōngshùn Hán; 'Buddhism Respecting', 'Deferential Khan').[19] TheDzungar Khanate, a confederation ofOirat tribes based in parts of what is nowXinjiang, continued to threaten the Qing Empire and invadedTibet in 1717. They took control ofLhasa with a 6,000 strong army and killed Lha-bzang Khan. The Dzungars held on to the city for three years and at theBattle of the Salween River defeated a Qing army sent to the region in 1718. The Qing did not take control of Lhasa until 1720, when the Kangxi Emperorsent a larger expedition force there to defeat the Dzungars.
The Kangxi Emperor incited anti-Muslim sentiment among the Mongols ofQinghai (Kokonor) in order to gain support against theDzungarOirat Mongol leaderGaldan. Kangxi claimed that Chinese Muslims inside China such asTurkic Muslims in Qinghai were plotting withGaldan, who he falsely claimed converted to Islam. Kangxi falsely claimed that Galdan had spurned and turned his back on Buddhism and the Dalai Lama and that he was plotting to install a Muslim as ruler of China after invading it in a conspiracy with Chinese Muslims. Kangxi also distrusted Muslims of Turfan and Hami.[20]
1702–1709: approximately 50,000,000 taels with little variation during this period
1710: 45,880,000 taels
1718: 44,319,033 taels
1720: 39,317,103 taels
1721 (60th year of Kangxi, second last of his reign): 32,622,421 taels
The Kangxi Emperor's Last Will and Testament
The reasons for the declining trend in the later years of the Kangxi Emperor's reign were a huge expenditure on military campaigns and an increase in corruption. To fix the problem, the Kangxi Emperor gave Prince Yong (the futureYongzheng Emperor) advice on how to make the economy more efficient.
During his reign, the Kangxi Emperor ordered the compilation of a dictionary ofChinese characters, which became known as theKangxi Dictionary. This was seen as an attempt by the emperor to gain support from theHan Chinesescholar-bureaucrats, as many of them initially refused to serve him and remained loyal to theMing dynasty. However, by persuading the scholars to work on the dictionary without asking them to formally serve the Qing imperial court, the Kangxi Emperor led them to gradually taking on greater responsibilities until they were assuming the duties of state officials.
The Kangxi Emperor also was interested in Western technology and wanted to import them to China. This was done throughJesuit missionaries, such asFerdinand Verbiest, whom the Kangxi Emperor frequently summoned for meetings, orKarel Slavíček, who made the first precise map ofBeijing on the emperor's order.
From 1711 to 1723,Matteo Ripa, anItalian priest sent to China by theCongregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, worked as a painter and copper-engraver at the Qing court. In 1723, he returned toNaples from China with four young Chinese Christians, in order to groom them to become priests and send them back to China as missionaries. This marked the beginning of the Collegio dei Cinesi, sanctioned byPope Clement XII to help the evangelization ofChristianity in China. This Chinese Institute was the first school ofSinology inEurope, which would later develop to become the Istituto Orientale and the present dayNaples Eastern University.
The Kangxi Emperor was also the first Chinese emperor to play a western musical instrument.Thomas Pereira taught him how to play the harpsichord,[23] and he employedKarel Slavíček as court musician. Slavíček was playingSpinet; later the emperor would play on it himself. China's famed blue and white porcelain probably reached its zenith during the Kangxi Emperor's reign.
In the early decades of the Kangxi Emperor's reign,Jesuits played a large role in the imperial court. With their knowledge ofastronomy, they ran the imperial observatory.Jean-François Gerbillon andThomas Pereira served as translators for the negotiations of theTreaty of Nerchinsk. The Kangxi Emperor was grateful to the Jesuits for their contributions, the many languages they could interpret, and the innovations they offered his military in gun manufacturing[24] andartillery, the latter of which enabled the Qing Empire to conquer theKingdom of Tungning.[25]
The Kangxi Emperor was also fond of the Jesuits' respectful and unobtrusive manner; they spoke theChinese language well, and wore the silk robes of the elite.[26] In 1692, when Pereira requested tolerance forChristianity, the Kangxi Emperor was willing to oblige, and issued the Edict of Toleration,[27] which recognizedCatholicism, barred attacks on their churches, and legalized their missions and the practice of Christianity by theChinese people.[28]
However, controversy arose over whether Chinese Christians could still take part in traditionalConfucian ceremonies andancestor worship, with the Jesuits arguing for tolerance and theDominicans taking a hard-line against foreign "idolatry". The Dominican position won the support ofPope Clement XI, who in 1705 sentCharles-Thomas Maillard de Tournon as hisrepresentative to the Kangxi Emperor, to communicate the ban on Chinese rites.[24][29] Through de Tournon, the Pope insisted on sending his own representative to Beijing to oversee Jesuit missionaries in China. Kangxi refused, wanting to keep missionary activities in China under his final oversight, managed by one of the Jesuits who had been living in Beijing for years.[30]
On 19 March 1715, Pope Clement XI issued thepapal bullEx illa die, which officially condemned Chinese rites.[24] In response, the Kangxi Emperor officially forbade Christian missions in China, as they were "causing trouble".[31]
The Kangxi Emperor on a tour, seated prominently on the deck of ajunk.Young KangxiMiddle-aged Kangxi
A prolonged struggle between various princes emerged during the Kangxi Emperor's reign over who should inherit the throne – the Nine Lords' War (九子奪嫡).
In 1674 the Kangxi Emperor's first spouse,Empress Xiaochengren, died while giving birth to his second surviving sonYinreng, who at the age of two was namedcrown prince[32] – aHan Chinese custom, to ensure stability during a time of chaos in the south. Although the Kangxi Emperor left the education of several of his sons to others, he personally oversaw the upbringing of Yinreng, grooming him to be a perfect successor. Yinreng was tutored by themandarin Wang Shan, who remained devoted to him, and spent the later years of his life trying to persuade the Kangxi Emperor to restore Yinreng as the crown prince.
Yinreng proved to be unworthy of the succession despite his father showing favoritism towards him. He was said to have beaten and killed his subordinates, and was alleged to have had sexual relations with one of his father's concubines, which was deemedincest and a capital offence. Yinreng also purchased young children fromJiangsu to satisfy hispedophiliac pleasure. In addition, Yinreng's supporters, led bySonggotu, gradually formed a "Crown Prince Party" (太子黨), that aimed to help Yinreng get the throne as soon as possible, even if it meant using unlawful methods.
Over the years, the Kangxi Emperor kept constant watch over Yinreng and became aware of his son's many flaws, while their relationship gradually deteriorated. In 1707, the emperor decided that he could no longer tolerate Yinreng's behavior, which he partially mentioned in the imperial edict as "never obeying ancestors' virtues, never obliged to my order, only doing inhumanity and devilry, only showing maliciousness and lust",[33] and decided to strip Yinreng of his position as crown prince. The Kangxi Emperor placed his oldest surviving son,Yinzhi, in charge of overseeing Yinreng'shouse arrest. Yinzhi, an unfavoredShu son, knowing he had no chance of being selected, recommended the eighth prince, Yinsi, and requested his father to order Yinreng's execution. The Kangxi Emperor was enraged and stripped Yinzhi of his titles. The emperor then commanded his subjects to cease debating the succession issue, but despite this and attempts to reduce rumours and speculation as to who the new crown prince might be, the imperial court's daily activities were disrupted. Yinzhi's actions caused the Kangxi Emperor to suspect that Yinreng might have been framed, so he restored Yinreng as crown prince in 1709, with the support of the 4th and 13th princes, and on the excuse that Yinreng had previously acted under the influence of mental illness.
In 1712, during the Kangxi Emperor's last inspection tour of the south, Yinreng, who was put in charge of state affairs during his father's absence, tried to vie for power again with his supporters. He allowed an attempt at forcing the Kangxi Emperor to abdicate when his father returned toBeijing. However, the emperor received news of the plannedcoup d'etat, and was so angry that he deposed Yinreng and placed him under house arrest again. After the incident, the emperor announced that he would not appoint any of his sons as crown prince for the remainder of his reign. He stated that he would place his Imperial Valedictory Will inside a box in thePalace of Heavenly Purity, which would only be opened after his death.
Seeing that Yinreng was completely disavowed, Yinsi and some other princes turned to support the 14th prince, Yinti, while the 13th prince supported Yinzhen. They formed the so-called "Eighth Lord Party" (八爺黨) and "Fourth Lord Party" (四爺黨).
Following the deposition of the crown prince, the Kangxi Emperor implemented groundbreaking changes in the political landscape. The 13th prince,Yinxiang, was placed underhouse arrest as well for cooperating withYinreng. The eighth princeYinsi was stripped of all his titles and only had them restored years later. The 14th princeYinti, whom many considered to be the most likely candidate to succeed the Kangxi Emperor, was sent on a military campaign during the political conflict. Yinsi, along with the ninth and tenth princes,Yintang and Yin'e, pledged their support to Yinti.
In the evening of 20 December 1722, just before his death, the Kangxi Emperor called seven of his sons to assemble at his bedside. They were the third, fourth, eighth, ninth, tenth, sixteenth and seventeenth princes. After the Kangxi Emperor died,Longkodo announced that the emperor had selected the fourth prince, Yinzhen, as the new emperor. Yinzhen ascended to the throne and became known as theYongzheng Emperor. The Kangxi Emperor was entombed at theEastern Tombs inZunhua,Hebei.
The Kangxi Emperor was initially conferred the posthumous name "Emperor Hetian Hongyun Wenwu Ruizhe Gongjian Kuanyu Xiaojing Chengxin Gongde Dacheng Ren" (合天弘運文武睿哲恭儉寬裕孝敬誠信功德大成仁皇帝) shortly after his death.[35][b] This appellation was later extended to "Emperor Hetian Hongyun Wenwu Ruizhe Gongjian Kuanyu Xiaojing Chengxin Zhonghe Gongde Dacheng Ren" (合天弘運文武睿哲恭儉寬裕孝敬誠信中和功德大成仁皇帝) in the first year of the reign of theQianlong Emperor.[36]
A legend concerning the Kangxi Emperor's will states that he choseYinti as his heir, but Yinzhen forged the will in his own favour. It has, however, long been refuted by serious historians. Yinzhen, later theYongzheng Emperor, has attracted many rumours, and some novel-like private books claim he did not die of illness but was assassinated by a swordswoman, Lü Siniang (呂四娘), the granddaughter ofLü Liuliang, though this is never treated seriously by scholars.[37]
The Kangxi Emperor was a great consolidator of theQing dynasty. The transition from theMing dynasty to the Qing was a cataclysm whose central event was the fall of the capitalBeijing to thepeasant rebels led byLi Zicheng, then to theManchus in 1644, and the installation of the five-year-oldShunzhi Emperor on their throne. By 1661, when the Shunzhi Emperor died and was succeeded by the Kangxi Emperor, the Qing conquest of China proper was almost complete. Leading Manchus were already using Chinese institutions and masteringConfucian ideology, while maintaining Manchu culture among themselves. The Kangxi Emperor completed the conquest, suppressed all significant military threats and revived the central government system inherited from the Ming with important modifications.
The Kangxi Emperor was a workaholic, rising early and retiring late, reading and responding to numerousmemorials every day, conferring with his councilors and giving audiences – and this was in normal times; in wartime, he might be reading memorials from the warfront until after midnight or even, as with theDzungar conflict, away on campaign in person.[38]
The French Jesuit and mathematicianLouis Le Comte painted a portrait of the emperor he met around 1688: "The emperor seemed to me to be above average height, fatter than the ordinary people who pride themselves in Europe on being well built, but a little less than a Chinese would like to appear. His face is full and marked by smallpox. He has a broad forehead, a nose and small eyes in the Chinese manner, a beautiful mouth and a very pleasant lower face. Finally, although there is nothing very grand about his appearance, he looks good and there is something in his manners and inall his actions that smacks of the master and sets him apart".[39]
The Kangxi Emperor devised a system of communication that circumvented thescholar-bureaucrats, who had a tendency to usurp the power of the emperor. ThisPalace Memorial System involved the transfer of secret messages between him and trusted officials in the provinces, where the messages were contained in locked boxes that only he and the official had access to. This started as a system for receiving uncensored extreme-weather reports, which the emperor regarded as divine comments on his rule. However, it soon evolved into a general-purpose secret "news channel." Out of this emerged aGrand Council, which dealt with extraordinary, especially military, events. The council was chaired by the emperor and manned by his more elevatedHan Chinese and Manchu household staff. From this council, themandarin civil servants were excluded – they were left only with routine administration.[40]
The Kangxi Emperor managed to woo the Confucian intelligentsia into co-operating with the Qing government, despite their deep reservations about Manchu rule and loyalty to the Ming. He appealed to this very sense of Confucian values, for instance, by issuing theSacred Edict in 1670. He encouraged Confucian learning and made sure that thecivil service examinations were held every three years even during times of stress. When some scholars, out of loyalty to the Ming, refused to take the exams, he hit upon the expedient of a special exam to be taken by nomination. He personally sponsored the writing of theMing Official History, theKangxi Dictionary, a phrase-dictionary, a vast encyclopedia and an even vaster compilation ofChinese literature. To promote his image as a "sage ruler," he appointed Manchu and Chinese tutors with whom he studied the Confucian classics and worked intensively on Chinese calligraphy.[41]
In the one military campaign in which he actively participated, against the Dzungar Mongols, the Kangxi Emperor showed himself an effective military commander. According to Finer, the emperor's own written reflections allow one to experience "how intimate and caring was his communion with the rank-and-file, how discriminating and yet masterful his relationship with his generals".[42]
As a result of the scaling down of hostilities as peace returned to China after the Manchu conquest, and also as a result of the ensuing rapid increase of population, land cultivation and therefore tax revenues based on agriculture, the Kangxi Emperor was able first to make tax remissions, then in 1712 to freeze theland tax andcorvée altogether, without embarrassing the state treasury (although the dynasty eventually suffered from this fiscal policy, as this preserved tax rates in perpetuity, preventing later emperors from adjusting the fiscal system and hindering attempts at modernisation).[43][44]
The Deer and the Cauldron, awuxia novel byJin Yong. In the novel, the Kangxi Emperor and the protagonist,Wei Xiaobao, become close friends in their childhood. Wei Xiaobao helps the emperor consolidate his rule over the Qing Empire and plays an important role in how significant historical events of the Kangxi era unfold.[46]
Seven Swords Descend from Mount Heaven, a wuxia novel byLiang Yusheng. In the novel, the Kangxi Emperor discovers that his father, theShunzhi Emperor, has become a monk in a monastery onMount Wutai. He orders a close aide to kill his father in order to consolidate power, and later attempts to erase evidence of the murder.[47]
^Note that Xuanye was born in May 1654, and was therefore less than seven years old at the time. BothSpence 2002 andOxnam 1975 (p. 1) nonetheless claim that he was "seven years old."Dennerline 2002 (p. 119) andRawski 1998 (p. 99) indicate that he was "not yet seven years old." FollowingEast Asian age reckoning, Chinese documents concerning the succession say that Xuanye was eightsui (Oxnam 1975, p. 62).
^Spence, Jonathan D. (1974).Emperor of China: Self-portrait of Kʻang-hsi (Vintage books ed.). New York. pp. xvi–xvii,36–38.ISBN0-679-72074-X.OCLC18931977.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^明孝陵两大“碑石之谜”被破解Archived 18 October 2012 at theWayback Machine (Solving the two great riddles of the Ming Xiaoling's stone tablets).People's Daily, 13 June 2003. Quote regarding the Kangxi Emperor's stele text and its meaning: "清朝皇帝躬祀明朝皇帝 ... 禦書“治隆唐宋”（意思是讚揚朱元璋的功績超過了唐太宗李世民、宋高祖趙匡胤）"
Dennerline, Jerry (2002),"The Shun-chih Reign", in Peterson, Willard J. (ed.),Cambridge History of China, Vol. 9, Part 1: The Ch'ing Dynasty to 1800, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 73–119,ISBN0-521-24334-3.
Finer, S. E. (1997).The History of Government from the Earliest Times.ISBN0-19-822904-6 (three-volume set, hardback)
Bennet Peterson, Barbara (2000).Notable Women of China: Shang Dynasty to the Early Twentieth Century. M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
Spence, Jonathan D. (2002),"The K'ang-hsi Reign", in Peterson, Willard J. (ed.),Cambridge History of China, Vol. 9, Part 1: The Ch'ing Dynasty to 1800, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 120–82,ISBN0-521-24334-3.
Zhao, Gang (January 2006). "Reinventing China Imperial Qing Ideology and the Rise of Modern Chinese National Identity in the Early Twentieth Century".Modern China.32 (1). Sage Publications:3–30.doi:10.1177/0097700405282349.JSTOR20062627.S2CID144587815.
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