 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Dorgon" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Dorgon | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Rui of the First Rank | |||||||||||||
.jpg) Portrait of Dorgon as regent in imperial regalia | |||||||||||||
| Prince Regent of theQing Empire | |||||||||||||
| Reign | 1643–1650 | ||||||||||||
| Co-Regents | Jirgalang (1643–1644) | ||||||||||||
| Assistant-Regents | Jirgalang (1644–1647) Dodo (1647–1649) | ||||||||||||
| Prince Rui of the First Rank | |||||||||||||
| Reign | 1636–1650 | ||||||||||||
| Predecessor | None | ||||||||||||
| Successor | Chunying | ||||||||||||
| Born | (1612-11-17)17 November 1612 Yenden (present-dayXinbin Manchu Autonomous County,Fushun, Liaoning, China) | ||||||||||||
| Died | 31 December 1650(1650-12-31) (aged 38) Kharahotun (present-dayChengde, Hebei, China) | ||||||||||||
| Consorts | Lady Borjigit Borjigit Batema (died 1650)Lady Tunggiya Lady Borjigit Lady Borjigit Lady Borjigit Princess Uisun | ||||||||||||
| Issue | Donggo | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| House | Aisin-Gioro | ||||||||||||
| Father | Nurhaci | ||||||||||||
| Mother | Empress Xiaoliewu | ||||||||||||
| Dorgon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 多爾袞 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 多尔衮 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Manchu script name | |||||||
| Manchu script | ᡩᠣᡵᡤᠣᠨ | ||||||
| Transcription name | |||||||
| Transcription | Dorgon | ||||||
Dorgon[note 1] (17 November 1612 – 31 December 1650) was aManchu prince and regent of the earlyQing dynasty. Born in theHouse of Aisin-Gioro as the 14th son ofNurhaci (the founder of theLater Jin dynasty, which was the predecessor of the Qing), Dorgon started his career in military campaigns against the Mongols, the Koreans, and theMing dynasty during the reign ofHong Taiji (his eighth brother) who succeeded their father.
After Hong Taiji's death in 1643, he was involved in a power struggle against Hong Taiji's eldest son,Hooge, over the succession to the throne. Both of them eventually came to a compromise by backing out and letting Hong Taiji's ninth son, Fulin, become the emperor; Fulin was installed on the throne as theShunzhi Emperor. Dorgon served asPrince-Regent from 1643 to 1650, throughout the Shunzhi Emperor's early reign. In 1645, he was given the honorary title "Emperor's Uncle and Prince-Regent" (皇叔父攝政王); the title was changed to "Emperor's Father and Prince-Regent" (皇父攝政王) in 1649.
Under Dorgon's regency, Qing forces occupied Beijing, the capital of the fallen Ming dynasty, and gradually conquered the rest of the Ming in a series of battles againstMing loyalists and other opposing forces around China. Dorgon also introduced the policy of forcing allHan Chinese men to shave the front of the heads and wear their hair inqueues just like the Manchus. He died in 1650 during a hunting trip and was posthumously honoured as an emperor even though he was never an emperor during his lifetime. A year after Dorgon's death, however, the Shunzhi Emperor accused Dorgon of several crimes, stripped him of his titles, and ordered his remains to be exhumed and flogged in public. Dorgon was posthumously rehabilitated and restored of his honorary titles by theQianlong Emperor in 1778.
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(June 2025) |
Dorgon was born in theManchu Aisin-Gioro clan as the 14th son ofNurhaci, theKhan of theLater Jin dynasty (the precursor to theQing dynasty). His mother was Nurhaci's primary consort,Lady Abahai.Ajige andDodo were his full brothers, andHong Taiji was one of his half-brothers. Dorgon was one of the most influential among Nurhaci's sons, and his role was instrumental to the Qing occupation of Beijing, the capital of the fallenMing dynasty, He fought against theChahar Mongols in 1628 and 1635.[2]
After Hong Taiji died in 1643, Dorgon became involved in a power struggle with Hong Taiji's eldest son,Hooge, over the succession to the throne. The conflict was resolved with a compromise – both backed out, and Hong Taiji's ninth son, Fulin, ascended the throne as theShunzhi Emperor. Since the Shunzhi Emperor was only six years old at that time, Dorgon and his cousinJirgalang were appointed co-regents.[3]
In 1644. During Hong Taiji's reign, Dorgon participated in many military campaigns, including the conquests of Mongolia and Korea.[4] On 17 February 1644, Jirgalang, who was a capable military leader but appeared uninterested in managing state affairs, willingly yielded control of all official matters to Dorgon.[5] After an alleged plot byHooge to undermine the regency was exposed on 6 May of that year, Hooge was stripped of his princely title and his co-conspirators were executed.[6] Dorgon soon replaced Hooge's supporters (mostly from the Yellow Banners) with his own, thus gaining closer control of two more banners.[7] By early June 1644, he was in firm control of the Qing government and its military.[8]
Later, just as Dorgon and his advisors were pondering how to attack theMing Empire, peasant rebellions were dangerously approaching Beijing. On 24 April of that year, rebel forces led byLi Zicheng breached the walls of the Ming capital. The last Ming emperor, theChongzhen Emperor, hanged himself ata hill behind theForbidden City.[10] Hearing the news, Dorgon's Han Chinese advisorsHong Chengchou andFan Wencheng (范文程; 1597–1666) urged the prince to seize this opportunity to present themselves as avengers of the fallen Ming Empire and claim theMandate of Heaven for the Qing Empire.[11] The last obstacle between Dorgon and Beijing wasWu Sangui, a former Ming general guarding theShanhai Pass at the eastern end of theGreat Wall.[12]
Later, The last obstacle between Dorgon and Beijing was Ming generalWu Sangui, who was garrisoned atShanhai Pass at the eastern end of theGreat Wall.[13] Just as Dorgon and his advisors were pondering how to attack theMing, peasant rebellions were dangerously approachingBeijing. On 24 April of that year, rebel leaderLi Zicheng breached the walls of the Ming capital, pushing theChongzhen Emperor to hang himself on a hill behind theForbidden City.[14]
Wu Sangui was caught between the Manchus and Li Zicheng's forces. He requested Dorgon's help in ousting the rebels and restoring the Ming Empire.[15] When Dorgon asked Wu Sangui to work for the Qing Empire instead, Wu had little choice but to accept.[16] Aided by Wu Sangui's elite soldiers, who fought the rebel army for hours before Dorgon finally chose to intervene with his cavalry, the Qing army won a decisive victory against Li Zicheng at theBattle of Shanhai Pass on 27 May.[17] Li Zicheng and his defeated troops looted Beijing for several days until they left the capital on 4 June with all the wealth they could carry.[18] HistorianFrederic Wakeman claims that by the late afternoon, Wu Sangui, who already defected to the Qing, found his army on the verge of defeat when a "violent sandstorm" started blowing on the battlefield. Dorgon have chosen this moment to intervene: galloping around Wu's right flank, the Qing cavalry charged Li's left wing at Yipianshi ("Lone Rock", north of Shanhai Pass). When they saw mounted warriors with shaved foreheads rushing at them out of the storm, Shun troops broke their lines, and With their left wing shattered, the Shun army was routed; thousands of Shun soldiers were massacred as they retreated chaotically towardYongping.[19]
Dorgon greeted the Shunzhi Emperor at the gates of Beijing on 19 October 1644.[20] On 30 October the six-year-old monarch performed sacrifices to Heaven and Earth at theAltar of Heaven.[21] The southern cadet branch ofConfucius's descendants who held the titlewujing boshi and the northern branch 65th generation descendant of Confucius to hold the titleDuke Yansheng had their titles confirmed by the Shunzhi Emperor on 31 October.[22] A formal ritual of enthronement for the Shunzhi Emperor was held on 8 November, during which the young emperor compared Dorgon's achievements to those of theDuke of Zhou, a revered regent of theZhou dynasty.[23] During the ceremony, Dorgon's official title was raised from "Prince Regent" to "Uncle and Prince Regent" (叔父攝政王), in which the Manchu term for "Uncle" (ecike) represented a rank higher than that of imperial prince.[24] Three days later Dorgon's co-regent,Jirgalang, was demoted from "Prince Regent" to "Assistant Uncle Prince Regent" (輔政叔王).[25] In June 1645, Dorgon eventually decreed that all official documents should refer to him as "Imperial Uncle Prince Regent" (皇叔父攝政王), leaving him one step short of claiming the throne for himself.[25]
Dorgon gave a Manchu woman as a wife to the Han Chinese official Feng Quan,[26] who had defected from the Ming to the Qing. The Manchuqueue hairstyle was willingly adopted by Feng Quan before it was enforced on the Han population and Feng learned theManchu language.[27]
After six weeks of mistreatment at the hands of rebel troops, the residents of Beijing sent a party of elders and officials to greet their liberators on 5 June.[28] They were startled when, instead of meeting Wu Sangui and the Ming heir apparent, they saw Dorgon, a horse-riding Manchu with the front half of his head shaved, present himself as thePrince-Regent.[29] In the midst of this upheaval, Dorgon installed himself as Prince-Regent in Wuying Palace (武英殿), the only building that remained more or less intact after Li Zicheng had set fire to theForbidden City on 3 June.[30] Banner troops were ordered not to loot; their discipline made the transition to Qing rule "remarkably smooth."[31] Yet, at the same time, as he claimed to have come to avenge the Ming Empire, Dorgon ordered that all claimants to the Ming throne (including descendants of the last Ming emperor) should be executed along with their supporters.[32]
On 7 June, just two days after entering the city, Dorgon issued special proclamations to officials around the capital, assuring them that if the local population surrendered, the officials would be allowed to stay at their posts. Besides, all the men had to shave the front half of their heads and wear the rest of their hair inqueues.[33] He had to repeal this command three weeks later after several peasant rebellions erupted around Beijing, threatening Qing control over the capital region.[34]
One of Dorgon's first orders in the new Qing capital was to vacate the entire northern part of Beijing and give it toBannermen, including Han Chinese Bannermen.[35] The Yellow Banners were given the place of honor north of the palace, followed by the White Banners to the east, the Red Banners to the west, and the Blue Banners to the south.[36] This distribution complied with the order established in the Manchu homeland before the conquest and under which "each of the banners was given a fixed geographical location according to the points of the compass."[37] Despite tax remissions and large-scale building programmes designed to facilitate the transition, in 1648 many Chinese civilians still lived among the newly arrived Banner population and there was still animosity between the two groups.[38] Agricultural land outside the capital was also delineated (quan圈) and given to Qing troops.[39] Former landowners now became tenants who had to pay rent to their absentee Bannermen landlords.[39] This transition in land use caused "several decades of disruption and hardship."[39]
In 1645, Dorgon was conferred the title "Emperor's Uncle and Prince-Regent" (皇叔父攝政王). Later, in 1649, the title was changed to "Emperor's Father and Prince-Regent" (皇父攝政王). It was rumoured that Dorgon had a romantic affair with the Shunzhi Emperor's mother,Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, and even secretly married her, but there are also refutations. Whether they secretly married,[note 2] had a secret affair or kept their distance remains a controversy in Chinese history.[3]
Under the reign of Dorgon – whom historians have called "the mastermind of the Qing conquest" and "the principal architect of the great Manchu enterprise" – the Qing subdued almost all of China and pushed loyalist "Southern Ming" resistance into the far southwestern reaches of China. After repressing anti-Qing revolts inHebei andShandong in the summer and fall of 1644, Dorgon sent armies to root outLi Zicheng from the important city ofXi'an (Shaanxi province), where Li had reestablished his headquarters after fleeing Beijing in early June 1644.[40] Under the pressure of Qing armies, Li was forced to leave Xi'an in February 1645. He was killed – either by his own hand or by a peasant group that had organised for self-defence during this time of rampant banditry – in September 1645 after fleeing though several provinces.[41]
From newly captured Xi'an, in early April 1645, the Qing forces mounted a campaign against the rich commercial and agricultural region ofJiangnan south of the lowerYangtze River, where in June 1644 thePrince of Fu had established a regime loyal to the Ming.[note 3] Factional bickering and numerous defections prevented the Southern Ming from mounting an efficient resistance.[42] Several Qing armies swept south, taking the key city ofXuzhou north of theHuai River in early May 1645 and soon converging onYangzhou, the main city on the Southern Ming's northern line of defence.[43] Bravely defended byShi Kefa, who refused to surrender, Yangzhou fell to Qing artillery on 20 May after a one-week siege.[44] Dorgon's brother,Dodo, then ordered theslaughter of Yangzhou's entire population.[45] As intended, this massacre terrorised other Jiangnan cities into surrendering to the Qing Empire.[46] Indeed, Nanjing surrendered without a fight on 16 June after its last defenders made Dodo promise he would not harm the population.[47] The Qing forces soon captured the Ming emperor (who died in Beijing the following year) and seized Jiangnan's main cities, includingSuzhou andHangzhou; by early July 1645, the frontier between the Qing Empire and the Southern Ming regime had been pushed south to theQiantang River.[48]
On 21 July 1645, after Jiangnan had been superficially pacified, Dorgon issued a most inopportune edict ordering all Han Chinese men to shave the front half of their heads and wear the rest of their hair inqueues identical to those of the Manchus.[49] The punishment for non-compliance was death.[50] This policy of symbolic submission helped the Manchus distinguish friend from foe.[51] For Han officials and literati, however, the new hairstyle was shameful and demeaning (because it breached a commonConfucian directive to preserve one's body intact), whereas for common folk cutting their hair was the same as losing theirvirility.[52][note 4] Because it united Chinese of all social backgrounds into resistance against Qing rule, the hair cutting command greatly hindered the Qing conquest.[53] The defiant population ofJiading andSongjiang was massacred by former Ming generalLi Chengdong (李成東; d. 1649), respectively on 24 August and 22 September.[54]Jiangyin also held out against about 10,000 Qing troops for 83 days. When the city walls were finally breached on 9 October 1645, the Qing army led by the previous Ming defectorLiu Liangzuo (劉良佐; d. 1667) massacred the entire population, killing between 74,000 and 100,000 people.[55] These massacres ended armed resistance against the Qing Empire in the Lower Yangtze.[56] A few committed loyalists became hermits, hoping that for lack of military success, their withdrawal from the world would at least symbolise their continued defiance against Qing rule.[56]
After the fall of Nanjing, two more members of the Ming imperial household created new Southern Ming regimes: one centred in coastalFujian around the “Longwu Emperor”Zhu Yujian, Prince of Tang, – a ninth-generation descendant of theHongwu Emperor, the Ming dynasty's founder – and one inZhejiang around "Regent"Zhu Yihai, Prince of Lu.[57] But the two loyalist groups failed to cooperate, making their chances of success even lower than they already were.[58] In July 1646, a new southern campaign led byBolo sent Prince Lu's Zhejiang court into disarray and proceeded to attack the Longwu regime in Fujian.[59] Zhu Yujian was caught and summarily executed in Tingzhou (western Fujian) on 6 October.[60] His adoptive sonZheng Chenggong fled to the island ofTaiwan with his fleet.[60] Finally in November, the remaining centers of Ming resistance in Jiangxi province fell to the Qing.[61]
In late 1646, two more Southern Ming monarchs emerged in the southern province ofGuangzhou, reigning under theera names ofShaowu andYongli.[61] Short of official robes, theShaowu court had to purchase from local theatre troupes.[61] The two Ming regimes fought each other until 20 January 1647, when a small Qing force led by Li Chengdong captured Guangzhou, killed theShaowu Emperor, and sent the Yongli court fleeing toNanning in Guangxi.[62] In May 1648, however, Li mutinied against the Qing Empire, and the concurrent rebellion of another former Ming general in Jiangxi helped the Yongli Emperor to retake most of south China.[63] Li's loyalist resurgence failed. New Qing armies managed to reconquer the central provinces of Huguang (present-dayHubei andHunan), Jiangxi, and Guangdong in 1649 and 1650.[64] The Yongli Emperor had to flee again.[64] Finally on 24 November 1650, Qing forces led byShang Kexi captured Guangzhou and massacred the city's population, killing as many as 70,000 people.[65] Although Dutch travelerJohan Nieuhof who witnessed the event happened claimed only 8000 people were slaughtered[66][67]
Meanwhile, in October 1646, Qing armies led byHooge reached Sichuan, where their mission was to destroy the regime of bandit chiefZhang Xianzhong.[68] Zhang was killed in a battle against Qing forces nearXichong in central Sichuan on 1 February 1647.[69] Also late in 1646 but further north, forces assembled by a Muslim leader known in Chinese sources as Milayin (米喇印) revolted against Qing rule inGanzhou (Gansu). He was soon joined by another Muslim named Ding Guodong (丁國棟).[70] Proclaiming that they wanted to restore the Ming, they occupied a number of towns in Gansu, including the provincial capitalLanzhou.[70] These rebels' willingness to collaborate with non-Muslim Chinese suggests that they were not only driven by religion.[70] Both Milayin and Ding Guodong were captured and killed byMeng Qiaofang (孟喬芳; 1595–1654) in 1648, and by 1650 the Muslim rebels had been crushed in campaigns that inflicted heavy casualties.[71]·
In 1646, Dorgon also ordered that theimperial civil service examinations for selecting government officials be reinstated. From then on, examinations were held every three years as under the Ming Empire. In the very first imperial examination held under Qing rule in 1646, candidates, most of whom were northern Chinese, were asked how the Manchus and Han Chinese could work together for a common purpose.[72]
To promote ethnic harmony, a 1648 decree from the Shunzhi Emperor allowed Han Chinese civilian men to marry Manchu women from the Banners with the permission of theBoard of Revenue if they were registered daughters of officials or commoners or the permission of their banner company captain if they were unregistered commoners, it was only later in the Qing dynasty that these policies allowing intermarriage were done away with.[73][74] The decree was formulated by Dorgon.[35]
The 1649 examination asked "how Manchus and Han Chinese could be unified so that their hearts were the same and they worked together without division."[75] Under the Shunzhi Emperor's reign, the average number of graduates of the metropolitan examination per session was the highest of the Qing dynasty ("to win more Chinese support"), continuing until 1660 when lower quotas were established.[76]
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(August 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Dorgon died on 31 December 1650, during a hunting trip in Kharahotun[citation needed] (present-dayChengde, Hebei), after sustaining injuries despite the presence of imperial doctors. He was posthumously granted the title "Emperor Yi" (義皇帝) and thetemple name "Chengzong" (成宗), even though he was never emperor during his lifetime, which is unique in all history of feudal China when only direct ancestors and deceased heirs of a higher degree to an emperor (such as one's own older brothers, one's father's older brothers, or one's cousins born into such uncles) were posthumously granted the title of Emperor. The Shunzhi Emperor even bowed thrice in front of Dorgon's coffin during the funeral.
However, the suspicion that Dorgon was actually murdered by his political enemies while being away from the heavy protection afforded him inside the Forbidden City never went away. Dorgon had 25 years of experience of horse-riding and managed to survive, on horseback, numerous battles with the Koreans, Mongols, Han Chinese rebels, as well as regular Han Chinese armies. The official Qing history claim that he injured his leg while riding on his horse and that the injuries were so severe that he could not survive the trip back to the Forbidden City, despite the presence of imperial doctors, was dubious at best. In the dry winter of northern China, the ground was not wet. Or else, it would have easily caused horses to trip. Another cause for suspicion is that Dorgon's corpse was exhumed, flogged, and incinerated in the purge ordered by Emperor Shunzhi, a likely method camouflaged as the ultimate punishment for his alleged plot to take over the throne, in order to remove all evidence that Dorgon was murdered.
His death also took place when Emperor Shunzhi was about 13, an appropriate age for removing the regency over his head. That is, if Dorgon had died any earlier, Shunzhi would still need a regent to supervise the empire on his behalf.
| Styles of Dorgon, Prince Rui | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reference style | His Imperial Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Imperial Highness |
| Alternative style | Prince Rui/Prince Regent |
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(August 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In 1651, Dorgon's political enemies, led by his former co-regentJirgalang, submitted to theShunzhi Emperor a long memorial listing a series of crimes committed by Dorgon, which included: possession of yellow robes, which were strictly for use only by the emperor; plotting to seize the throne from the Shunzhi Emperor by calling himself "Emperor's Father"; killingHooge and taking Hooge's wife for himself. It is difficult to prove verbal accusations made at the time when all records were ordered to be purged by the Qianlong Emperor in 1778 when he also ordered the rehabilitation of Dorgon. The last charge that Dorgon took Hooge's wife was mostly contrived, as the Manchu tradition dating from the 12th century had allowed a male relative to marry the deceased person's wife almost as a charitable act to save her and her children from being starved to death in the minus 20, merciless winters of the northeastern tip of China, known nowadays as Manchuria.
Jirgalang was an ally of Hooge in the 1643 bitter fight against Dorgon, who allied with his biological brothers for succession to the throne. Jirgalang had been expelled by Dorgon from the joint regency in 1646. This time, Jirgalang succeeded in convincing Emperor Shunzhi that even Dorgon's descendants could become a threat to the throne. As a result, Shunzhi posthumously stripped Dorgon of his titles and even had Dorgon's corpse exhumed and flogged in public. In the February 1651 imperial edict trying to justify the ultimate punishment to a dead person as well as a key member of the imperial clan, Shunzhi ordered that not only Dorgon's name be removed from the scrolls of the imperial ancestral temple. His biological mother, Empress Xiaoliewu, got the same treatment. It was a political act to remove the legitimacy for succession to the throne by any future heir descended from Empress Xiaoliewu.
Execution of all of Dorgon's heirs was also ordered but intentionally not recorded in official Qing history. Dorgon had two biological brothers: Ajige, the 12th son of Nurhaci and Dodo, the 15th. With Dodo dying of smallpox a few months prior to the death of Dorgon in December 1650 and the death of Ajige after he was arrested by Jirgalang's forces and put in jail, the 1651 purge was meant to permanently eliminate the potential that a future prince descending from Empress Xiaolewu would repeat the two Dorgon competitions for succession to the throne happening in 1626, upon the death of Nurhaci, and 1643, upon the death of Hongtaiji.
However, Dorgon was posthumously rehabilitated during theQianlong Emperor's reign. In 1778, the Qianlong Emperor granted Dorgon a posthumous namezhong (忠; "loyal"), so Dorgon's full posthumous title became "Prince Ruizhong of the First Rank" (和碩睿忠親王). The word "loyal" was intentionally picked. It starkly testified that the charges made by Jirgalang in 1651 were all trumped up. The Qianlong Emperor, either intentionally or inadvertently, contradicted the records of the imperial ancestral temple left behind by Shunzhi when he ordered that the words "Dorgon's heirs having been exterminated" (后嗣废绝) be included into official Qing history to indicate why Dorbo, a fifth generation descendant of Dodo, was designated to inherit the iron-cap princely title of Dorgon. The expression "Dorgon's heirs having been exterminated" does not carry the same meaning as "Dorgon never had a son." Regardless, after a lapse of 128 years, the Qianlong Emperor could no longer find the heirs of Dorgon. The Qianlong Emperor also ordered that the rehabilitation of Dorgon be accompanied by a destruction of all the records related to the elimination of the heirs of Dorgon. This was an inglorious chapter not only of Qing history but also the history of the imperial clan of Aisin-Gioro.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(August 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
According to the account of Japanese travellers,[who?]
After Dorgon led Manchu and Han Chinese troops loyal to him into Beijing on 6 June 1644, he immediately ordered restoration of order, as well as penalties for extortion and corruption activities conducted by any member of the imperial clan and other officials. Later, he declared that all Ming officials would be re-employed and the restoration of the civil service system to look for talents nationwide.
Dorgon is usually considered a good, devoted politician but he is also blamed for "Six Bad Policies" (六大弊政).[77] These were policies designed to bolster the rule of the Qing conquerors, but which caused considerable disturbance and bloodshed in China, and included:
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(August 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
According to the account of Japanese travellers,[who?] Dorgon was a 34- or 35-year-old man with slightly dark skin complexion and sharp eyes. He was handsome, tall and slim, and had a shiny and beautifulbeard.
Primary Consort
Secondary Consort
| Giocangga (1526–1583) | |||||||||||||||
| Taksi (1543–1583) | |||||||||||||||
| Empress Yi | |||||||||||||||
| Nurhaci (1559–1626) | |||||||||||||||
| Agu | |||||||||||||||
| Empress Xuan (d. 1569) | |||||||||||||||
| Dorgon (1612–1650) | |||||||||||||||
| Bugan | |||||||||||||||
| Mantai (d. 1596) | |||||||||||||||
| Empress Xiaoliewu (1590–1626) | |||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
