Kangxi Emperor’s Consolidation of Qing Rule, 1661-1722

*Kangxi, r. 1661-1722

Shunzhi dies in 1661

23 years old at death

Kangxi succeeds father

7 years old

Regent Oboi

General

Pro-Manchu policies

Arrested 1669

Kangxi, age 15

War of the 3 Feudatories

Succession, 1671

Geng Jimao, died

Geng Jingzhong succeeds

Shang Kexi retired

Shang Zhixin succeeds

War, 1673-81

Wu Sangui founds Zhou Dynasty

Qing victory

Failures of 3 feudatories

No coordiantion

Lack of appeal to Ming loyalists

Why?

Kangxi's Consolidation

Appeal to Chinese social elite

Literary image and projects

Inspection tours

Mukden, Mt. Wutai, South (Jiangnan)

Granary system

Relief

Price stabilization

Military supply

Military expansion

Taiwan,1683

Ruled by Koxinga and heirs, 1662-83

Fleet of 300 ships under admiral Shi Lang

Prefecture of Fujian established

Zunghar (Dzungar) Mongols, 1696-97

Defeat of Galdan

Vassals

Tibet, 1720

Vassals

Elliott, Emperor Qianlong, Chaps. 5-6

1. What were Qianlong’s tours? Why did Chinese bureaucrats oppose imperial touring?

• Qianlong’s 72 tours were an all-time record for rulers of China. Why did Chinese bureaucrats oppose imperial touring?
• Why does Elliott say that “the political and the personal inescapably intertwined” (p. 84) in Qianlong’s reasons for going on tour?
  • How does he use filial piety to justify touring? Do you think he is being sincere?
  • Why did the tours promote dynastic interests?
• Why do you think that he was driven to tour more frequently than most other emperors in Chinese history?

2. Elliott considers Qianlong’s conquests to be “major milestones” in Qing history (p. 89) and “a watershed in world history” (p. 98). Why does Elliott feel this is the case? Do you agree?

3. Elliott makes the point that Qianlong sought to promote his military successes.

• What media did he use to promote military accomplishments?
• Who were the intended targets of the media campaign?

4. At the top of page 99, Elliott writes, “The expansion of the empire was not done in the name of the ‘nation.’ It was done to extol his [Qianlong’s] fame, to demonstrate that the business of the Qing dynastic house and its servants was also Heaven’s business.” What does Elliot mean? What do Qianlong’s motives reveal about the differences between premodern empires and modern nation-states?