Historical background

In the 1580s, when China was ruled by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), a number of Jurchen tribes lived northeast of Ming territory in the region that is now known as China's Northeast, or "Manchuria". In a series of campaigns from the 1580s to the 1610s, Nurhaci (1559–1626), the leader of the Jianzhou Jurchens, unified most Jurchen tribes under his rule. One of his most important reforms was to integrate Jurchen clans under flags of four different colors—yellow, white, red, and blue—each further subdivided into two to form an encompassing social and military system known as the Eight Banners. Nurhaci gave control of these Banners to his sons and grandsons. Around 1612, Nurhaci renamed his clan Aisin Gioro ("golden Gioro" in the Manchu language), both to distinguish his family from other Gioro lines and to allude to an earlier dynasty that had been founded by Jurchens, the Jin ("golden") dynasty that had ruled northern China from 1115 to 1234. In 1616 Nurhaci formally announced the foundation of the "Later Jin" dynasty, effectively declaring his independence from the Ming. Over the next few years he wrested most major cities in Liaodong from Ming control. His string of victories ended in February 1626 at the siege of Ningyuan, where Ming commander Yuan Chonghuan defeated him with the help of recently acquired Portuguese cannon. Probably wounded during the battle, Nurhaci died a few months later.

Nurhaci's son and successor Hong Taiji (1592–1643) continued his father's state-building efforts: he concentrated power into his own hands, modeled the Later Jin's government institutions on Chinese ones, and integrated Mongol allies and surrendered Chinese troops into the Eight Banners. In 1629 he led an incursion to the outskirts of Beijing, during which he captured Chinese craftsmen who knew how to cast Portuguese cannon. In 1635 Hong Taiji renamed the Jurchens the "Manchus", and in 1636 changed the name of his polity from "Later Jin" to "Qing". After capturing the last remaining Ming cities in Liaodong, by 1643 the Qing were preparing to attack the struggling Ming dynasty, which was crumbling under the combined weight of financial bankruptcy, devastating epidemics, and large-scale bandit uprisings fed by widespread starvation.

Becoming emperor

When Hong Taiji died on 21 September 1643 without having named a successor, the fledgling Qing state faced a possibly serious crisis. Several contenders—namely Nurhaci's second and eldest surviving son Daišan, Nurhaci's fourteenth and fifteenth sons Dorgon and Dodo (both born to the same mother), and Hong Taiji's eldest son Hooge—started to vie for the throne. With his brothers Dodo and Ajige, Dorgon (31 years old) controlled the Plain and Bordered White Banners, Daišan (60) was in charge of the two Red Banners, whereas Hooge (34) had the loyalty of his father's two Yellow Banners.

The decision about who would become the new Qing emperor fell to the Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers, which was the Manchus' main policymaking body until the emergence of the Grand Council in the 1720s. Many Manchu princes argued that Dorgon, a proven military leader, should become the new emperor, but Dorgon refused and insisted that one of Hong Taiji's sons should succeed his father. To recognize Dorgon's authority while keeping the throne in Hong Taiji's descent line, the members of the council named Hong Taiji's ninth son, Fulin, as the new emperor, but decided that Dorgon and Jirgalang (a nephew of Nurhaci who controlled the Bordered Blue Banner) would act as the five-year-old child's regents. Fulin was officially crowned emperor of the Qing dynasty on 8 October 1643; it was decided that he would reign under the era name "Shunzhi." Because the Shunzhi reign is not well documented, it constitutes a relatively little-known period of Qing history.

Dorgons regency (1643–1650)

A quasi emperor

On 17 February 1644, Jirgalang, who was a capable military leader but looked uninterested in managing state affairs, willingly yielded control of all official matters to Dorgon. After an alleged plot by Hooge to undermine the regency was exposed on 6 May of that year, Hooge was stripped of his title of Imperial Prince and his co-conspirators were executed. Dorgon soon replaced Hooge's supporters (mostly from the Yellow Banners) with his own, thus gaining closer control of two more Banners. By early June 1644, he was in firm control of the Qing government and its military.

In early 1644, just as Dorgon and his advisors were pondering how to attack the Ming, peasant rebellions were dangerously approaching Beijing. On 24 April of that year, rebel leader Li Zicheng breached the walls of the Ming capital, pushing the Chongzhen Emperor to hang himself on a hill behind the Forbidden City. Hearing the news, Dorgon's Chinese advisors Hong Chengchou and Fan Wencheng (范文程; 1597–1666) urged the Manchu prince to seize this opportunity to present themselves as avengers of the fallen Ming and to claim the Mandate of Heaven for the Qing. The last obstacle between Dorgon and Beijing was Ming general Wu Sangui, who was garrisoned at Shanhai Pass at the eastern end of the Great Wall. Himself caught between the Manchus and Li Zicheng's forces, Wu requested Dorgon's help in ousting the bandits and restoring the Ming. When Dorgon asked Wu to work for the Qing instead, Wu had little choice but to accept. 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 won a decisive victory against Li Zicheng at the Battle of Shanhai Pass on 27 May. Li's defeated troops looted Beijing for several days until Li left the capital on 4 June with all the wealth he could carry.

Settling in the capital

After six weeks of mistreatment at the hands of rebel troops, the Beijing population sent a party of elders and officials to greet their liberators on 5 June. They were startled when, instead of meeting Wu Sangui and the Ming heir apparent, they saw Dorgon, a horseriding Manchu with his shaved forehead, present himself as the Prince Regent. In the midst of this upheaval, Dorgon installed himself in the Wuying Palace (武英殿), the only building that remained more or less intact after Li Zicheng had set fire to the palace complex on 3 June. Banner troops were ordered not to loot; their discipline made the transition to Qing rule "remarkably smooth." Yet at the same time as he claimed to have come to avenge the Ming, Dorgon ordered that all claimants to the Ming throne (including descendants of the last Ming emperor) should be executed along with their supporters.

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 accepted to shave their forehead, wear a queue, and surrender, the officials would be allowed to stay at their post. He had to repeal this command three weeks later after several peasant rebellions erupted around Beijing, threatening Qing control over the capital region.

Dorgon greeted the Shunzhi Emperor at the gates of Beijing on 19 October 1644. On 30 October the six-year-old monarch performed sacrifices to Heaven and Earth at the Altar of Heaven. The southern cadet branch of Confucius' descendants who held the title Wujing boshi 五經博士 and the sixty-fifth generation descendant of Confucius to hold the title Duke Yansheng in the northern branch both had their titles reconfirmed on 31 October. A formal ritual of enthronement for Fulin was held on 8 November, during which the young emperor compared Dorgon's achievements to those of the Duke of Zhou, a revered regent from antiquity. During the ceremony, Dorgon's official title was raised from "Prince Regent" to "Uncle Prince Regent" (Shufu shezheng wang 叔父攝政王), in which the Manchu term for "Uncle" (ecike) represented a rank higher than that of imperial prince. Three days later Dorgon's co-regent Jirgalang was demoted from "Prince Regent" to "Assistant Uncle Prince Regent" (Fu zheng shuwang 輔政叔王). In June 1645, Dorgon eventually decreed that all official documents should refer to him as "Imperial Uncle Prince Regent" (Huang shufu shezheng wang 皇叔父攝政王), which left him one step short of claiming the throne for himself.

One of Dorgon's first orders in the new Qing capital was to vacate the entire northern part of Beijing to give it to Bannermen, including Han Chinese Bannermen. The Yellow Banners were given the place of honor north of the palace, followed by the White Banners east, the Red Banners west, and the Blue Banners south. This distribution accorded 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." Despite tax remissions and large-scale building programs 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. Agricultural land outside the capital was also marked off (quan 圈) and given to Qing troops. Former landowners now became tenants who had to pay rent to their absentee Bannermen landlords. This transition in land use caused "several decades of disruption and hardship."

In 1646, Dorgon also ordered that the civil examinations for selecting government officials be reestablished. From then on they were held regularly every three years as under the Ming. In the very first palace examination held under Qing rule in 1646, candidates, most of whom were northern Chinese, were asked how the Manchus and Han Chinese could be made to work together for a common purpose. The 1649 examination inquired about "how Manchus and Han Chinese could be unified so that their hearts were the same and they worked together without division." Under the Shunzhi Emperor's reign, the average number of graduates per session of the metropolitan examination was the highest of the Qing dynasty ("to win more Chinese support"), until 1660 when lower quotas were established.

To promote ethnic harmony, in 1648 an imperial decree formulated by Dorgon allowed Han Chinese civilians to marry women from the Manchu Banners, with the permission of the Board of Revenue if they were registered daughters of officials or commoners, or the permission of their banner company captain if they were unregistered commoners. Only later in the dynasty were these policies allowing intermarriage rescinded.

Conquest of China

Under the reign of Dorgon—whom historians have variously 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 in Hebei and Shandong in the Summer and Fall of 1644, Dorgon sent armies to root out Li Zicheng from the important city of Xi'an (Shaanxi province), where Li had reestablished his headquarters after fleeing Beijing in early June 1644. Under the pressure of Qing armies, Li was forced to leave Xi'an in February 1645, and he was killed—either by his own hand or by a peasant group that had organized for self-defense in this time of rampant banditry—in September 1645 after fleeing though several provinces.

From newly captured Xi'an, in early April 1645 the Qing mounted a campaign against the rich commercial and agricultural region of Jiangnan south of the lower Yangtze River, where in June 1644 a Ming imperial prince had established a regime loyal to the Ming. Factional bickering and numerous defections prevented the Southern Ming from mounting an efficient resistance. Several Qing armies swept south, taking the key city of Xuzhou north of the Huai River in early May 1645 and soon converging on Yangzhou, the main city on the Southern Ming's northern line of defense. Bravely defended by Shi Kefa, who refused to surrender, Yangzhou fell to Manchu artillery on 20 May after a one-week siege. Dorgon's brother Prince Dodo then ordered the slaughter of Yangzhou's entire population. As intended, this massacre terrorized other Jiangnan cities into surrendering to the Qing. Indeed, Nanjing surrendered without a fight on 16 June after its last defenders had made Dodo promise he would not hurt the population. The Qing soon captured the Ming emperor (who died in Beijing the following year) and seized Jiangnan's main cities, including Suzhou and Hangzhou; by early July 1645, the frontier between the Qing and the Southern Ming had been pushed south to the Qiantang River.

On 21 July 1645, after Jiangnan had been superficially pacified, Dorgon issued a most inopportune edict ordering all Chinese men to shave their forehead and to braid the rest of their hair into a queue identical to those of the Manchus. The punishment for non-compliance was death. This policy of symbolic submission helped the Manchus in telling friend from foe. For Han officials and literati, however, the new hairstyle was shameful and demeaning (because it breached a common Confucian directive to preserve one's body intact), whereas for common folk cutting their hair was the same as losing their virility. Because it united Chinese of all social backgrounds into resistance against Qing rule, the hair cutting command greatly hindered the Qing conquest. The defiant population of Jiading and Songjiang was massacred by former Ming general Li Chengdong (李成東; d. 1649), respectively on 24 August and 22 September. Jiangyin also held out against about 10,000 Qing troops for 83 days. When the city wall was finally breached on 9 October 1645, the Qing army led by Ming defector Liu Liangzuo (劉良佐; d. 1667) massacred the entire population, killing between 74,000 and 100,000 people. These massacres ended armed resistance against the Qing in the Lower Yangtze. A few committed loyalists became hermits, hoping that for lack of military success, their withdrawal from the world would at least symbolize their continued defiance against foreign rule.

After the fall of Nanjing, two more members of the Ming imperial household created new Southern Ming regimes: one centered in coastal Fujian around the "Longwu Emperor" Zhu Yujian, Prince of Tang—a ninth-generation descendant of Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang—and one in Zhejiang around "Regent" Zhu Yihai, Prince of Lu. But the two loyalist groups failed to cooperate, making their chances of success even lower than they already were. In July 1646, a new Southern Campaign led by Prince Bolo sent Prince Lu's Zhejiang court into disarray and proceeded to attack the Longwu regime in Fujian. Zhu Yujian was caught and summarily executed in Tingzhou (western Fujian) on 6 October. His adoptive son Koxinga fled to the island of Taiwan with his fleet. Finally in November, the remaining centers of Ming resistance in Jiangxi province fell to the Qing.

In late 1646 two more Southern Ming monarchs emerged in the southern province of Guangzhou, reigning under the era names of Shaowu (紹武) and Yongli. Short of official costumes, the Shaowu court had to purchase robes from local theater troops. The two Ming regimes fought each other until 20 January 1647, when a small Qing force led by Li Chengdong captured Guangzhou, killed the Shaowu Emperor, and sent the Yongli court fleeing to Nanning in Guangxi. In May 1648, however, Li mutinied against the Qing, and the concurrent rebellion of another former Ming general in Jiangxi helped Yongli to retake most of south China. This resurgence of loyalist hopes was short-lived. New Qing armies managed to reconquer the central provinces of Huguang (present-day Hubei and Hunan), Jiangxi, and Guangdong in 1649 and 1650. The Yongli emperor had to flee again. Finally on 24 November 1650, Qing forces led by Shang Kexi captured Guangzhou and massacred the city's population, killing as many as 70,000 people.

Meanwhile, in October 1646, Qing armies led by Hooge (the son of Hong Taiji who had lost the succession struggle of 1643) reached Sichuan, where their mission was to destroy the kingdom of bandit leader Zhang Xianzhong. Zhang was killed in a battle against Qing forces near Xichong in central Sichuan on 1 February 1647. 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 in Ganzhou (Gansu). He was soon joined by another Muslim named Ding Guodong. Proclaiming that they wanted to restore the Ming, they occupied a number of towns in Gansu, including the provincial capital Lanzhou. These rebels' willingness to collaborate with non-Muslim Chinese suggests that they were not only driven by religion. Both Milayin and Ding Guodong were captured and killed by Meng Qiaofang (孟喬芳; 1595–1654) in 1648, and by 1650 the Muslim rebels had been crushed in campaigns that inflicted heavy casualties.

Transition and personal rule (1651–1661)

Purging Dorgons clique

Dorgon's unexpected death on 31 December 1650 during a hunting trip triggered a period of fierce factional struggles and opened the way for deep political reforms. Because Dorgon's supporters were still influential at court, Dorgon was given an imperial funeral and was posthumously elevated to imperial status as the "Righteous Emperor" (yi huangdi 義皇帝). On the same day of mid-January 1651, however, several officers of the White Banners led by former Dorgon supporter Ubai arrested Dorgon's brother Ajige for fear he would proclaim himself as the new regent; Ubai and his officers then named themselves presidents of several Ministries and prepared to take charge of the government.

Meanwhile, Jirgalang, who had been stripped of his title of regent in 1647, gathered support among Banner officers who had been disgruntled during Dorgon's rule. In order to consolidate support for the emperor in the two Yellow Banners (which had belonged to the Qing monarch since Hong Taiji) and to gain followers in Dorgon's Plain White Banner, Jirgalang named them the "Upper Three Banners" (shang san qi 上三旗; Manchu: dergi ilan gūsa), which from then on were owned and controlled by the emperor. Oboi and Suksaha, who would become regents for the Kangxi Emperor in 1661, were among the Banner officers who gave Jirgalang their support, and Jirgalang appointed them to the Council of Deliberative Princes to reward them.

On 1 February, Jirgalang announced that the Shunzhi Emperor, who was about to turn thirteen, would now assume full imperial authority. The regency was thus officially abolished. Jirgalang then moved to the attack. In late February or early March 1651 he accused Dorgon of usurping imperial prerogatives: Dorgon was found guilty and all his posthumous honors were removed. Jirgalang continued to purge former members of Dorgon's clique and to bestow high ranks and nobility titles upon a growing number of followers in the Three Imperial Banners, so that by 1652 all of Dorgon's former supporters had been either killed or effectively removed from government.

Factional politics and the fight against corruption

On 7 April 1651, barely two months after he seized the reins of government, the Shunzhi Emperor issued an edict announcing that he would purge corruption from officialdom. This edict triggered factional conflicts among literati that would frustrate him until his death. One of his first gestures was to dismiss grand academician Feng Quan (馮銓; 1595–1672), a northern Chinese who had been impeached in 1645 but was allowed to remain in his post by Prince Regent Dorgon. The Shunzhi Emperor replaced Feng with Chen Mingxia (ca. 1601–1654), an influential southern Chinese with good connections in Jiangnan literary societies. Though later in 1651 Chen was also dismissed on charges of influence peddling, he was reinstated in his post in 1653 and soon became a close personal advisor to the sovereign. He was even allowed to draft imperial edicts just as Ming Grand Secretaries used to. Still in 1653, the Shunzhi Emperor decided to recall the disgraced Feng Quan, but instead of balancing the influence of northern and southern Chinese officials at court as the emperor had intended, Feng Quan's return only intensified factional strife. In several controversies at court in 1653 and 1654, the southerners formed one bloc opposed to the northerners and the Manchus. In April 1654, when Chen Mingxia spoke to northern official Ning Wanwo (寧完我; d. 1665) about restoring the style of dress of the Ming court, Ning immediately denounced Chen to the emperor and accused him of various crimes including bribe-taking, nepotism, factionalism, and usurping imperial prerogatives. Chen was executed by strangulation on 27 April 1654.

In November 1657, a major cheating scandal erupted during the Shuntian provincial-level examinations in Beijing. Eight candidates from Jiangnan who were also relatives of Beijing officials had bribed examiners in the hope of being ranked higher in the contest. Seven examination supervisors found guilty of receiving bribes were executed, and several hundred people were sentenced to punishments ranging from demotion to exile and confiscation of property. The scandal, which soon spread to Nanjing examination circles, uncovered the corruption and influence-peddling that was rife in the bureaucracy, and that many moralistic officials from the north attributed to the existence of southern literary clubs and to the decline of classical scholarship.

Chinese style of rule

During his short reign, the Shunzhi Emperor encouraged Han Chinese to participate in government activities and revived many Chinese-style institutions that had been either abolished or marginalized during Dorgon's regency. He discussed history, classics, and politics with grand academicians such as Chen Mingxia (see previous section) and surrounded himself with new men such as Wang Xi (王熙; 1628–1703), a young northern Chinese who was fluent in Manchu. The "Six Edicts" (Liu yu 六諭) that the Shunzhi Emperor promulgated in 1652 were the predecessors to the Kangxi Emperor's "Sacred Edicts" (1670): "bare bones of Confucian orthodoxy" that instructed the population to behave in a filial and law-abiding fashion. In another move toward Chinese-style government, the sovereign reestablished the Hanlin Academy and the Grand Secretariat in 1658. These two institutions based on Ming models further eroded the power of the Manchu elite and threatened to revive the extremes of literati politics that had plagued the late Ming, when factions coalesced around rival grand secretaries.

To counteract the power of the Imperial Household Department and the Manchu nobility, in July 1653 the Shunzhi Emperor established the Thirteen Offices, or Thirteen Eunuch Bureaus, which were supervised by Manchus, but manned by Chinese eunuchs rather than Manchu bondservants. Eunuchs had been kept under tight control during Dorgon's regency, but the young emperor used them to counter the influence of other power centers such as his mother the Empress Dowager and former regent Jirgalang. By the late 1650s eunuch power became formidable again: they handled key financial and political matters, offered advice on official appointments, and even composed edicts. Because eunuchs isolated the monarch from the bureaucracy, Manchu and Chinese officials feared a return to the abuses of eunuch power that had plagued the late Ming. Despite the emperor's attempt to impose strictures on eunuch activities, the Shunzhi Emperor's favorite eunuch Wu Liangfu (吳良輔; d. 1661), who had helped him defeat the Dorgon faction in the early 1650s, was caught in a corruption scandal in 1658. The fact that Wu only received a reprimand for his accepting bribes did not reassure the Manchu elite, which saw eunuch power as a degradation of Manchu power. The Thirteen Offices would be eliminated (and Wu Liangfu executed) by Oboi and the other regents of the Kangxi Emperor in March 1661 soon after the Shunzhi Emperor's death.

Frontiers, tributaries, and foreign relations

In 1646, when Qing armies led by Bolo had entered the city of Fuzhou, they had found envoys from the Ryūkyū Kingdom, Annam, and the Spanish in Manila. These tributary embassies that had come to see the now fallen Longwu Emperor of the Southern Ming were forwarded to Beijing, and eventually sent home with instructions about submitting to the Qing. The King of the Ryūkyū Islands sent his first tribute mission to the Qing in 1649, Siam in 1652, and Annam in 1661, after the last remnants of Ming resistance had been removed from Yunnan, which bordered Annam.

Also in 1646 sultan Abu al-Muhammad Haiji Khan, a Moghul prince who ruled Turfan, had sent an embassy requesting the resumption of trade with China, which had been interrupted by the fall of the Ming dynasty. The mission was sent without solicitation, but the Qing agreed to receive it, allowing it to conduct tribute trade in Beijing and Lanzhou (Gansu). But this agreement was interrupted by a Muslim rebellion that engulfed the northwest in 1646 (see the last paragraph of the "Conquest of China" section above). Tribute and trade with Hami and Turfan, which had aided the rebels, were eventually resumed in 1656. In 1655, however, the Qing court announced that tributary missions from Turfan would be accepted only once every five years.

In 1651 the young emperor invited to Beijing the Fifth Dalai Lama, the leader of the Yellow Hat Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, who, with the military help of Khoshot Mongol Gushri Khan, had recently unified religious and secular rule in Tibet. Qing emperors had been patrons of Tibetan Buddhism since at least 1621 under the reign of Nurhaci, but there were also political reasons behind the invitation. Namely, Tibet was becoming a powerful polity west of the Qing, and the Dalai Lama held influence over Mongol tribes, many of which had not submitted to the Qing. To prepare for the arrival of this "living Buddha," the Shunzhi Emperor ordered the building of the White Dagoba (baita 白塔) on an island on one of the imperial lakes northwest of the Forbidden City, at the former site of Qubilai Khan's palace. After more invitations and diplomatic exchanges to decide where the Tibetan leader would meet the Qing emperor, the Dalai Lama arrived in Beijing in January 1653. The Dalai Lama later had a scene of this visit carved in the Potala Palace in Lhasa, which he had started building in 1645.

Meanwhile, north of the Manchu homeland, adventurers Vassili Poyarkov (1643–1646) and Yerofei Khabarov (1649–1653) had started to explore the Amur River valley for Tzarist Russia. In 1653 Khabarov was recalled to Moscow and replaced by Onufriy Stepanov, who assumed command of Khabarov's Cossack troops. Stepanov went south into the Sungari River, along which he exacted "yasak" (fur tribute) from native populations such as the Daur and the Duchers, but these groups resisted because they were already paying tribute to the Shunzhi Emperor ("Shamshakan" in Russian sources). In 1654 Stepanov defeated a small Manchu force that had been despatched from Ningguta to investigate Russian advances. In 1655 another Qing commander, the Mongol Minggadari (d. 1669), defeated Stepanov's forces at fort Kumarsk on the Amur, but this was not enough to chase the Russians. In 1658, however, Manchu general Šarhūda (1599–1659) attacked Stepanov with a fleet of 40 or more ships that managed to kill or capture most Russians. This Qing victory temporarily cleared the Amur valley of Cossack bands, but Sino-Russian border conflicts would continue until 1689, when the signature of the Treaty of Nerchinsk fixed the borders between Russia and the Qing.

Continuous campaigns against the Southern Ming

Though the Qing under Dorgon's leadership had successfully pushed the Southern Ming deep into southern China, Ming loyalism was not dead yet. In early August 1652, Li Dingguo, who had served as general in Sichuan under bandit king Zhang Xianzhong (d. 1647) and was now protecting the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming, retook Guilin (Guangxi province) from the Qing. Within a month, most of the commanders who had been supporting the Qing in Guangxi reverted to the Ming side. Despite occasionally successful military campaigns in Huguang and Guangdong in the next two years, Li failed to retake important cities. In 1653, the Qing court put Hong Chengchou in charge of retaking the southwest. Headquartered in Changsha (in what is now Hunan province), he patiently built up his forces; only in late 1658 did well-fed and well-supplied Qing troops mount a multipronged campaign to take Guizhou and Yunnan. In late January 1659, a Qing army led by Manchu prince Doni took the capital of Yunnan, sending the Yongli Emperor fleeing into nearby Burma, which was then ruled by King Pindale Min of the Toungoo dynasty. The last sovereign of the Southern Ming stayed there until 1662, when he was captured and executed by Wu Sangui, the former Ming general whose surrender to the Manchus in April 1644 had allowed Dorgon to start the Qing conquest of China.

Zheng Chenggong ("Koxinga"), who had been adopted by the Longwu Emperor in 1646 and ennobled by Yongli in 1655, also continued to defend the cause of the Southern Ming. In 1659, just as the Shunzhi Emperor was preparing to hold a special examination to celebrate the glories of his reign and the success of the southwestern campaigns, Zheng sailed up the Yangtze River with a well-armed fleet, took several cities from Qing hands, and went so far as to threaten Nanjing. When the emperor heard of this sudden attack he is said to have slashed his throne with a sword in anger. But the siege of Nanjing was relieved and Zheng Chenggong repelled, forcing Zheng to take refuge in the southeastern coastal province of Fujian. Pressured by Qing fleets, Zheng fled to Taiwan in April 1661 but died that same summer. His descendants resisted Qing rule until 1683, when the Kangxi Emperor successfully took the island.

Personality and relationships

After Fulin came to rule on his own in 1651, his mother the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang arranged for him to marry her niece, but the young monarch deposed his new Empress in 1653. The following year Xiaozhuang arranged another imperial marriage with her Khorchin Mongol clan, this time matching her son with her own grand-niece. Though Fulin also disliked his second empress (known posthumously as Empress Xiaohuizhang), he was not allowed to demote her. She never bore him children. Starting in 1656, the Shunzhi Emperor lavished his affection on Consort Donggo, who, according to Jesuit accounts from the time, had first been the wife of another Manchu noble. She gave birth to a son (the Shunzhi Emperor's fourth) in November 1657. The emperor would have made him his heir apparent, but he died early in 1658 before he was given a name.

The Shunzhi Emperor was an open-minded emperor and relied on the advice of Johann Adam Schall von Bell, a Jesuit missionary from Cologne in the Germanic parts of the Holy Roman Empire, for guidance on matters ranging from astronomy and technology to religion and government. In late 1644, Dorgon had put Schall in charge of preparing a new calendar because his eclipse predictions had proven more reliable than those of the official astronomer. After Dorgon's death Schall developed a personal relationship with the young emperor, who called him "grandfather" (mafa in Manchu). At the height of his influence in 1656 and 1657, Schall reports that the Shunzhi Emperor often visited his house and talked to him late into the night. He was excused from prostrating himself in the presence of the emperor, was granted land to build a church in Beijing, and was even given imperial permission to adopt a son (because Fulin worried that Schall did not have an heir), but the Jesuits' hope of converting the Qing sovereign to Christianity was crushed when the Shunzhi Emperor became a devout follower of Chan Buddhism in 1657.

The emperor developed a good command of Chinese that allowed him to manage matters of state and to appreciate Chinese arts such as calligraphy and drama. One of his favorite texts was "Rhapsody of a Myriad Sorrows" (Wan chou qu 萬愁曲), by Gui Zhuang (歸莊; 1613–1673), who was a close friend of anti-Qing intellectuals Gu Yanwu and Wan Shouqi (萬壽祺; 1603–1652). "Quite passionate and attaching great importance to qing (love)," he could also recite by heart long passages of the popular Romance of the Western Chamber.

Death and succession

Smallpox

In September 1660, Consort Donggo, the Shunzhi Emperor's favourite consort, suddenly died as a result of grief over the loss of a child. Overwhelmed with grief, the emperor fell into dejection for months, until he contracted smallpox on 2 February 1661. On 4 February 1661, officials Wang Xi (王熙, 1628–1703; the emperor's confidant) and Margi (a Manchu) were called to the emperor's bedside to record his last will. On the same day, his seven-year-old third son Xuanye was chosen to be his successor, probably because he had already survived smallpox. The emperor died on 5 February 1661 in the Forbidden City at the age of twenty-two.

The Manchus feared smallpox more than any other disease because they had no immunity to it and almost always died when they contracted it. By 1622 at the latest, they had already established an agency to investigate smallpox cases and isolate sufferers to avoid contagion. During outbreaks, royal family members were routinely sent to "smallpox avoidance centers" (bidousuo 避痘所) to protect themselves from infection. The Shunzhi Emperor was particularly fearful of the disease, because he was young and lived in a large city, near sources of contagion. Indeed, during his reign at least nine outbreaks of smallpox were recorded in Beijing, each time forcing the emperor to move to a protected area such as the "Southern Park" (Nanyuan 南苑), a hunting ground south of Beijing where Dorgon had built a "smallpox avoidance center" in the 1640s. Despite this and other precautions—such as rules forcing Chinese residents to move out of the city when they contracted smallpox—the young monarch still succumbed to that illness.

Forged last will

The emperor's last will, which was made public on the evening of 5 February, appointed four regents for his young son: Oboi, Soni, Suksaha, and Ebilun, who had all helped Jirgalang to purge the court of Dorgon's supporters after Dorgon's death on the last day of 1650. It is difficult to determine whether the Shunzhi Emperor had really named these four Manchu nobles as regents, because they and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang clearly tampered with the emperor's testament before promulgating it. The emperor's will expressed his regret about his Chinese-style ruling (his reliance on eunuchs and his favoritism toward Chinese officials), his neglect of Manchu nobles and traditions, and his headstrong devotion to his consort rather than to his mother. Though the emperor had often issued self-deprecating edicts during his reign, the policies his will rejected had been central to his government since he had assumed personal rule in the early 1650s. The will as it was formulated gave "the mantle of imperial authority" to the four regents, and served to support their pro-Manchu policies during the period known as the Oboi regency, which lasted from 1661 to 1669.

After death

Because court statements did not clearly announce the cause of the emperor's death, rumors soon started to circulate that he had not died but in fact retired to a Buddhist monastery to live anonymously as a monk, either out of grief for the death of his beloved consort, or because of a coup by the Manchu nobles his will had named as regents. These rumors seemed not so incredible because the emperor had become a fervent follower of Chan Buddhism in the late 1650s, even letting monks move into the imperial palace. Modern Chinese historians have considered the Shunzhi Emperor's possible retirement as one of the three mysterious cases of the early Qing. But much circumstantial evidence—including an account by one of these monks that the emperor's health greatly deteriorated in early February 1661 because of smallpox, and the fact that a concubine and an Imperial Bodyguard committed suicide to accompany the emperor in burial—suggests that the Shunzhi Emperor's death was not staged.

After being kept in the Forbidden City for 27 days of mourning, on 3 March 1661 the emperor's corpse was transported in a lavish procession to Jingshan 景山 (a hillock just north of the Forbidden City), after which a large amount of precious goods were burned as funeral offerings. Only two years later, in 1663, was the body transported to its final resting place. Contrary to Manchu customs at the time, which usually dictated that a deceased person should be cremated, the Shunzhi Emperor was buried. He was interred in what later came to be known as the Eastern Qing Tombs, 125 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Beijing, one of two Qing imperial cemeteries. His tomb is part of the Xiao (孝) mausoleum complex (known in Manchu as the Hiyoošungga Munggan), which was the first mausoleum to be erected on that site.

Legacy

The fake will in which the Shunzhi Emperor had supposedly expressed regret for abandoning Manchu traditions gave authority to the nativist policies of the Kangxi Emperor's four regents. Citing the testament, Oboi and the other regents quickly abolished the Thirteen Eunuch Bureaus. Over the next few years, they enhanced the power of the Imperial Household Department, which was run by Manchus and their bondservants, eliminated the Hanlin Academy, and limited membership in the Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers to Manchus and Mongols. The regents also adopted aggressive policies toward the Qing's Chinese subjects: they executed dozens of people and punished thousands of others in the wealthy Jiangnan region for literary dissent and tax arrears, and forced the coastal population of southeast China to move inland in order to starve the Taiwan-based Kingdom of Tungning run by descendants of Koxinga.

After the Kangxi Emperor managed to imprison Oboi in 1669, he reverted many of the regents' policies. He restored institutions his father had favored, including the Grand Secretariat, through which Chinese officials gained an important voice in government. He also defeated the rebellion of the Three Feudatories, three Chinese military commanders who had played key military roles in the Qing conquest, but had now become entrenched rulers of enormous domains in southern China. The civil war (1673–1681) tested the loyalty of the new Qing subjects, but Qing armies eventually prevailed. Once victory had become certain, a special examination for "eminent scholars of broad learning" (Boxue hongru 博學鴻儒) was held in 1679 to attract Chinese literati who had refused to serve the new dynasty. The successful candidates were assigned to compile the official history of the fallen Ming dynasty. The rebellion was defeated in 1681, the same year the Kangxi Emperor initiated the use of variolation to inoculate children of the imperial family against smallpox. When the Kingdom of Tungning finally fell in 1683, the military consolidation of the Qing regime was complete. The institutional foundation laid by Dorgon, and the Shunzhi and Kangxi emperors allowed the Qing to erect an imperial edifice of awesome proportion and to turn it into "one of the most successful imperial states the world has known." Ironically, however, the prolonged Pax Manchurica that followed the Kangxi consolidation made the Qing unprepared to face aggressive European powers with modern weaponry in the nineteenth century.

Family

Although only nineteen empresses and consorts are recorded for the Shunzhi Emperor in the Aisin Gioro genealogy made by the Imperial Clan Court, burial records show that he had at least thirty-two of them. Twelve bore him children. There were two empresses in his reign, both relatives of his mother the empress dowager. After the 1644 conquest, imperial consorts and empresses were usually known by their titles and by the name of their patrilineal clan.

Eleven of the Shunzhi Emperor's 32 spouses bore him a total of fourteen children, but only four sons (Fuquan, Xuanye, Changning, and Longxi) and one daughter (Princess Gongque) lived to be old enough to marry. Unlike later Qing emperors, the names of the Shunzhi Emperor's sons did not include a generational character.

Before the Qing court moved to Beijing in 1644, Manchu women used to have personal names, but after 1644 these names "disappear from the genealogical and archival records." Only after their betrothal were imperial daughters given a title and rank, by which they then became known. Although five of the Shunzhi Emperor's six daughters died in infancy or childhood, they all appear in the Aisin Gioro genealogy.

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Consorts and Issue:

• Consort Jing, of the Khorchin Borjigit clan (靜妃 博爾濟吉特氏), first cousin, personal name Erdeni Bumba (額爾德尼布木巴)皇后→靜妃

• Empress Xiaohuizhang, of the Khorchin Borjigit clan (孝惠章皇后 博爾濟吉特氏; 5 November 1641 – 7 January 1718), first cousin once removed, personal name Alatan Qiqige (阿拉坦琪琪格)皇后..仁憲皇太后

• Empress Xiaoxian, of the Donggo clan (孝獻皇后 董鄂氏; 1639 – 23 September 1660)賢妃→皇貴妃

　• Prince Rong of the First Rank (榮親王; 12 November 1657 – 25 February 1658), fourth son

• Empress Xiaokangzhang, of the Tunggiya clan (孝康章皇后 佟佳氏; 1638 – 20 March 1663)..慈和皇太后

　• Xuanye, the Kangxi Emperor (聖祖 玄燁; 4 May 1654 – 20 December 1722), third son

• Consort Dao, of the Khorchin Borjigit clan (悼妃 博爾濟吉特氏; d. 7 April 1658), first cousin

• Consort Zhen, of the Donggo clan (貞妃 董鄂氏; d. 5 February 1661)

• Consort Ke, of the Shi clan (恪妃 石氏; d. 13 January 1668)

• Consort Gongjing, of the Hotsit Borjigit clan (恭靖妃 博爾濟吉特氏; d. 20 May 1689)

• Consort Shuhui, of the Khorchin Borjigit clan (淑惠妃 博爾濟吉特氏; 1642 – 17 December 1713), first cousin once removed

• Consort Duanshun, of the Abaga Borjigit clan (端順妃 博爾濟吉特氏; d. 1 August 1709)

• Consort Ningque, of the Donggo clan (寧愨妃 董鄂氏; d. 11 August 1694)

　• Fuquan, Prince Yuxian of the First Rank (裕憲親王 福全; 8 September 1653 – 10 August 1703), second son

• Mistress, of the Ba clan (巴氏)

　• Niuniu (牛鈕; 13 December 1651 – 9 March 1652), first son

　• Third daughter (30 January 1654 – April/May 1658)

　• Fifth daughter (6 February 1655 – January 1661)

• Mistress, of the Chen clan (陳氏; d. 1690)

　• First daughter (22 April 1652 – November/December 1653)

　• Changning, Prince Gong of the First Rank (恭親王 常寧; 8 December 1657 – 20 July 1703), fifth son

• Mistress, of the Yang clan (楊氏)

　• Princess Gongque of the Second Rank (和碩恭愨公主; 19 January 1654 – 26 November 1685), second daughter

　　• Married Na'erdu (訥爾杜; d. 1676) of the Manchu Gūwalgiya clan in February/March 1667

　• Fourth daughter (9 January 1655 – March/April 1661)

• Mistress, of the Nara clan (那拉氏)

　• Sixth daughter (11 November 1657 – March 1661)

• Mistress, of the Tang clan (唐氏)

　• Qishou (奇授; 3 January 1660 – 12 December 1665), sixth son

• Mistress, of the Niu clan (鈕氏)

　• Longxi, Prince Chunjing of the First Rank (純靖親王 隆禧; 30 May 1660 – 20 August 1679), seventh son

• Mistress, of the Muktu clan (穆克圖氏)

　• Yonggan (永幹; 23 January 1661 – 15 January 1668), eighth son

Ancestry

In popular culture

• Portrayed by Jung Yun-seok in the 2013 JTBC TV series Blooded Palace: The War of Flowers.

家世背景

14世紀，數支女真部落生活在大明（1368年–1644年）東北長城疆域外，即現代被稱為中國東北或「滿洲」的地區明太祖時，為壓抑北元殘餘勢力，於是東北設立遠東指揮使司。

明成祖永樂年間（1403年－1424年），在東北疆域置奴兒幹都司等衛所，明政府先後將建州建立3個三個衛，總稱「建州三衛」防衛女真侵入，其中建州女真一部最為強大，其後建州女真首領努爾哈赤（1559年–1626年）經過三十餘年的征撫，完成對女真各部的統一。

努爾哈赤最重要的一項改革，是將鬆散的女真諸部的力量凝聚在黃、白、紅、藍四色旗之下，此後，又在原有四色旗基礎上再增鑲黃、鑲白、鑲紅、鑲藍四旗，形成八旗。此社會軍事組織制度是為八旗制度。努爾哈赤將旗主交由子侄擔任。在1612年左右，努爾哈赤為使其部族人與其他支覺羅部族人相區別，故將部族名變更為愛新覺羅氏（意為「黃金般高貴神聖的覺羅一族」）。

1616年，努爾哈赤宣布叛明自立國號，史稱後金，建元天命。爾後，努爾哈赤繼而攻打原大明領土的遼東大多數主要地區，其軍隊所向披靡，直到1626年1月，努爾哈赤在寧遠攻城之時，被駐守該地的明軍指揮官袁崇煥，以不久前收購的葡萄牙人的紅夷大炮擊敗。努爾哈赤可能在寧遠之戰中受了致命傷，因而在戰後數月逝世。

努爾哈赤之子皇太極（1592年–1643年）繼續致力于其父的大業：他把權力集于自己之手，仿效明朝政治制度，並完善和拓展八旗制度，在原有滿洲八旗的基礎上增設蒙古八旗和漢軍八旗。1629年，他率軍入侵北京郊區，在此期間俘獲了知道如何鑄造紅夷大炮的漢人工匠。1635年，皇太極改稱女真為「滿洲」，1636年，他又將國號「後金」改為「大清」。在松錦之戰後的1643年，明朝已經在財政破產、瘟疫肆虐以及大饑荒導致的明末農民戰爭等致命危機之中搖搖欲墜，清朝準備展開對明朝的最後一擊。

早年

出生

清世祖福臨出生于崇德三年正月三十（1638年3月15日），為皇太極第九子，其時皇太極與愛妃海蘭珠之子（皇八子）剛夭折兩天。福臨的母親是布木布泰（1613–1688），博爾濟吉特氏，科爾沁部貝勒寨桑之女；1636年至1651年的封號為「永福宮莊妃」，她在兒子親政後尊為皇太后，後世習稱她為孝莊文皇后。

崇德七年 (1642年) 十二月初二日，皇太極率諸王貝勒及文武大臣行獵於葉赫地方。同月十二日，到達噶哈嶺。聖汗之五歲幼子方喀拉章京射殺一包。學者楊珍在《順治朝滿文檔案札記》認為方喀拉即為福臨的原名或乳名，章京即為方喀拉在此次隨皇太極行獵時，臨時得到的職位。

王儲之爭

1643年9月21日，50歲的皇太極去世，他生前未指定儲君，清朝面臨著可能出現的嚴重分裂危機。皇太極的 34歲長子豪格廣有戰功，但他與戰功彪炳的叔叔多爾袞不合。長子豪格之外，皇太極尚有葉布舒、碩塞、高塞、常舒、韜塞、福臨(5歲)、博穆博果爾等七名兒子。其中葉布舒、高塞、常舒、韜塞四人中，有三人年長于福臨，但皆生母地位低微，無法越過福臨、博穆博果爾繼承皇位。而碩塞的生母葉赫那拉氏則早被皇太極賜給大臣，博穆博果爾則年幼于福臨。

此時，數名親王與貝勒爭奪皇位——努爾哈赤的次子兼在世的長子和碩禮親王代善、努爾哈赤第十四子和碩睿親王多爾袞和第十五子和碩豫親王多鐸（兩人為同母所出）以及皇太極之長子和碩肅親王豪格——開始逐鹿皇位。皇太極的弟弟多鐸、多羅武英郡王阿濟格及多爾袞（31歲）掌有正白及鑲白旗，代善（60歲）掌有兩紅旗，而豪格（34歲）則獲得其父兩黃旗的支持。

議政王大臣會議著手議立新帝，此會議直到軍機處在18世紀20年代出現以前一直是滿清的主要決策機構。許多親王、貝勒主張多爾袞這個久經考驗的軍事將領成為新皇帝，但多爾袞拒絕為帝，而是堅持讓皇太極的一個兒子承襲父位。

會議接受多爾袞的具有權勢的主張，繼續讓皇太極的後裔繼承大統。最終商議決定立皇太極第九子福臨承襲父位為新皇帝，但亦決定立和碩鄭親王濟爾哈朗（努爾哈赤之侄，他掌有鑲藍旗）和多爾袞作這個五歲孩子的攝政。

1643年10月8日，福臨正式登上清朝皇帝位；定年號為「順治」。由于記載順治年間的文獻語焉不詳，所以這段時期同整個清朝歷史相比顯得較為鮮為人知。

多爾袞攝政（1643－1650年）

入關以前

濟爾哈朗是一位驍勇善戰、受人尊敬的將領，但看起來對多爾袞已很快就抓到手中的日常行政事務毫無興趣。1644年2月17日，濟爾哈朗召集內三院、六部、都察院和理藩院的官員，向他們宣布：「嗣後，凡各衙辦理事務或有應白于我二王者，或有記檔者，皆先啟知睿親王檔子，書名亦宜先書睿親王名，其坐立班次及行禮儀，注俱照前例行。」此後在同年5月6日，豪格暗中動搖攝政統治的陰謀暴露。豪格的黨羽全部被處死，豪格本人被褫奪親王爵位。多爾袞在此後不久，以自己的支持者接替取代了豪格的擁護者（大多來自黃旗），從而掌控了兩白旗以外的旗。至1644年6月初期，他已牢牢地把清政府及其軍政大權掌握在自己手中。

1644年初期，正當多爾袞與其謀士苦思鑽研如何攻大明之時，民變逼近北京。同年4月24日，民變領袖李自成攻破明都城牆，促使崇禎皇帝朱由檢在紫禁城後的萬歲山歪脖樹上自縊身亡。多爾袞的漢人謀士洪承疇和范文程聞訊，敦促滿洲親王抓住此機遇，給大明報仇雪恨，進而為大清奪取天命。駐紮在長城東端山海關的大明總兵吳三桂，是多爾袞同北京之間的最後一道障礙。此時他正被滿洲人與李自成軍間的武力夾得左右為難，吳三桂請求多爾袞幫助他驅逐土匪，恢復大明。當多爾袞要求吳三桂替大清效力之時，吳三桂除了接受之外別無選擇。清兵因此得到了吳三桂的精兵的輔助，後同李自成軍進行一片石之戰，在多爾袞最終選擇用騎兵介入此戰鬥前，吳三桂的精兵就已和李自成軍交戰了數小時。5月27日，大清取得此戰的決定性勝利。戰敗的李自成軍在北京洗劫數日，直至6月4日攜帶著所能帶走的財物離京。

定都

6月5日，被叛軍之手肆虐了六周的北京市民，派出了一批士紳及官吏迎接他們將要來到的解放者。可當他們見到的是騎著馬、把前額頭髮剃光並自稱攝政王的滿洲人多爾袞，而不是大明皇太子朱慈烺及其保護者平西伯吳三桂時，吃了一大驚。在此場動亂之中，多爾袞將自己安置在武英殿，後者是李自成在6月3日火燒大內後，唯一未被損壞的建築。旗軍們被命令不許搶劫；他們的紀律約束使統治過渡到大清「出奇地順利」。然而在同時，多爾袞卻聲稱他是為報複大明而來。他下令將大明皇族（包括大明末代皇帝朱由檢的後裔）及其擁護者全部處決。

6月7日，進城僅兩天的多爾袞向首都的官員發布諭告。該諭告向官員們保証，如果本地居民剃髮易服並且接受歸降，那麼他們則可以官複舊職。可是在此諭告發布後的三周內，北京爆發數場農民起義，威脅大清控制首都地區。面對威脅，多爾袞不得不將此諭告廢除。

1644年10月19日，多爾袞在北京大門迎接福臨。10月30日，六歲的福臨被帶到北京南郊的天壇祭拜天地。11月8日，福臨的登基儀式正式舉行。同日，年幼的皇帝將多爾袞的功績同周公進行比較，後者為古時一個受人尊敬的攝政。在登基儀式上，多爾袞的官銜由「攝政王」升為「叔父攝政王」。滿語「叔父」（ecike）在此表示高于親王的一級身份。三天後，多爾袞的攝政同事濟爾哈朗的官銜由「攝政王」降為「輔政叔王」。多爾袞在1645年6月發布儀注規定，今後所有公文均應書寫「皇叔父攝政王」稱呼他，這使得多爾袞距離皇帝權威僅剩一步之遙。最終多爾袞在1648年更凌駕于小皇帝之上，稱「皇父攝政王」。

多爾袞進入大清新首都後的最初的一個命令是，將北京北部全部騰出，然後把它分給旗人。兩黃旗分得榮耀的宮殿北部，其次，東部為兩白旗，西部為兩紅旗，南部為兩藍旗。八旗的此種布局，是為了使京城同滿洲在征服中原前的故鄉保持一致。此種布局「按照羅盤的指針指向，給顏色不同的旗人分配在一個固定的地理位置。」儘管大清為了加快過渡而減免稅收，推遲大型建築建造計劃。但到了1648年，新來的旗人與共同生活的漢人百姓間仍有敵意。而首都以外的農業用地則全部被清軍圈占。昔日的地主，現在卻成了給外居旗人地主支付租金的佃戶。這種土地用途的轉變導致了「數十年的中斷和苦難。」

在1646年，多爾袞還下令重建選任政府官員的科舉考試。從那時起，他們效仿大明，每三年定期舉行一次科舉。同年，大清統治下的第一次殿試舉行，大多數報考者為北方漢人，他們被提問如何使滿漢同心合志。1649年，考試詢問「聯滿漢為一體，使之同心合力，歡然無間，何道而可？」在1660年確定減少中額前，順治朝下每屆會試的考中人數的平均為大清最高（「得到了漢人更多的支持」）。

一統中原

多爾袞被歷史學家不同地稱為「大清征服的優秀策劃者」和「滿洲洪業的首席建築師」，大清在他的統治下，征服了中原大部分地區，並將「南明」的勢力範圍推到了遙遠的中國西南地區。李自成從北京逃到西安，並在後者重建指揮部。多爾袞在同年夏、秋將河北、山東抗清起義鎮壓後，派遣軍隊進入西安（陝西省）主要城市搜尋李自成。1645年2月，在清軍的壓力下，李自成被迫離開了西安。他被殺了——無論是死于自己之手，還是被當地村民疑以為劫盜而誤殺——1645年9月後，他在幾個省份中消失了。

1644年6月，福王朱由崧于長江中下游以南的江南富饒的商農區建立大明弘光政權。1645年4月初，大清從新占領的西安出發，準備向那裡發起進攻，南明政權的黨派之爭和不計其數的逃叛，阻礙了其有效抵抗能力的增強。1645年5月初，數支清軍席捲南方，隨手奪取了徐州淮河以北的主要城市。此後不久，他們向南明北部防線的主要城市——揚州——擁去。史可法面對包圍，勇敢地反抗。5月20日，遭受一周炮轟的揚州被滿洲人攻破，史可法依舊拒絕投降。多爾袞的弟弟多鐸遂下令屠殺揚州全城人民。作為目的，這場大屠殺作為恐嚇江南其他城市降服于大清。緊接著南京在6月16日，即最後的防衛者使多鐸保証不會傷人後，錢謙益開城而降。大清在不久俘獲了大明皇帝（他在翌年被處決于北京），並迅速奪取了江南包括蘇州杭州的主要城市；至1645年7月初，清朝與南明之間的邊界被推到南方的錢塘江。

江南剛有了表面上的平靜後，多爾袞便在1645年7月21日發布了一個最不合時宜的告示，他命令所有的成年男人剃去他們前額的頭髮，將他們的頭髮按照滿洲人的髡髮辮式編紮起來。不服從告示者將被處以死刑。對于滿洲人來講，此象徵著屈服的政策，有助于他們分清敵我。不過，在漢人官員和文人看來，新髮型是一種奇恥大辱（因為它有悖于孔門弟子關于保持身體完整的指導）。而對于普通百姓來說，剃髮如同喪失他們的。由于剃髮令逼使社會的各個階層的漢人聯合起來反抗滿清統治，所以極大地阻礙了滿清的征服。在1645年8月24日和9月22日，前明將領李成棟分別對嘉定和松江反抗的人民進行屠殺。而江陰還同約一萬名清軍進行了八十三天的對抗。當城門最終在1645年10月9日被攻破時，降清明將劉良佐對全城人進行屠殺，這場屠殺造成了七萬四千至十萬不等的人的死亡。這些大屠殺結束了長江中下游的反清武裝抵抗。有幾個忠誠的勤王者成了隱士，並希望著清軍敗潰。雖然他們退出了世界，但至少象徵著在繼續反抗外族統治。

南京淪陷後，兩支明宗室建立了兩個新的南明政權：一個是以福建沿岸附近為中心隆武皇帝唐王朱聿鍵——明太祖朱元璋的九世孫——而另一個是浙江附近的「監國」魯王朱以海。但由于雙方彼此不服，無法聯合抗清，不但無法反攻滿清，也導致喪失維持政權的機會，造成漢人政權走向衰亡。1646年7月，貝勒博洛領導的新的南方軍事活動使魯王的浙江朝廷陷入混亂狀態，繼而向隆武政權發起進攻。朱聿鍵于10月6日在汀州（福建西部）被俘，即刻處死。他的養子國姓爺鄭成功則隨他的船隊逃往泉州。11月，江西剩餘的忠明抵抗中心崩潰，整個江西降清。

1646年末，廣州出現了兩個新的大明皇帝：一個是年號為紹武的朱聿鍵之弟唐王朱聿𨮁，另一個為年號為永曆的桂王朱由榔。由于朝服不夠，此後紹武政權所任命的官員不得不向本地伶人購買戲袍。兩支南明政權彼此殘殺，直到1647年1月20日，李成棟率領的一支小規模清兵組成的先頭部隊開進廣州，處死了朱聿𨮁，迫使永曆朝廷逃往廣西南寧。然而，李成棟于1648年5月起兵抗清，與江西的前明將領金聲桓並發起義，幫助朱由榔奪回了中國南方的絕大部分地區。但南明的複興只是曇花一現。清軍于1649年和1650年重新征服湖廣中部（今河北和湖南）、江西和廣東。朱由榔再度逃亡。最後，1650年11月24日，尚可喜所統率的清軍攻占廣州，殺死七萬多人。

同時，1646年10月，豪格（福臨長兄，于1643年繼承鬥爭中失去繼承權）所統率的清軍抵達四川，任務是摧毀張獻忠領導的大西國。1647年2月2日，張獻忠與清軍在川中西充附近作戰時被殺。1646年末抗清勢力進一步向北蔓延，由一個穆斯林將領米喇印領導的武裝力量反抗大清對甘州（甘肅）的統治。另一名穆斯林丁國棟很快加入了他的抗清運動。他們以恢復大明為號召，攻克了甘肅的數個城鎮，其中包括省會蘭州在內。這些起義者願意同非穆斯林的漢人進行合作，這表明他們不是僅僅被宗教所驅使。1648年，米喇印戰死于水泉（今甘肅永昌水泉子村），丁國棟則被孟喬芳俘獲並被多爾袞下令處決，至1650年，造成了大量人員傷亡的穆斯林起義運動被粉碎。

過渡和個人統治

肅清多爾袞集團

1650年12月31日，多爾袞在狩獵途中意外死亡，引發了一段激烈的派系鬥爭，開闢了深層次政治改革之路。由于多爾袞的支持者在朝廷上仍具影響，所以多爾袞的喪禮依帝禮，多爾袞死後獲追尊為皇帝，謚號懋德修道廣業定功安民立政誠敬義皇帝，廟號成宗。然而，在1651年1月中旬的同一天，多爾袞的前部將吳拜統率下的數名白旗軍官為防範多爾袞的胞兄阿濟格自立為新攝政而將其逮捕；之後，吳拜讓福臨任命自己及他的幾位追隨者為各部尚書，準備接管政府。

同時，于1647年被褫奪攝政頭銜的濟爾哈朗，獲得了對多爾袞統治心懷不滿的旗官的支持。濟爾哈朗為了鞏固直屬皇帝的兩黃旗（前兩旗自清太宗開始直屬皇帝）對自己的支持，爭取白旗支持者，賦予正黃、鑲黃、正白三旗一個新名稱：上三旗（此三旗自此由皇帝直接統轄）。于1661年成為玄燁的輔政大臣的鰲拜和蘇克薩哈，是給予濟爾哈朗支持的旗官，濟爾哈朗以指定他們參加議政王大臣會議作為回報。

1651年2月1日，濟爾哈朗宣布即將13歲的福臨親政。攝政正式廢止。濟爾哈朗此後展開攻勢。1651年3月12日，他控告多爾袞僭越皇權：多爾袞被判有罪，他獲得的追尊被剝奪。濟爾哈朗繼續肅清多爾袞集團前成員，為上三旗中越來越多的支持者升官晉爵，所以到了1652年，多爾袞的前支持者或是被殺，或是被有效的從政府中清除。

派系政治和反腐之爭

福臨僅僅親政兩個月後，便于1651年4月7日發布諭告，宣布他將肅清官場腐敗。該諭告引起文人間的派系之爭，令福臨沮喪無比，至死也無可奈何。福臨的最初的一項行動是罷免大學士馮銓。馮銓為北方漢人，先前曾于1645年受彈劾，但攝政王多爾袞仍准其任職如故。福臨以陳名夏取代馮銓。陳名夏是個有影響力的南方漢人，同南方文人集團關係良好。陳名夏儘管曾于1651年受控以權謀私，但旋于1653年官複原職，旋即成為皇上的親密的私人顧問。陳名夏甚至獲准可以像昔日的明代內閣大學士那樣起草詔書。同于1653年，福臨決定召回聲名狼藉的馮銓。皇帝如此行事，本意是想讓南北漢人官員在朝廷上勢均力敵，從而平息派系衝突。然而，馮銓回歸後，派系之爭反而激化，令皇帝始料未及。在1653年和1654年的數次朝議中，南方人形成反對北方人與滿洲人的陣營。1654年4月，陳名夏向北方漢人官員寧完我建議，清廷應恢復明代衣冠，寧完我旋即向皇帝揭發此事，並指控陳名夏幹犯有包括貪污受賄、裙帶關係、結黨營私和僭越皇權在內的各種罪行。1654年4月27日，陳名夏被絞死。

1657年11月，北京順天省試的一場重大作弊醜聞爆出。八名江南考生賄賂了京城的主考官，希望能得到更高的名次。七名主考官以受賄的罪名被處以死刑，數百人被判處貶謫流放和沒收財產。這場醜聞很快蔓延到了南京會試，揭露了官僚制的腐敗和以權謀私，許多堅持正統觀念的北人官員將之歸因為南方文人小團體的存在和經典學問的衰落。

中原式統治

福臨在他短暫的統治期間，鼓勵漢人入仕，恢復了許多多爾袞攝政期間廢止或排斥的中原王朝制度。他和大學士（諸如陳名夏，見上文）談論歷史、經典和政治，他周圍聚集了一批新人，諸如能講一口流利滿語的北方年輕漢人王熙。福臨于1652年頒布的《六諭》是玄燁1670年頒布的《聖諭》的前身，後者是一部「正統儒家思想的梗概」，用于指示百姓遵守孝道和法律。順治帝用中原王朝的一些體制改革清朝制度，于1658年恢復了翰林院和內閣。這兩個機構承襲明代模式，進一步削弱滿洲貴族的權力，這使得深深困擾晚明的黨爭問題死灰複燃成為可能。

為了削弱內務府和滿洲貴族的權力，1653年7月，福臨設立十三衙門，後者雖由滿洲人監督，但由漢族宦官而非滿洲包衣阿哈掌控。宦官在多爾袞攝政期間受嚴格的限制，但小皇帝用他們來制衡像皇太后和皇叔濟爾哈朗這樣的實權派人物的影響。至1650年代後期，宦官的權力變大：他們處理關鍵的政治和經濟問題，就官員任命提出建議，甚至負責起草詔令。由于宦官削弱了官僚集團與皇帝間的聯繫，滿漢官員擔心困擾晚明的宦官擅權局面會重現。儘管皇帝嘗試限制宦官權力，他最寵愛的宦官吳良輔還是于1658年陷入腐敗醜聞，吳良輔于1650年代早期幫助他肅清多爾袞集團。但吳良輔收受賄賂僅僅受到譴責，未能平息宦官權力膨脹引發的滿洲貴族的怒火。。福臨死後不久，1661年3月，鰲拜和另外三位輔政大臣將十三衙門裁撤，吳良輔被處決。

邊疆、進貢國和對外關係

1646年，博洛率清軍進入福州，發現來自琉球國和安南的使節和馬尼拉的西班牙人。這些朝貢使團前來拜見已倒台的南明隆武皇帝朱聿鍵，而後者此時已被押送至京，最終，這些使者聽從清廷命令辭歸。最後殘存的南明抵抗勢力從與安南接壤的雲南撤離後，琉球王尚質于1649年首次向大清派出朝貢使團，暹羅和安南分別于1652年和1661年向大清派遣朝貢使團。

同于1646年，統治吐魯番的一名蒙兀兒王公蘇丹阿不都拉哈·哈吉汗派遣一支使團，請求恢復因明亡而中斷的與華貿易。使節團雖未受邀請便來到中國，但清朝准其請求，允許其在北京和蘭州進行朝貢貿易。但該協議因1646年一場席捲中國西北的穆斯林起義（參見前文「一統中原」末段）而中斷。大清與資助反政府武裝的哈密和吐魯番的朝貢貿易最終于1656年恢復。不過在1655年，清廷宣布來自吐魯番的朝貢使節每五年才能接受一次回賜。

1651年，小皇帝邀請藏傳佛教格魯派領袖第五世達賴喇嘛訪問北京，後者不久以前在蒙古和碩特部首領固始汗的軍事幫助下，成為西藏的宗教統治者和世俗統治者。儘管滿洲對藏傳佛教的支持和保護至少始于努爾哈赤治下的1621年，但此次邀請背後仍有政治原因。即西藏正在成為大清西部一個強大的政治實體，達賴喇嘛對蒙古部落具有影響力，而其中一些蒙古部落並未屈從于大清。為了迎接這位「活佛」的到來，福臨下令在紫禁城西北邊北海瓊華島的崑崙山上建造了一座白塔，其位置就在以前薛禪汗宮殿的遺址上。經過多次邀請和外交往來，西藏領袖拿定主意，接受會見大清皇帝，1653年1月14日，達賴喇嘛抵達北京。達賴喇嘛日後將此行訪問的場面雕刻在拉薩的布達拉宮，後者于1645年開始建造。

與此同時，在滿洲人故鄉北部，探險家瓦西里·波亞爾科夫（1643–1646）和葉羅菲·哈巴羅夫（1649–1653）越過羅剎國的山谷來到了黑龍江流域。1653年，莫斯科召回哈巴羅夫，委派奧努夫里·斯捷潘諾夫接替他，斯捷潘諾夫掌握了哈巴羅夫的哥薩克軍隊指揮權。斯捷潘諾夫南下進入松花江，強迫當地原住居民諸如達斡爾人和久切爾人交納「牙薩克」（毛皮稅），但遭到抗拒。因為滿洲當地民族已向順治皇帝朝貢。1654年，斯捷潘諾夫擊敗從寧古塔被派遣去調查羅剎計劃的小規模的滿洲軍隊。1655年，另一名清軍指揮官蒙古人明安達禮在黑龍江流域的呼瑪要塞擊敗斯捷潘諾夫軍，但這還不足以追捕羅剎人。不過在1658年，滿洲將領沙爾虎達率四十餘艘船向斯捷潘諾夫發起進攻，羅剎人大多數被擊斃或生俘。經過此役，黑龍江流域哥薩克地帶已無太大衝突，但大清和羅剎的邊境衝突則持續了下去，直至1689年《尼布楚條約》簽訂，固定了羅剎和大清之間的邊界。

持續打擊南明活動

儘管大清在多爾袞的領導下成功將南明推到華南，但大明遺民尚未死心。1652年8月初，正在保護朱由榔的張獻忠前部下李定國，從大清手中奪回桂林。一月之內，廣西清將大多向南明投降。此後兩年，儘管對湖廣和廣東的軍事行動偶爾成功，但李定國未能奪取重要城市。1653年，清廷命洪承疇負責奪回西南地區。洪承疇駐紮長沙，耐心地建立起自己的軍力；惟在1658年底，營養充足、物資供應良好的清軍分多路向桂州和雲南進軍。1659年1月末，鐸尼率清軍攻陷雲南府，朱由榔逃入鄰近的緬甸，後者此時正由東籲王朝國王莽平德勒統治。此後南明末代皇帝一直留在緬甸，直到1662年被1644年4月降滿的前明將領吳三桂俘獲並處決。

鄭成功在1646年成為明紹宗朱聿鍵義子，賜姓朱，故稱國姓爺，1655年由明昭宗朱由榔封為延平王，亦是他繼續捍衛南明的原因。1659年，正當福臨準備舉行一場特殊的考試來慶祝他輝煌的統治和西南戰役的勝利時，鄭成功率領全副武裝的船隊駛向長江，從大清手中奪取了幾座城市，進而圍攻江寧（今江蘇南京）。當鄭成功圍攻江寧的消息傳入皇帝耳中時，他就大發雷霆，據說一怒之下用劍劈了寶座。但南京的威脅最終解除，鄭成功被清兵擊退，被迫求助于東南沿海的福建省。迫于清軍的壓力，鄭成功于1661年4月攻擊由荷蘭東印度公司佔領的台灣島，並死于同年夏天。他的子孫依然自稱為延平王，繼續在台灣反抗大清統治，直至1683年順治帝之子康熙帝派遣降將施琅佔領該島。

個性和人際關係

順治帝于1651年親政後，他的母親昭聖慈壽皇太后安排兒子娶她的侄女額爾德尼布木巴，但福臨廢黜第一任皇后。次年，昭聖慈壽皇太后另為兒子安排了一場同蒙古科爾沁部的婚姻，這次她將自己的侄孫女阿拉坦琪琪格嫁給福臨。

順治帝是位開明的皇帝，不僅在天文學和科技問題上，而且在處理國事和宗教問題時都向一位來自神聖羅馬帝國科隆的日耳曼耶穌會教士湯若望請教。1644年末，多爾袞為制定一部儘可能精確的新曆法而任用湯若望，因為他的日蝕預報比那些清廷天文學家的預報更精確。多爾袞死後，湯若望同小皇帝建立了私人友誼，福臨用滿語稱他為「爺爺」。在他們關係最親密的1656年和1657年，福臨常常駕臨他的府中，和他交談到深夜。他被免除叩頭禮，在北京獲得建造教堂的土地，甚至被允許收養一個兒子（因為福臨擔心湯若望沒有繼承人），但自1657年以後，福臨開始崇信佛教禪宗，湯若望試圖使清帝信仰天主教的努力最終未能成功。

順治帝親政後，發憤學習，熟練地掌握了漢語，能夠欣賞中國藝術如書法和戲曲。反清知識分子顧炎武和萬壽祺的一位密友歸莊所作《萬古愁曲》是福臨最喜歡的文章之一。福臨「極富感情，重情鐘情，至其極處」，他還能成段的引用背誦援引《西廂記》。

大清與中國的概念

清朝皇帝自順治帝開始以「中國」自居，並且在對外條約和外交文件中稱清為「中國」。1689年，也就是康熙二十八年，中俄尼布楚條約上第一次在國際法的層面上確立了「中國」的概念。

駕崩和繼承

其實天花和瘟疫在於明、清兩代和全國各地早就已流行。順治帝的十五叔豫親王多鐸就因天花病死;十二叔阿濟格的兩位福晉也因天花而死。皇太極時期，據《清初內國史院滿文檔案》：『東北痘疫，太宗于十日至避痘所』。順治帝寵愛的妃子皇貴妃董鄂氏因喪子，于1660年9月病猝。福臨為此悲痛欲絕，沮喪數月，直至他于1661年2月2日染上天花。1661年2月4日，福臨急召禮部侍郎兼翰林院掌院學士王熙（福臨的知己）和原內閣學士麻勒吉到自己身邊，口述遺詔。同日，7歲的皇三子玄燁因曾經感染到天花，但因為他從天花疾病中倖存下來而被獲選立為皇太子。。順治帝于1661年2月5日崩于紫禁城內的養心殿，年僅二十二歲。兩年後，康熙二年（1663年）2月，玄燁的生母慈和皇太后也不幸病逝，年僅22歲。

滿族人對天花病毒沒有免疫，一旦感染天花，幾乎只能等死，所以他們對天花的恐懼甚于其他任何疾病。1622年，他們建立一個機構，用于研究天花病例，隔離患者避免傳染。在天花流行之時，皇室成員為保護自己免受感染，定期進入避痘所。福臨之所以感染如此可怕的疾病，是因為他年輕，而且居住于附近有傳染源的大城市。而事實上，根據記載，在順治年間，至少有九次天花在北京爆發和全國各地的大小瘟疫，每次爆發，都迫使福臨搬到保護區。保護區為北京南部的狩獵場南苑，此前多爾袞已于17世紀40年代在那裡建立一所避痘所。儘管有這樣的預防措施——例如規定迫使感染天花的漢族居民搬出城市——但順治最終仍死於天花。

遺詔

2月5日夜間，順治帝的遺詔頒示天下，特命索尼、蘇克薩哈、遏必隆和鰲拜四人為了順治帝年幼的兒子，此四人都曾于多爾袞死後幫助濟爾哈朗肅清朝廷上的多爾袞勢力——現代歷史學家推論在施政之中偏向任用漢族大臣而且疏遠了滿洲官員，過分信用宦官，袒護漢官，忽視了滿洲親貴和滿洲傳統，對皇貴妃的精神投入超過了對自己的母親。儘管福臨在位時經常發布罪己詔，但這份遺詔中所譴責的政策自他親政以來對清政府至關重要。被稱為鰲拜輔政的1661年末至1669年間，該遺詔給了四位輔政大臣「皇權外披」，使他們的親滿政策得到支持。

身後

由于朝廷沒有明確宣布順治帝的死因，很快便流言四起。坊間傳言福臨其實未死，而是因為對愛妃之死過于悲痛或是四位獲任為輔政大臣的滿洲貴族發動了政變，他退位隱居佛教寺院，匿名為僧。因為順治帝于17世紀50年代成了佛教禪宗的狂熱追隨者，甚至讓僧人進入皇宮，這些流言似乎不那麼令人難以置信。中國現代歷史學家認為福臨出家之謎是清初三大疑案之一。但一位僧人記錄說1661年2月初皇帝因感染天花而健康嚴重受損，而在皇帝的葬禮上有一名妃子和一名侍衛為其殉葬，由此來看福臨之死應該並非假象。

福臨的遺體被安放在紫禁城，受到為時27天的哀悼，1661年3月3日，一支規模宏大的行進列隊將福臨的遺體運送至景山（紫禁城北部的一個小丘）, 之後大量貴重物品在葬禮上被燒掉。距離葬禮僅兩年後的1663年，福臨的遺體被運到他最後的安息之地。與當時的滿洲習俗相同，福臨的遺體在火化後安葬。他的骨灰安葬在北京東北方的昌瑞山，後來通常稱為清東陵。他的陵墓孝陵是建在那裡的第一座陵墓。

政治遺產

以順治帝的名義公布的遺詔表示，他對自己放棄滿洲傳統深表歉意，這一表示賦予了四輔政大臣實行本土主義政策的權力。鰲拜和其他三位輔政大臣援引遺詔，迅速革除了十三衙門。在此後的幾年裡，他們提升了滿洲人及其包衣阿哈掌管的內務府的權力，革除翰林院，規定只有滿洲人和蒙古人才能參加議政王大臣會議。輔政大臣還向大清治下的漢人推行強硬政策：他們發動文字獄處決了江南富庶地區的十餘人，並以拖欠稅收的罪名對該地區的數千人處以刑罰；他們強迫東南沿海地區人口從該地遷出，以便截斷鄭成功的子孫統治的台灣東寧王國的糧食供給。

玄燁于1669年設法囚禁鰲拜後，撤銷了輔政大臣的許多政策。他恢復了父親所青睞的機構，包括使漢族官員在政府中獲得重要發言權的內閣。他還平定了三藩之亂。內戰（1673年–1681年）使清人的忠心一度受到考驗，但清軍最終占得上風。當勝利成為定局時，1679年玄燁為吸引前明遺臣出仕清廷，而舉行了特別考試博學鴻儒科。中試者被邀請參與編寫官修《明史》。叛亂于1681年被平定，同年，玄燁開始倡導使用人痘接種為皇家兒童預防天花。鄭氏家族在台灣建立的的東寧王國于1683年倒台後，清政權完成了統一天下的事業。在多爾袞、福臨和玄燁奠定的體制基礎上，清朝成為一個疆域遼闊、文化燦爛的強大帝國，被譽為「世界上最成功的帝國之一」。然而具有諷刺意義的是，正是康熙皇帝的赫赫武功帶來的長時間的「滿洲和平」，使大清面對19世紀列強武裝侵略之時毫無準備。

家族

先祖

福臨生在滿清皇室愛新覺羅家族。

• 父親皇太極（1592－1643），大清開國皇帝，福臨為皇太極第九子。

• 母親布木布泰（1613－1688），博爾濟吉特氏，科爾沁部貝勒寨桑之女；1636年至1651年的封號為「永福宮莊妃」，她在兒子親政後尊為皇太后，後世習稱她為孝莊文皇后。

• 祖父努爾哈赤（1559－1626），大清實際建立者，後世尊為太祖高皇帝。

• 祖母孟古哲哲（1575－1603），葉赫那拉氏，葉赫部貝勒揚吉努之女；努爾哈赤之中宮大福晉；後世尊為孝慈高皇后。

后妃

儘管宗人府撰寫的愛新覺羅族譜中記載的福臨后妃僅有十九位，但埋葬記錄顯示福臨的后妃至少有三十二名。有十一名后妃為福臨生育，福臨在位時的兩任皇后皆為福臨母親昭聖慈壽皇太后的堂親。1644年大清入主中原後，逐漸以后妃的封號和姓氏稱呼她們。

皇后

• 第一任皇后額爾德尼布木巴，博爾濟吉特氏，科爾沁卓禮克圖親王吳克善女，孝莊文皇后侄女。1651年9月27日，冊為皇后，因她個性不好福臨不喜歡她。1653年9月27日降後為靜妃。

• 第二任皇后孝惠章皇后（1641年11月5日－1718年1月7日），博爾濟吉特氏，科爾沁貝勒綽爾濟女，孝莊文皇后侄孫女，靜妃堂侄女。1654年6月7日聘為福晉，7月19日，冊為皇后。1661年玄燁即位，尊為皇太后，居慈仁宮，1662年11月14日上徽號憲章皇太后。

• 孝康章皇后（1638年－1663年3月20日），佟氏，都統佟圖賴和妻子覺羅氏之女，「尼堪」——滿洲對「漢人」的稱呼——佟氏本為女真佟佳氏，其族先世曾數代居于大明遼寧撫順，同漢民共同生活，因受漢俗影響較深，滿洲視其為漢人，未將之編入滿洲八旗，而是編入漢軍八旗。兒子玄燁1661年即位後尊為皇太后，1662年11月14日上徽號慈和皇太后。後世習以孝康章皇后稱呼她。日後，孝康章皇后之弟佟國綱上奏大清政府，欲歸入滿軍旗，1688年佟圖賴這一支佟氏複為佟佳氏，自此被視為滿洲人。

• 孝獻端敬皇后（1639年－1660年9月23日），董氏，內大臣鄂碩女，1656年10月12日擬立為賢妃，11月15日冊立為賢妃並擬立為皇貴妃，1657年1月20日冊立為皇貴妃。福臨深深愛上了她，兩人的兒子夭折後不久，董鄂妃去世了，福臨傷心不已。此後，他就死于天花。

妃

• 悼妃，博爾濟吉特氏，科爾沁連爾罕親王滿珠習禮之女，孝惠章皇后之堂姑，年齡幼小待年宮中，未行冊封，1658年4月17日卒。1658年5月5日福臨追封其謚號為悼妃。

• 貞妃，董鄂氏，一等阿達哈哈番巴度之女，孝獻皇后堂姐妹。1661年2月5日，在福臨死後為他殉葬，康熙皇帝登位後，1661年3月12日即追封其[為皇考貞妃。

• 恪妃，石氏，吏部左侍郎灤州人石申和妻子趙淑人之女，福臨當初考察古代制度，選漢官的女兒充塞後宮，冊為福晉，賜石氏居永壽宮，冠服准許用漢式，1668年1月13日薨。1668年1月15日康熙皇帝初年追封其謚號：皇考恪妃。

• 恭靖妃，博爾濟吉特氏，浩齊特多羅鄂爾特尼郡王博羅特之女，剛入宮時冊為福晉，是為阿格福晉；1674年1月10日尊徽號為皇考恭靖妃。1689年5月20日薨。。

• 淑惠妃，博爾濟吉特氏，科爾沁貝勒綽爾濟之女，孝惠章皇后之妹。1654年6月7日聘為福晉，1674年1月10日尊徽號為皇考淑惠妃。1713年12月17日卒，享年七十餘。。

• 端順妃，博爾濟吉特氏，阿霸垓一等台吉布達希之女，剛入宮時封為福晉，1674年1月10日尊徽號為皇考端順妃。1709年8月1日去世。。

• 寧愨妃，董鄂氏，長史喀濟海之女，剛入宮時冊為格格，生皇次子福全，1674年1月10日尊徽號為皇考寧愨妃。1694年8月11日薨。

福晉

• 塞母肯額捏福晉，即庶妃穆克圖氏，父親雲騎尉伍喀，生皇八子永幹。

• 筆什赫額捏福晉，即庶妃巴氏，生皇長子牛鈕、皇三女、皇五女。

• 唐福晉，即庶妃唐氏，生皇六子奇授。

• 牛福晉，即庶妃鈕氏，生皇七子純親王隆禧。

格格

孝東陵內葬有十七位格格，分別為京及格格、捏及呢格格、賽寶格格、邁及呢格格、厄音珠格格、額倫珠格格、梅格格、蘭格格、明珠格格、蘆耶格格、布三珠格格、阿母巴偏五格格、阿幾偏五格格、丹姐格格、秋格格、瑞格格和朱乃格格。她們的生平事跡基本上沒有被記錄，目前僅知阿母巴偏五格格為大費揚古格格，阿幾格偏五格格則作小費揚古格格，兩人可能為親姐妹關係。目前已知太皇太后在康熙元年將已故費揚古格格從娘家帶來的女子還給她的娘家，上三旗包衣女子則給予阿哥額捏福晉，即後來的恭靖妃使喚。以下四位庶妃包括在十七位格格之內：

• 庶妃楊氏，生皇次女。

• 庶妃烏蘇氏，生皇四女。

• 庶妃納喇氏，生皇六女。

• 庶妃陳氏，生皇長女、皇五子恭親王常穎。

子女

福臨的妻妾共為其生育了十四個子女，但只有四子（福全、玄燁、常穎、隆禧）一女（和碩恭懿長公主）活到婚齡。和之後的大清皇帝不同，其皇子沒有按輩分取名。

子

• 牛鈕（1651年12月13日－1652年3月9日）。筆什赫額捏福晉出。

• 福全（1653年9月8日－1703年8月10日）。寧愨妃董鄂氏出。1667年2月6日恩封和碩裕親王；謚號為憲。

• 玄燁（1654年5月4日－1722年12月20日），即康熙帝。孝康章皇后佟氏出。

• 皇四子（1657年11月12日－1658年2月25日），命名前夭折。孝獻皇后董鄂氏出。死後追封和碩榮親王。

• 常穎（1657年12月8日－1703年7月20日）。庶妃陳氏出。1671年3月1日恩封和碩恭親王。

• 奇授（1660年1月3日－1665年12月12日）。唐福晉出。

• 隆禧（1660年5月30日－1679年8月20日）。牛福晉出。1674年2月2日恩封和碩純親王；謚號為靖。死後獨子富爾祜倫襲爵，又一年後身故無子，純親王絕嗣，封爵廢除。

• 永幹（1661年1月23日－1668年1月15日）。塞母肯額捏福晉出。

女

清廷在1644年入關之前，相關資料會記錄滿洲女性的名字，但在1644年後這些女性人名逐漸「在玉牒和檔案材料中消失了。」六名皇女的閨名在一份康熙年間為修纂玉牒而記述福臨子女生卒年的檔案中被記錄了下來，其中皇三女與同母兄牛鈕同名。與其她貴族女性類似，日後相關資料會用皇女獲得的頭銜（公主）稱呼她們。儘管福臨的六個女兒中有五個幼年夭折，但她們在《愛新覺羅宗譜》上都有記載。

• 皇長女（1652年4月22日－1653年11月22日至12月19日之間）。庶妃陳氏出。

• 皇二女（1654年1月19日－1685年11月26日）。庶妃楊氏出，初封和碩公主，康熙年間晉封和碩恭愨長公主。1667年2月23日至3月23日之間下嫁瓜爾佳氏的納爾杜（1676年死）。

• 牛鈕（1654年1月30日－1658年4月3日至5月1日之間）。筆什赫額捏福晉出。

• 皇四女（1655年1月9日－1662年1月20日至2月17日之間）。庶妃烏蘇氏出。

• 皇五女（1655年2月6日－1661年1月1日至29日之間）。筆什赫額捏福晉出。

• 皇六女（1657年11月11日－1662年3月1日至3月29日之間）。庶妃納喇氏出。

養女

福臨的三名養女均為滿清皇室成員的次女，和順、柔嘉、端敏分別為三人的封號，而非名字。

• 和碩和順公主（1648年10月8日－1692年1月25日），皇太極第五子、福臨異母兄碩塞次女。1660年7月7日至8月5日之間下嫁尚可喜之子尚之隆。

• 和碩柔嘉公主（1652年6月11日－1673年8月23日），努爾哈赤第七子阿巴泰第四子岳樂次女，孝惠章皇后的外甥女。1663年11月30日至12月28日之間下嫁耿仲明孫耿聚忠。

• 固倫端敏公主（1653年8月5日－1729年6月14日），濟爾哈朗次子濟度次女。1670年10月14日至11月12日之間下嫁博爾濟吉特氏班第。