人物生平

皇子时期

弘历于康熙五十年八月十三日（1711年9月25日）出生，为雍正帝胤禛第四子，幼名「元寿」。当时，其父胤禛为雍亲王，生母为藩邸格格钮祜禄氏（孝圣宪皇后）。弘历生于雍王府东书院「如意室」。他被认为是雍正帝诸子中最有才干的一位，虽然与皇祖康熙帝真正相处的时间并不长，但康熙帝曾为其慎择良师，进行多方面教育。一些清史学家认为正因为康熙帝认为弘历在为人处事的方式上与自己极为相像，在十数岁时就精于武术，并对艺术创作十分著迷，所以才传位于其父，以便将来能传位与弘历。

康熙六十一年（1722年）十一月十三日，清圣祖康熙帝驾崩前宣诏皇四子雍亲王胤禛嗣位。二十日雍亲王登基，是为雍正帝。

雍正元年（1723年）八月十七日，雍正帝以康熙帝的旨意，超越前朝历代的惯例，极早密封亲书储君人选谕旨于正大光明匾额后。同年三月，雍正亲生子女，按照惯例，仅追封已成年皇二女爵位和硕怀恪公主，雍正帝尚活著的儿子弘时、弘历、弘昼、福惠、福沛均未封爵位（其生母分别是齐妃、熹妃钮祜禄氏、纯悫皇贵妃、敦肃皇贵妃）。

雍正元年（1723年）十一月十三日，适逢康熙忌辰，雍正帝命皇四子弘历祭景陵。

雍正二年（1724年）十一月十三日，适逢康熙忌辰，雍正帝命皇四子弘历祭景陵。

雍正四年（1726年）五月，适逢仁寿皇太后三周年忌辰，雍正帝欲要亲往祭陵。王大臣等以圣躬素畏炎暑，万几已极劳苦，又触热往返五六百里，洵非所宜，且二麦登场，一路夫役祗候，不免耽误农功，因合词恳请停止。雍正帝勉从所请，因此命皇四子弘历前往行礼。

雍正四年（1726年）十二月，雍正帝命皇四子弘历和庄亲王允禄，视马武疾。谕曰：「马武抱病危笃，闻之深为凄恻，马武事我皇考康熙五十馀年，朝夕侍奉不离左右、恪恭谨慎，事事能仰体圣心」。马武病故后，命皇四子弘历、怡亲王允祥、庄亲王允禄、及左翼四旗部院大臣、一等侍卫，往奠故内大臣马武茶酒。

雍正五年（1727年），皇四子弘历开始娶第一任妻子嫡福晋富察氏。六年（1728年），其馀侍妾格格开始生下他第一个儿子永璜。

雍正九年（1731年）八月，大学士忠达公、抚远大将军马尔赛起程，令皇四子弘历告祭奉先殿。王以下官员俱至西长安门外送行。

雍正十一年（1733年），首次册封皇子爵位，那时候雍正帝的儿子只剩下两位时：（熹妃儿子）皇四子弘历封和硕宝亲王、（裕妃儿子）皇五子弘昼封和硕和亲王爵位。

雍正十三年（1735年）五月。命令果亲王允礼、皇四子宝亲王弘历、皇五子和亲王弘昼、及大学士鄂尔泰、张廷玉、户部尚书公庆复、礼部尚书魏廷珍、刑部尚书宪德、张照、工部尚书徐本、正红旗汉军都统李禧、正黄旗汉军都统甘国璧、仓场侍郎吕耀曾，俱办理苗疆事务。由于皇四子弘历行事恩威并施，手段宽猛相济，雍正帝指派他钦差出京办事，以及参与西北准部用兵西南改土归流的决策。在雍正后期，使自己渐得到了父亲信任。

雍正十三年（1735年）九月三日，乾隆帝登基即位，诏告天下曰：「朕自冲龄即蒙皇祖抚育宫中，深恩锺爱，睠睐逾常…朕自惟凉德惧弗克胜，顾念神器不可久虚，勉抑哀衷钦遵成命」。

乾隆元年（1736年）七月二日，奉上谕旨：「皇祖当日于建储一事大费苦心，及授神器于我皇考时，一言而定万世之业，我皇考御极之元年，圣心即默注朕躬，不宜宣布中外，而传集诸王大臣九卿特加训谕，亲书密旨收藏于乾清宫正大光明匾额之后…」。

乾隆二年（1737年），正式刊刻发行《乐善堂全集 》。乾隆帝一生作有多首关于和皇祖玄烨过去相处的词赋杂著，例如于《乐善堂文集》《御制诗》中提及自己12岁时即和母亲迅速得到康熙帝的恩泽宠爱眷顾。起自雍正八年（1730年），乾隆帝为皇子时期，就已预备收录14岁以后自己编写的诗赋杂文进行整理成册，取名为《乐善堂文钞》，并由五弟弘昼、大学士鄂尔泰、大学士张廷玉特为他作序。

根据《乾隆朝起居注》《御制文初集》乾隆六十年（1795年）九月三曰，奉乾隆帝晚年禅位前的上谕：「在我朝清太祖、清太宗、清世祖俱未预立储位，只有清圣祖康熙帝曾以嫡立为皇太子…皇祖圣裁独断训谕特颁不复册立皇太子，迨传位皇考十三年励精图治内外肃清，雍正元年皇考即亲书朕名贮于乾清宫正大光明匾额之上、又另书密缄常以自随…朕何尝不欲立嫡，以皇次子永琏为嫡后所生，曾书其名遵皇考之例贮于正大光明匾上…以明年嘉亲王（令懿皇贵妃所生庶子顒琰）为嘉庆皇帝」。《御制诗五集 卷九十一》「予十二岁蒙皇祖于圆明园之牡丹台召见，即命养育宫中，是年随侍来热河居山庄内之万壑松风，皇考请皇祖幸本园进膳，子时亦随驾来此…即今仰窥皇祖恩意似已知，予异日可以付托，因欲豫观圣母福相也！四十年孝养慈宁福，圣谕两言万世留予即位后侍奉圣母皇太后四十馀年，以天下养稽之史牒实所罕觏，盖皇祖当年眷顾深恩，即早于有福两言预卜慈宁之庆，予今八十有四，实亦老矣！是不可以不记也」。乾隆六十四年（1799年）正月三日，乾隆太上皇的宾天：「朕冲龄即蒙康熙帝锺爱非常，雍正帝慎选元良付畀神器（遗诏）…」。

即位早期

雍正十三年八月二十三日（1735年10月8日），其父雍正帝在圆明园内驾崩，享年五十七岁。宣读遗诏：「宝亲王皇四子（弘历）…圣祖于诸孙之中，最为锺爱，抚养宫中恩逾常格…与和亲王（弘昼）同气至亲，实为一体…俾皇太子弘历成一代之令主。」宝亲王皇四子弘历登基，是为乾隆帝。乾隆弘历以雍正驾崩前遗命尊生母熹贵妃钮钴禄氏为崇庆皇太后。封和亲王弘昼之母裕妃耿氏为皇贵太妃。九月，抚养过弘历的两位养母悫惠皇贵妃、敦怡皇贵妃各加封号晋封太妃。十一月十三日，追封崇庆皇太后的曾祖父额宜腾、祖父吴禄俱追封为一等公爵、曾祖母俱追封一品夫人、父四品典仪官凌柱封一等公爵、母封一品夫人，世袭罔替。

同时遗诏命庄亲王允禄、果亲王允礼、大学士鄂尔泰、张廷玉为辅政大臣，辅佐新君处理政务。

成书

乾隆七年（1742年），乾隆皇帝命令内廷大学士鄂尔泰、张廷玉等编纂《国朝宫史 》。

收录以下雍正皇帝谕旨：

雍正元年正月，上谕：诸皇子入学之日，与师傅豫备杌子四张，高桌四张，将书籍笔砚表里安设桌上。皇子行礼时，尔等力劝其受礼，如不肯受，皇子向座一揖，以师儒之礼相敬。如此则皇子知隆重师傅，师傅等得以尽心教导，此古礼也。朕为藩王时，在府中亦如此行。至桌张饭菜，尔等照例用心预备。

雍正八年三月，上谕：谕总管太监传与各处首领太监知悉：阿哥现居宫内，年已长成，尔等不可趋奉，亦不可得罪，并不许向阿哥处往来行走。即阿哥下太监亦不许与尔等所属太监饮酒、下棋、斗骨牌、说闲话。除赵进朝、靳进忠、赵运祥、杨进朝四人奉旨行走，不必拦阻外，其馀各处首领太监，严加晓谕，小心遵行，不可日久懈怠。嗣后如有玩法之人，经朕察出，系宫内太监，治宫内总管之罪；系圆明园太监，治圆明园总管之罪。

中期统治

乾隆帝即位后，以「宽猛相济」理念施政，先后平定新疆、蒙古，还使四川、贵州等地继续改土归流，人口不断增加，在乾隆末年时突破三亿大关，约占当时世界人口的三分之一。乾隆三十八年（1773年）下令编纂《四库全书》，历时9年成书，是当时世界上最为庞大的百科全书。统治期间与康熙、雍正二朝合称「康雍乾盛世」。

同时，乾隆为了打击朋党以及加强对人民主要是汉人的思想控制，大兴文字狱，并藉此焚书箝制汉人反清思想的传播。郭成康指出，乾隆查办禁书目的就是要彻底消灭部分汉人中的反满思想；然而，乾隆当时民族矛盾和斗争的情况已经逐渐缓和、并且在汉族臣民已承认清朝对全国统治的情况下，乾隆将民族矛盾和斗争的严重性夸大，在有关文字狱和禁书的决定中作错误估计，并且表现得过度敏感。此外，在乾隆时期的文字狱，针对的并非只有汉族，牺牲者中亦有满族如鄂昌。

在位后期

中期以后，乾隆多次下江南，有安抚百姓，检阅军队，视察水利，增加科举以及免除税收之举。

乾隆五十一年十一月二十六日（1786年1月16日），台湾爆发林爽文事件，满清虽利用台湾闽客之间的族群对立，但战事旷日废时，要至福康安率大兵登陆后，方于四个月内镇压此乱。并将林爽文凌迟斩首，女眷发放边疆做奴，十五岁以下男童连坐犯被押解至北京阉割。

乾隆五十八年（1793年），英国遣使乔治·马戛尔尼于乾隆83岁时到中国寻求驻节，但双方出现与乾隆皇帝会面采「单膝下跪」（英方主张）或「三跪九叩」（中方主张）的礼仪之争，最后以「单膝下跪」而为礼。

乔治·马戛尔尼在回国后向英国议会写出报告：「中国是一艘破旧的大船，150年来，它之所以没有倾覆，是因为幸运的遇见了极为谨慎的船长。一旦赶上昏庸的船长，这艘大船随时就可能沉没。中国根本就没有现代的军事工业，中国的军事实力比英国差三到四个世纪」。而在马戛尔尼的日记中却有以下记载：「中国工业虽有数种，远出吾欧人之上，然以全体而论，化学上及医学上之知识，实处于极幼稚之地位。」，又称：「中国政府的行政机制和权力是如此的有组织和高效，有条件能够迅即排除万难，创造任何成就。」。

为了打击腐败之风，乾隆鼓励人们秘密向他汇报官员们的可疑行为，收受贿赂、欺诈、任人唯亲、滥用职权和瞒报等，例如福建大狱案，至于控诉的真假则由皇帝决定，在其统治初期坚定了惩治贪腐的决心，下令任何案件只要涉赃额超过一千两，案犯就将斩立决；然而到了乾隆统治的后半期，官员贪污这一严重问题再次出现，到了晚期每隔几年就会爆出一些重大案件及弹劾案，当时年迈的乾隆已经没有初时的魄力去严惩官员们的渎职行为，有学者指出：「从乾隆看来，在这些欺诈行为中也存在一些积极因素，其中之一便是所有被没收的贪官污吏的家产都流入了乾隆的腰包，大大增加了他的财富。而财政赤字和粮食亏空则由那些被免官员的继任者负责。另一个积极因素是满、汉官员都卷入了这种犯罪，这样乾隆就无须担心存在汉官通过腐败来故意破坏国家政治体制的阴谋。但是，看到那些本应更加效忠皇帝的满洲官员同样也在做著有损皇帝统治之事时，乾隆也会感到不太舒服。不过，好在还有一些值得依靠的、公正廉明的官员让乾隆感到些许安心，这些人对乾隆总是以诚相待，不收受贿赂，不会为了一己私利而欺君罔上。他们之中多数是满洲人，包括阿桂和傅恒」。

传位与去世

乾隆五十年之后，睡眠减少，「寅初已懒睡，寅正无不醒。」，左眼视力下降，年过七十之后，「昨日之事，今日辄忘；早间所行，晚或不省。」

乾隆25岁登基时表示过若蒙眷佑，得在位六十年，即当传位嗣子，不敢上同皇祖纪元六十一载之数。因此在乾隆六十年九月初三日（1795年10月15日）85岁的乾隆将皇位传予十五子顒琰（嘉庆帝），自称太上皇，但军国大事及用人皆由乾隆躬亲指教，嘉庆帝朝夕敬聆训听；宫中仍用「乾隆」年号，中国第一历史档案馆藏《万岁爷进药底簿》封皮上书「乾隆六十四年」。嘉庆四年正月初三日（1799年2月7日），乾隆太上皇驾崩于北京紫禁城养心殿内，享寿八十八岁，结束了长达六十三年又四个月的统治。庙号清高宗，諡号纯皇帝。死后与二位皇后三位皇贵妃合葬于清裕陵。

身后之事

嘉庆四年二月二十一日，总管张进喜传旨交如意馆绘画太上皇帝圣容一轴，大边上花纹按照安佑宫供奉的圣祖和世宗圣容挂轴上的大边花纹式样绘画。圆明园四十景之鸿慈永祜的主体建筑安佑宫殿内便供奉他的画像。嘉庆四年四月的圆明园文开称，安佑宫供奉高宗纯皇帝圣容，照例供献用宫香饼一筋、小黑芸香五两和小白芸香五两。

1928年，乾隆去世近一百三十年后，军阀孙殿英看准了乾隆帝陵墓及慈禧太后陵墓的珍贵财宝，藉演习之名，率其部下盗掘乾隆帝及慈禧太后之陵墓。士兵为得棺内珠宝，将乾隆梓棺劈开并大肆搜掠，乾隆帝后遗骸四散在地，情况奇惨；及后溥仪派人前往收拾，亦只能找回部份遗骸，勉强砌回主体，并将帝后遗骸合葬一棺，重新行葬。

轶事传说

艺术爱好

乾隆帝好诗、书、画，作品极多，作诗多达四万首（38630首）。其作品多采用「御题」做题跋。紫禁城宫殿内绝大部份的匾额，楹联，亦是出自其御笔。乾隆有在宫中收藏的名家书画上题诗用印的嗜好，被认为有一定的史料价值，但这种行为也破坏了原作品的艺术价值。

十全老人

乾隆五十七年，乾隆亲自撰写成《十全武功记》，自诩「十全老人」。命人以满、汉、蒙、藏四种文字刻碑，昭示其武功。「十全武功」指「平准噶尔为二，定回部为一，扫金川为二，靖台湾为一，降缅甸、安南各一，即今二次受廓尔喀降，合为十」。综观十全武功各役，当中有力战保卫清朝疆土完整者；但亦有消耗钜大而收获极微欠实际军事价值之举。主流史观认为十全武功之说以名过其实，夸大乾隆帝武功者较多。

风流天子

在各种民间传说中，乾隆帝被描绘成风流天子。民国初年，就盛行香妃的传说。至今，关于香妃以及乾隆帝与平民女子的爱情故事为主题的各类文学、戏剧、影视作品，络绎不绝。另外在大臣中，乾隆帝对傅恒之子福康安最为优待。民国后，多传说福康安为他与傅恒妻的私生子，但黄一农等学者已考证此说不确。

六下江南

民间对乾隆帝六次南巡亦多有演绎，或称之「乾隆下江南」。当代广告中，声称乾隆帝在南巡过程中曾品尝过某种美食的例子不胜枚举。

出生血统

关于乾隆出生之处也有争议，一说在雍亲王府（雍和宫），另一说则是在承德避暑山庄狮子园，而且避暑山庄一说是由嘉庆皇帝亲口提起，这也是野史会传出乾隆是由避暑山庄汉人宫女所生的原因。

家族成员

妻妾

皇后

• 孝贤纯皇后富察氏

• 继皇后那拉氏

• 孝仪纯皇后魏佳氏

皇贵妃

• 慧贤皇贵妃高佳氏

• 纯惠皇贵妃苏氏

• 庆恭皇贵妃陆氏

• 淑嘉皇贵妃金佳氏

• 哲悯皇贵妃富察氏

贵妃

• 愉贵妃珂里叶特氏

• 婉贵妃陈氏

• 颖贵妃巴林氏

• 忻贵妃戴佳氏

• 循贵妃伊尔根觉罗氏

妃

• 舒妃叶赫勒氏（或称叶赫那拉氏）

• 豫妃博尔济吉特氏

• 容妃和卓氏

• 敦妃汪氏

• 晋妃富察氏

• 芳妃陈氏

嫔

• 仪嫔黄氏

• 怡嫔柏氏

• 恂嫔霍硕特氏

• 慎嫔拜尔噶斯氏

• 恭嫔林氏

• 诚嫔钮祜禄氏

贵人

• 顺贵人钮祜禄氏

• 鄂贵人西林觉罗氏（？—1808年），父亲巡抚鄂乐舜。乾隆三年九月已为鄂贵人。乾隆十三年正月已为鄂常在。乾隆五十九年十二月赐号为鄂贵人。嘉庆时尊为鄂太贵人，嘉庆十三年四月廿五去世。

• 瑞贵人索绰络氏，乾隆二十四年六月二十二日，令妃下学规距女子一人封瑞常在。

• 禄贵人陆氏（？—1788年），苏州汉族民籍，无子女，生年不详，生辰为九月廿三日，乾隆二十五年十一月十四日初封为禄常在。乾隆四十年三月二十二日晋禄贵人。乾隆四十三年八月三日，乾隆帝命人访查陆常在的亲属并在其南巡时派专人管束陆常在的亲属。乾隆五十三年闰五月五日丑时薨；十二月十八日与顺贵人一同葬入裕陵妃园寝。乾隆五十四年十月初九日，禄贵人胞姐等人奉旨入旗，而且给予钱粮等物。

• 寿贵人某氏（？—1809年），嘉庆时为寿贵人。在嘉庆朝第一次的外八旗选秀中被指定为内廷主位，与新入宫的晋贵人富察氏侍奉乾隆帝。寿贵人与那答应是否为同一人，并没有资料显示出。嘉庆十四年二月廿一去世。

• 秀贵人索淖洛氏，乾隆十年（1745年）十月十四日薨。

• 白贵人柏氏（？—1803年），为乾隆帝怡嫔之妹，无子女。生年不详，生辰为六月十七日。乾隆十三年正月已封柏常在，内廷赏赐的记录也称其为白常在，乾隆五十九年十月廿四日晋封为白贵人，嘉庆时期，尊为白太贵人，约于嘉庆八年六月薨。嘉庆十年三月十七日葬入裕陵妃园寝。

• 武贵人武氏（？—1781年），无子女，生年不详。乾隆二十九年三月廿二日，颖妃下学规距女子一人封武常在。乾隆四十四十二月二十九日仍为武常在。乾隆四十五年左右晋武贵人。乾隆四十六年十二月之前薨；十二月初二日收遗物。乾隆四十九年九月初八日与诚嫔、新贵人、慎贵人一同葬入裕陵妃园寝。

• 金贵人某氏（？—1778年），生年不详，生辰为九月十一日。郎中冯年之女。乾隆四十一年与循贵妃伊尔根觉罗氏一同入宫，五月初八初封金常在。乾隆四十一年十一月十八日晋金贵人。乾隆四十三年九月之前薨；九月初九葬入裕陵妃园寝；十一月廿八日呈览遗物。

• 新贵人某氏（？—1775年），生辰为八月初八日。蒙古外藩出身，曾为豫妃位下的宫女。乾隆二十七年六月二十七日初封新常在。乾隆四十年正月初三已封新贵人，六月十三日卯时薨；闰四月初九日遗物交上。乾隆四十九年九月初八日与诚嫔、慎贵人一同葬入裕陵妃园寝。

• 慎贵人某氏（？—1777年）。乾隆十三年正月已封慎贵人。乾隆四十二年九月初九日申时薨。乾隆四十九年九月初八日葬入裕陵妃园寝。

• 福贵人某氏（？—1764年），生年不详，生辰为正月十九日。福贵人在《拨用行文底档》显示亦吃羊肉，与容妃、宁常在同为回部女子。乾隆二十八年十月初三日初封福常在。乾隆二十九年三月廿二日晋福贵人；八月初五病薨于承德；十一月廿六日收遗物。乾隆三十年闰二月初二葬入裕陵妃园寝。

常在

• 揆常在某氏

• 宁常在某氏（？—1781年），生辰为十一月十四日，无子女。乾隆二十八年十月廿五日初封宁常在，曾随驾南巡。乾隆四十六年十二月之前薨，十二月初二日收遗物。乾隆四十九年九月初八日与诚嫔、慎贵人一同葬入裕陵妃园寝。据《拨用行文底档》显示，随行常在的肉食供给份例中有一位是给羊肉。禄常在和明常在分别是苏州人，扬州人，而新常在有资料证实是吃猪肉的，因此宁常在很大机会是回部女子或回子包衣出身。

• 平常在某氏（？—1778年），无子女。生年不详，生辰为七月十二日。乾隆三十三年五月二十一日，庆妃下学规距女子封平常在。乾隆四十三年九月之前薨；九月初九与金贵人葬入裕陵妃园寝。

• 张常在张氏（？—1745年），无子女。乾隆元年正月，据完整版《食肉底帐》显示，已入宫并封为常在，非为藩邸出身。乾隆二年除夕已为裕常在。乾隆十年十月十八日薨。乾隆十一年十月廿七日首批葬入裕陵妃园寝。

答应

• 祥答应某氏，乾隆十八年七月十五日进宫为祥贵人。乾隆二十四年四月初九日，祥常在封祥贵人，但祥贵人不见于乾隆二十五年六月十八日的《赏赐底簿》，可能已降位或失宠。乾隆二十五年七月已为祥贵人。乾隆二十九年十一月二十七日，收其贵人物品，或于此日降为祥答应。乾隆三十八年三月二十八日病故。

• 那答应某氏，乾隆二十九年三月二十二日，愉妃下学规距女子一人封那常在，与乾隆十三年出现的那贵人并非同一人；乾隆四十年四月二十五日，那常在贬那答应，冬日例黑炭，炕柴。夏日例黑炭全部止退。乾隆五十三年三月十六日，那答应宫女五妞受责后投井至死；四月初四日敬事房收其物品，乾隆六十一年十二月的档案未没有「那答应」或「那常在」的记载，某氏下落不明，并未与其他后妃一同晋位。未知寿贵人与那答应是否为同一人。

• 答应某氏，据清宫档案显示，乾隆五年十月十五日，有一位名为达塞的包衣女子被选为某答应位下的官女子。档案仅称她的主子为「答应」，未知具体位号。

• 莞答应某氏，与祥答应一同出现在购买咈罗的档案中，葬于曹八里屯，推测她在乾隆三十八年三月二十八日，即祥答应病故后才薨逝。

• 采答应某氏，与祥答应一同出现在购买咈罗的档案中，葬于曹八里屯。

格格

• 格格某氏，乾隆帝尚为皇子时的侍妾，雍正八年十月病故。

• 格格某氏，乾隆帝尚为皇子时的侍妾。雍正十年七月三十日病故。

官女子

• 官女子某氏，乾隆帝尚为宝亲王时的侍妾。雍正十一年十二月初五日遇喜，并为其添守月姥姥。在雍正十二年十月的皮库月摺中，有「给宝亲王之四女格格嬷嬷买奶母，照例赏」，后来档案又有「给和硕宝亲王之四女格格嬷嬷买奶母毋照例」的记载。这些记录表明弘历在潜邸时期有未入序齿的女儿。

待考

• 定贵人某氏，因为乾隆二十年的乾清宫主位人数均有对应之人，可见某氏在乾隆二十一年，才经外八旗选秀而入宫，惟初封位份不明。定妃某氏约于乾隆二十一年遇喜，不过最终小产或流产。乾隆二十一年七月初九日为定妃的千秋，赏赐档记载的千秋虽只为放赏日期，但只会因随皇帝去行宫或者出巡等原因而提前放赏。因此，该定妃非为康熙帝的定妃。乾隆二十二年，乾隆帝与其他后妃出游，某氏已不见踪影。某氏死后没有葬入裕陵妃园寝，礼部的移会称禄贵人的丧葬礼仪同定贵人，未知是否为定妃被贬为定贵人证据。

皇子

皇女

影视形象

画像

File:Prince Bao.jpg|和硕宝亲王时期的弘历

File:Prince Hongli Practising Calligraphy on a Banana Leaf.png|和硕宝亲王弘历

File:Qianlong11.jpg|郎世宁绘《乾隆皇帝写字像》

File:《心写治平》乾隆部分.jpg|乾隆元年郎世宁绘《心写治平》局部

File:The Qianlong Emperor in Ceremonial Armour on Horseback.jpg|郎世宁绘《乾隆大阅图》

File:《万国来朝图》之乾隆后妃.jpg|郎世宁绘《万国来朝图》局部

File:Portrait of the Qianlong Emperor in Court Dress.jpg|八十岁

File:George-Leonard-Staunton-et-al-An-authentic-account-of-an-embassy-from-the-king-of-Great Britain-to-the-emperor-of-China MG 0725.tif|英国宫廷画家为马加尔尼使团绘

File:Emperor Qianlong by Charles Eloi Asselin 1743 1805 after Giuseppe Panzi.jpg|仿潘廷章绘

注释

Early years

Hongli was the fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, and was born to Noble Consort Xi. Hongli was adored by both his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor, and his father, the Yongzheng Emperor. Some historians argue that the main reason why the Kangxi Emperor appointed the Yongzheng Emperor as his successor was because Hongli was his favourite grandson. He felt that Hongli's mannerisms were very similar to his own. As a teenager, Hongli was capable in martial arts and possessed literary ability.

After his father's enthronement in 1722, Hongli was made a qinwang (first-rank prince) under the title "Prince Bao of the First Rank" (和硕宝亲王 héshuò Bǎo qīnwáng). Like many of his uncles, Hongli entered into a battle of succession with his elder half-brother Hongshi, who had the support of a large faction of the officials in the imperial court, as well as Yinsi, Prince Lian. For many years, the Yongzheng Emperor did not designate any of his sons as the crown prince, but many officials speculated that he favoured Hongli. Hongli went on inspection trips to the south, and was known to be an able negotiator and enforcer. He was also appointed as the chief regent on occasions when his father was away from the capital.

Accession to the throne

Hongli's accession to the throne was already foreseen before he was officially proclaimed emperor before the assembled imperial court upon the death of the Yongzheng Emperor. The young Hongli was the favourite grandson of the Kangxi Emperor and the favourite son of the Yongzheng Emperor; the Yongzheng Emperor had entrusted a number of important ritual tasks to Hongli while the latter was still a prince, and included him in important court discussions of military strategy. In the hope of preventing a succession struggle from occurring, the Yongzheng Emperor wrote the name of his chosen successor on a piece of paper and placed it in a sealed box secured behind the tablet over the throne in the Palace of Heavenly Purity (Qianqing Palace). The name in the box was to be revealed to other members of the imperial family in the presence of all senior ministers only upon the death of the emperor. When the Yongzheng Emperor died suddenly in 1735, the will was taken out and read before the entire Qing imperial court, after which Hongli became the new emperor. Hongli adopted the era name "Qianlong", which means "Lasting Eminence".

Frontier wars

The Qianlong Emperor was a successful military leader. Immediately after ascending the throne, he sent armies to suppress the Miao rebellion. His later campaigns greatly expanded the territory controlled by the Qing Empire. This was made possible not only by Qing military might, but also by the disunity and declining strength of the Inner Asian peoples.

Under the Qianlong Emperor's reign, the Dzungar Khanate was incorporated into the Qing Empire's rule and renamed Xinjiang, while to the west, Ili was conquered and garrisoned. The incorporation of Xinjiang into the Qing Empire resulted from the final defeat and destruction of the Dzungars (or Zunghars), a coalition of Western Mongol tribes. The Qianlong Emperor then ordered the Dzungar genocide. According to the Qing dynasty scholar Wei Yuan, 40% of the 600,000 Dzungars were killed by smallpox, 20% fled to the Russian Empire or Kazakh tribes, and 30% were killed by the Qing army, in what Michael Edmund Clarke described as "the complete destruction of not only the Zunghar state but of the Zunghars as a people." Historian Peter Perdue has argued that the decimation of the Dzungars was the result of an explicit policy of massacre launched by the Qianlong Emperor.

The Dzungar genocide has been compared to the Qing extermination of the Jinchuan Tibetan people in 1776, which also occurred during the Qianlong Emperor's reign. When victorious troops returned to Beijing, a celebratory hymn was sung in their honour. A Manchu version of the hymn was recorded by the Jesuit Amoit and sent to Paris.

The Qing Empire hired Zhao Yi and Jiang Yongzhi at the Military Archives Office, in their capacity as members of the Hanlin Academy, to compile works on the Dzungar campaign, such as Strategy for the pacification of the Dzungars (Pingding Zhunge'er fanglue). Poems glorifying the Qing conquest and genocide of the Dzungar Mongols were written by Zhao, who wrote the Yanpu zaji in "brush-notes" style, where military expenditures of the Qianlong Emperor's reign were recorded. The Qianlong Emperor was praised as being the source of "eighteenth-century peace and prosperity" by Zhao Yi.

Khalkha Mongol rebels under Prince Chingünjav had plotted with the Dzungar leader Amursana and led a rebellion against the Qing Empire around the same time as the Dzungars. The Qing army crushed the rebellion and executed Chingünjav and his entire family.

Throughout this period there were continued Mongol interventions in Tibet and a reciprocal spread of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. After the Lhasa riot of 1750, the Qianlong Emperor sent armies into Tibet and firmly established the Dalai Lama as the ruler of Tibet, with a Qing resident and garrison to preserve Qing presence. Further afield, military campaigns against Nepalese and Gurkhas forced the emperor into stalemate where both parties had to submit.

On 23 January, 1751, Tibetan rebels who participated in the Lhasa riot of 1750 against the Qing were sliced to death by Qing Manchu general Bandi, similar to what happened to Tibetan rebels on 1 November, 1728 during his father, the Yongzheng emperor's reign. 6 Tibetan rebel leaders plus Tibetan rebel leader Blo-bzan-bkra-sis were sliced to death. The rest of the Tibetan rebel leaders were strangled and beheaded and their heads were displayed to the Tibetan public on poles. The Qing seized the property of the rebels and exiled other Tibetan rebels. Manchu General Bandi sent a report to the Qing Qianlong emperor on 26 January, 1751 on how he carried out the slicings and executions of the Tibetan rebels. The Tibetan rebels dBan-rgyas (Wang-chieh), Padma-sku-rje-c'os-a['el (Pa-t'e-ma-ku-erh-chi-ch'un-p'i-lo) and Tarqan Yasor (Ta-erh-han Ya-hsün) were sliced to death for injuring the Manchu ambans with arrows, bows and fowling pieces during the Lhasa riot when they assault the building the Manchu ambans (Labdon and Fucin) were in. Tibetan rebel Sacan Hasiha (Ch'e-ch'en-ha-shih-ha) was sliced to death for murder of multiple individuals. Tibetan rebelsCh'ui-mu-cha-t'e and Rab-brtan (A-la-pu-tan) were sliced to death for looting money and setting fire during the attack on the Ambans. Tibetan rebel Blo-bzan-bkra-sis, the mgron-gner was sliced to death for being the overall leader of the rebels who led the attack which looted money and killed the Manchu ambans. 2 Tibetan rebels who had already deid before the execution had their dead bodies beheaded, one died in jail, Lag-mgon-po (La-k'o-kun-pu) and the other killed himself since he was scared of the punishment, Pei-lung-sha-k'o-pa. Bandi sentenced to strangulation several rebel followers and bKra-sis-rab-brtan (Cha-shih-la-pu-tan) a messenger. He ordered the live beheadings of Man-chin Te-shih-nai and rDson-dpon dBan-rgyal (Ts'eng-pen Wang-cha-lo and P'yag-mdsod-pa Lha-skyabs (Shang-cho-t'e-pa La-cha-pu) for leading the attack on the building by being the first to go to on the staircase to the next floor and setting fire and carrying the straw to fuel the fire besides killing several men on orders from the rebel leader.

The Qianlong Emperor responded to the vassal Shan states request for military aid against the attacking forces of Burma,

but the Sino-Burmese War ended in complete failure. He initially believed that it would be an easy victory against a barbarian tribe, and sent only the Green Standard Army based in Yunnan, which borders Burma. The Qing invasion came as the majority of Burmese forces were deployed in their latest invasion of the Siamese Ayutthaya Kingdom. Nonetheless, battle-hardened Burmese troops defeated the first two invasions of 1765–66 and 1766–67 at the border. The regional conflict now escalated to a major war that involved military manoeuvres nationwide in both countries. The third invasion (1767–1768) led by the elite Manchu Bannermen nearly succeeded, penetrating deep into central Burma within a few days' march from the capital, Ava. However, the Manchu Bannermen of northern China could not cope with "unfamiliar tropical terrains and lethal endemic diseases", and were driven back with heavy losses. After the close-call, King Hsinbyushin redeployed his armies from Siam to the Chinese front. The fourth and largest invasion got bogged down at the frontier. With the Qing forces completely encircled, a truce was reached between the field commanders of the two sides in December 1769. The Qing forces kept a heavy military lineup in the border areas of Yunnan for about one decade in an attempt to wage another war while imposing a ban on inter-border trade for two decades. When Burma and China resumed a diplomatic relationship in 1790, the Qing government unilaterally viewed the act as Burmese submission, and claimed victory. The Qianglong emperor ordered Manchu general Eledeng'e (also spelled E'erdeng'e (额尔登额) or possibly 额尔景额)) to be sliced to death after his commander Mingrui was defeated at the Battle of Maymyo in the Sino-Burmese war in 1768 because Eledeng'i was not able to help flank Mingrui when he did not arrive at a rendezvous.

The circumstances in Vietnam were not successful either. In 1787, Lê Chiêu Thống, the last ruler of the Vietnamese Lê dynasty, fled from Vietnam and formally requested to be restored to his throne in Thăng Long (present-day Hanoi). The Qianlong Emperor agreed and sent a large army into Vietnam to remove the Tây Sơn (peasant rebels who had captured all of Vietnam). The capital, Thăng Long, was conquered in 1788, but a few months later the Qing army was defeated and the invasion turned into a debacle due to the surprise attack during Tết (Vietnamese New Year) by Nguyễn Huệ, the second and most capable of the three Tây Sơn brothers. The Qing Empire gave formal protection to Lê Chiêu Thống and his family, and would not intervene in Vietnam for another 90 years.

Despite setbacks in the south, overall the Qianlong Emperor's military expansion nearly doubled the area of the already vast Qing Empire, and brought into the fold many non-Han-Chinese peoples—such as Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Evenks and Mongols—who were potentially hostile. It was also a very expensive enterprise; the funds in the Imperial Treasury were almost all put into military expeditions. Though the wars were successful, they were not overwhelmingly so. The Qing army declined noticeably and had a difficult time facing some enemies: the campaign against the Jinchuan hill peoples took 2 to 3 years—at first the Qing army were mauled, though Yue Zhongqi (a descendant of Yue Fei) later took control of the situation. The battle with the Dzungars was closely fought, and caused heavy losses on both sides.

The Ush rebellion in 1765 by Uyghur Muslims against the Manchus occurred after Uyghur women were gang raped by the servants and son of Manchu official Su-cheng. It was said that Ush Muslims had long wanted to sleep on and son's hides and eat their flesh. because of the rape of Uyghur Muslim women for months by the Manchu official Sucheng and his son. The Manchu Qianlong Emperor ordered that the Uyghur rebel town be massacred, the Qing forces enslaved all the Uyghur children and women and slaughtered the Uyghur men. Manchu soldiers and Manchu officials regularly having sex with or raping Uyghur women caused massive hatred and anger against Manchu rule among Uyghur Muslims. The invasion by Jahangir Khoja was preceded by another Manchu official, Binjing, who raped a Muslim daughter of the Kokan aqsaqal from 1818 to 1820. The Qing sought to cover up the rape of Uyghur women by Manchus to prevent anger against their rule from spreading among the Uyghurs.

At the end of the frontier wars, the Qing army had started to weaken significantly. In addition to a more lenient military system, warlords became satisfied with their lifestyles. Since most of the warring had already taken place, warlords no longer saw any reason to train their armies, resulting in a rapid military decline by the end of the Qianlong Emperor's reign. This was the main reason for the Qing military's failure to suppress the White Lotus Rebellion, which started towards the end of the Qianlong Emperor's reign and extended into the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor.

Cultural achievements

The Qianlong Emperor, like his predecessors, took his cultural role seriously. First of all, he worked to preserve the Manchu heritage, which he saw as the basis of the moral character of the Manchus and thus of the dynasty's power. He ordered the compilation of Manchu language genealogies, histories, and ritual handbooks and in 1747 secretly ordered the compilation of the Shamanic Code, published later in the Siku Quanshu. He further solidified the dynasty's cultural and religious claims in Central Asia by ordering a replica of the Tibetan Potala Palace, the Putuo Zongcheng Temple, to be built on the grounds of the imperial summer palace in Chengde. In order to present himself to Tibetans and Mongols in Buddhist rather than in Confucian terms, he commissioned a thangka'', or sacred painting, depicting him as Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom.

The Qianlong Emperor was a major patron and important "preserver and restorer" of Confucian culture. He had an insatiable appetite for collecting, and acquired much of China's "great private collections" by any means necessary, and "reintegrated their treasures into the imperial collection." The Qianlong Emperor, more than any other Manchu emperor, lavished the imperial collection with his attention and effort:

The imperial collection had its origins in the first century BC, and had gone through many vicissitudes of fire, civil wars and foreign invasions in the centuries that followed. But it was Qianlong who lavished the greatest attention on it, certainly of any of the Manchu rulers... One of the many roles played by Qianlong, with his customary diligence, was that of the emperor as collector and curator. ...how carefully Qianlong followed the art market in rare paintings and antiquities, using a team of cultural advisers, from elderly Chinese literati to newly fledged Manchu connoisseurs. These men would help the emperor spot which great private collections might be coming up for sale, either because the fortunes of some previously rich merchant family were unraveling or because the precious objects acquired by Manchu or Chinese grandees during the chaos of the conquest period were no longer valued by those families' surviving heirs. Sometimes, too, Qianlong would pressure or even force wealthy courtiers into yielding up choice art objects: he did this by pointing out failings in their work, which might be excused if they made a certain "gift", or, in a couple of celebrated cases, by persuading the current owners that only the secure walls of the forbidden City and its guardians could save some precious painting from theft or from fire.

The Qianlong Emperor's massive art collection became an intimate part of his life; he took landscape paintings with him on his travels in order to compare them with the actual landscapes, or to hang them in special rooms in palaces where he lodged, to inscribe them on every visit there. "He also regularly added poetic inscriptions to the paintings of the imperial collection, following the example of the emperors of the Song dynasty and the literati painters of the Ming dynasty. They were a mark of distinction for the work, and a visible sign of his rightful role as emperor. Most particular to the Qianlong Emperor is another type of inscription, revealing a unique practice of dealing with works of art that he seems to have developed for himself. On certain fixed occasions over a long period he contemplated a number of paintings or works of calligraphy which possessed special meaning for him, inscribing each regularly with mostly private notes on the circumstances of enjoying them, using them almost as a diary." In particular, the Qianlong Emperor housed within the Hall of Three Rarities (Sanxitang), a small chamber within the Hall of Mental Cultivation, three calligraphy works: 「Timely Clearing After Snowfall」 by Wang Xizhi, from the Jin Dynasty, 「Mid-Autumn」 by his son Wang Xianzhi, and 「Letter to Boyuan」 by Wang Xun.

"Most of the several thousand jade items in the imperial collection date from his reign. The (Qianlong) Emperor was also particularly interested in collecting ancient bronzes, bronze mirrors and seals," in addition to pottery, ceramics and applied arts such as enameling, metal work and lacquer work, which flourished during his reign; a substantial part of his collection is in the Percival David Foundation in London. The Victoria and Albert Museum and British Museum also have collections of art from the Qianlong era.

"The Qianlong Emperor was a passionate poet and essayist. In his collected writings, which were published in a tenfold series between 1749 and 1800, over 40,000 poems and 1,300 prose texts are listed, making him one of the most prolific writers of all time. There is a long tradition of poems of this sort in praise of particular objects ('yongwu shi), and the Qianlong Emperor used it in order to link his name both physically and intellectually with ancient artistic tradition."

One of the Qianlong Emperor's grandest projects was to "assemble a team of China's finest scholars for the purpose of assembling, editing, and printing the largest collection ever made of Chinese philosophy, history, and literature." Known as the Four Treasuries Project (or Siku Quanshu), it was published in 36,000 volumes, containing about 3,450 complete works and employing as many as 15,000 copyists. It preserved numerous books, but was also intended as a way to ferret out and suppress political opponents, requiring the "careful examination of private libraries to assemble a list of around eleven thousand works from the past, of which about a third were chosen for publication. The works not included were either summarised or—in a good many cases—scheduled for destruction."

Burning of books and modification of texts

Some 2,300 works were listed for total suppression and another 350 for partial suppression. The aim was to destroy the writings that were anti-Qing or rebellious, that insulted previous "barbarian" dynasties, or that dealt with frontier or defence problems. The full editing of the Siku Quanshu was completed in about ten years; during these ten years, 3,100 titles (or works), about 150,000 copies of books were either burnt or banned. Of those volumes that had been categorised into the Siku Quanshu, many were subjected to deletion and modification. Books published during the Ming dynasty suffered the greatest damage.

The authority would judge any single character or any single sentence's neutrality; if the authority had decided these words, or sentence, were derogatory or cynical towards the rulers, then persecution would begin. In the Qianlong Emperor's time, there were 53 cases of Literary Inquisition, resulting in the victims executed by beheading or slow slicing (lingchi), or having their corpses mutilated (if they were already dead).

Literary works

In 1743, after his first visit to Mukden (present-day Shenyang, Liaoning), the Qianlong Emperor used Chinese to write his "Ode to Mukden," (Shengjing fu/Mukden-i fujurun bithe), a fu in classical style, as a poem of praise to Mukden, at that point a general term for what was later called Manchuria, describing its beauties and historical values. He describes the mountains and wildlife, using them to justify his belief that the dynasty would endure. A Manchu translation was then made. In 1748, he ordered a jubilee printing in both Chinese and Manchu, using some genuine pre-Qin forms, but Manchu styles which had to be invented and which could not be read.

Languages

In his childhood, the Qianlong Emperor was tutored in Manchu, Chinese and Mongolian, arranged to be tutored in Tibetan, and spoke Chagatai (Turki or Modern Uyghur) and Tangut. However, he was even more concerned than his predecessors to preserve and promote the Manchu language among his followers, as he proclaimed that "the keystone for Manchus is language." He commissioned new Manchu dictionaries, and directed the preparation of the Pentaglot Dictionary which gave equivalents for Manchu terms in Mongolian, Tibetan and Turkic, and had the Buddhist canon translated into Manchu, which was considered the "national language". He directed the elimination of loanwords taken from Chinese and replaced them with calque translations which were put into new Manchu dictionaries. Manchu translations of Chinese works during his reign were direct translations contrasted with Manchu books translated during the Kangxi Emperor's reign which were transliterations in Manchu script of the Chinese characters.

The Qianlong Emperor commissioned the Qin ding Xiyu Tongwen Zhi (钦定西域同文志; "Imperial Western Regions Thesaurus") which was a thesaurus of geographic names in Xinjiang in Oirat Mongol, Manchu, Chinese, Tibetan, and Turki (Modern Uyghur).

Tibetan Buddhism

The long association of the Manchu rulership with the Bodhisattva Manjusri and his own interest in Tibetan Buddhism gave credence to the Qianlong Emperor's patronage of Tibetan Buddhist art and patronage of translations of the Buddhist canon. The accounts in court records and Tibetan language sources affirm his personal commitment. He quickly learned to read the Tibetan language and studied Buddhist texts assiduously. His beliefs are reflected in the Tibetan Buddhist imagery of his tomb, perhaps the most personal and private expression of an emperor's life. He supported the Yellow Church (the Tibetan Buddhist Gelukpa sect) to "maintain peace among the Mongols" since the Mongols were followers of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama of the Yellow Church, and the Qianlong Emperor had this explanation placed in the Yonghe Temple in Beijing on a stele entitled "Lama Shuo" (on Lamas) in 1792, and he also said it was "merely in pursuance of Our policy of extending Our affection to the weak." which led him to patronize the Yellow Church. Mark Elliott concludes that these actions delivered political benefits but "meshed seamlessly with his personal faith."

This explanation of supporting the "Yellow Hats" Tibetan Buddhists for practical reasons was used to deflect Han criticism of this policy by the Qianlong Emperor, who had the "Lama Shuo" stele engraved in Tibetan, Mongol, Manchu and Chinese, which said: "By patronizing the Yellow Church, we maintain peace among the Mongols. This being an important task we cannot but protect this (religion). (In doing so) we do not show any bias, nor do we wish to adulate the Tibetan priests as (was done during the) Yuan dynasty."

The Qianlong Emperor turned the Palace of Harmony (Yonghe Palace) into a Tibetan Buddhist temple for Mongols in 1744 and had an edict inscribed on a stele to commemorate it in Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese, and Manchu, with most likely the Qianlong Emperor having first wrote the Chinese version before the Manchu.

Persecution of Christians by his father became even worse during his reign.

Anti-Islam laws

Qing policy on Muslims and Islam was changed during the reign of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. While the Kangxi emperors proclaimed Muslims and Han to be equal, his grandson the Manchu Qianlong emperor endorsed Han officials harsh recommendations towards treatment of Muslims. The Kangxi emperor said that Muslim and Han Chinese were equal when people argued for Muslims to be treated differently. The Qing Yongzheng emperor held the opinion that Islam was foolish, but he felt it did not pose a threat when a judge in Shandong petitioned him to destroy mosques and ban Islam. Yongzheng then fired an official for demanding Muslims be punished more harshly than non-Muslims.

This policy changed in the reign of the Qianlong emperor. Chen Hongmou, a Qing official, said that Muslims needed to be brought to law and order by being punished more harshly and blaming Muslim leaders for criminal behavior of Muslims in a letter to the Board of Punishments called Covenant to Instruct and Admonish Muslims that he wrote in 1751. Although the Board of Punishment did nothing, the Shaanxi-Gansu Governor-General in 1762 then proceeded to implement his recommendation and had Muslim criminals punished severely more than Han Chinese ones. He also implemented the policy that the criminal deeds of Muslim congregants of Mosques ended up with their Imams being punished and held responsible for them. These anti-Muslim policies by the governor general received endorsement from the Manchu Qianlong emperor.

Great changes happening to Chinese Muslims, like the introduction of a Sufi order, the Naqshbandiyya to the Hui, causing the Qianlong emperor to adopt this harsh attitude against Muslims in contrast to his grandfather and father. This led to larger connections between the Hui and the broader Islamic world from the west, as the Naqshbandiyya order came east to the Hui when Hui scholars in Suzhou were converted to Naqshbandiyya by Muhammad Yusuf. Khoja Afaq, Muhammad Yusuf's son, also further spread Naqshbandi orders among Chinese Muslims like Tibetan Muslims, Salars, Hui and other Muslim ethnicities in Hezhou, Gansu (now Linxia) and Xining in Qinghai and Lanzhou. Ma Laichi was the leader of one of these orders and he personally studied in the Islamic world in Bukhara to learn Sufism, and Yemen and in Mecca where he was taught by Mawlana Makhdum. This brought him prestige among Chinese Muslims. In an argument over the breaking of fast during Ramadan Ma Laichi said that before praying in the mosque, fast should be broken, not vice versa and this led to him getting many Naqshbandi converts from Hui and Turkic Salars. It came to court in 1731 when the Muslims arguing over how to break Ramadan fast filed lawsuits. The Muslim plaintiffs were told by the Qing authorities at the court to resolve them themselves, as the legal authorities who had no idea about Ramadan fasting. The dispute was not solved and continued to go on and was compounded by even more disputes like how to perform dhikr in Sufism, in a jahri (vocal) as taught by Ma Mingxin, another Sufi who learned in the western Islamic lands like Bukhara, or khufi (silent) like what Ma Laichi did. The Zabid Naqshbandiyyas in Yemen taught Ma Mingxin for two decades. They taught vocal dhikr. Ma Mingxin was also affected by another series of events in the Middle Eastern Muslim world, revivalist movements among Muslims like the Saudis who allied with Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab. This renewal tajdid influenced Ma Mingxin in Yemen.

While Ma Mingxin was in Yemen and away from China, all of Muslim Inner Asia was conquered by the "infidel" Qing dynasty giving even more relevance to his situation and views. Ma Laichi and Ma Mingxin again sued each other in court but this second time the Qing passed a verdict in favor of the quiet dhikr faction, the Silentist Khafiyya of Ma Laichi and gave it the status of orthodoxy while damning as heterodox the Aloudist Jahriyya of Ma Mingxin. Ma Mingxin ignored the order and kept proselytizing in Shaanxi, Ningxia and Xinjiang going to Guangchuan from Hezhou in 1769 after being kicked out and banned from Xunhua district. Turkic Salars in Xunhua followed his orders even after the Qing banned him from there and he continued to have further lawsuits and legal issues with the Khafiyya and Ma Laichi as the Qing backed the Khafiyya.

A violent battle where a Qing official and Khafiyya followers were among one hundred slaughtered by a Jahriyya assault headed by Su Forty-three, a supporter of Ma Mingxin in 1781 led to Ma Mingxin declared a rebel and taken to jail in Lanzhou. The Qing executed Ma Mingxin after his release was demanded by the armed followers of Su Forty-three. A Jahriyya rebellion all over northwest China ensued after Ma Mingxin was executed. In response, the Manchus in Beijing sent Manchu Grand Secretary Agui with a battalion to slaughter Jahriyya chiefs and exile the adherents of the Sufi order to the border regions.

Tian Wu led another Jahriyya rebellion 3 years after that, which was crushed by the Qing, and the Ma Datian, the Jahriyya's 3rd leader was exiled to Manchuria in 1818 by the Qing and died.

This continual build up of conflict between Muslims and the Qing court led to the 19th century full-scale wars with Muslim rebellions against the Qing in southern and northern China. The change in Manchu attitudes towards Muslims, from tolerating Muslims and regarding them as equal to Han Chinese, before the 1760s, to the violence between the Qing state and Muslims after the 1760s, was due to progressive Qing involvement in the conflict between the Sufi orders Jahriyya and Khafiyya making it no longer possible for the Qing to keep up with the early rhetoric of Muslim equality. The Manchu court under Qianlong began approving and implementing Chen Hongmou's anti-Muslim laws that targeted Muslims for practicing their religion and the violence by the Qing state, the communal violence between Jahriyya and Khafiyya coincided with the Jahriyya's major expansion.

Qing incompetence destroyed the economy of the places where Muslims lived in leading to even more tension.

Chen Hongmou's policies were implemented as laws in 1762 by the Qing government's Board of Punishments and the Qing Manchu Qianlong emperor leading to severe tensions with Muslims. State authorities were mandated to receive all reports of Muslim criminal behaviour by local officials and all criminal behaviour by Muslims had to be reported by Muslim leaders to Qing authorities under these laws. This led to an inundation of anti-Muslim reports filing in Qing offices as the Qing court received information that Muslims were inherently violent and Muslim bandits were committing crimes as report after report were filed by local officials and Muslim crimes inundated court records. The Qing became even more anti-Muslim after receiving these reports about criminal behavior and started passing even more anti-Muslim laws one of them being that if any weapon was found in a group of 3 or more Muslims all of those Muslims would by sentenced as criminals by the Qing.

A new criminal category or act, brawling (dou'ou) was designated by the Qing Manchu court of the Manchu Qianlong emperor in the 1770s especially as an anti-Muslim measure to arrest Muslims leading to even non-Jahriyya Muslims to join with Jahriyya against the Qing and leading the Qing court to be even more anti-Muslim, apprehensive of anti-Qing rebellion by Muslims. This led to the execution of Ma Mingxin in 1781 and the rebellion and violence was compounded by lack of Qing intelligence. A Qing official who was tasked with ending the Jahriyya and Khafiyya communal violence mistakenly thought the people he were talking to were Khafiyya when they were in fact Jahriyya, and he told them that the Qing would massacre all Jahriyya adherents. This led to him being murdered by the Jahriyya mob, which led to the Qing sending Manchu Grand Secretary Agui on a full scale pacification crackdown campaign against the Jahriyya.

The military victory of the Qing against the Jahriyya led to even more Jahriyya anger. Officials went overboard in massacring Muslims deemed as state enemies to impress the Qing court, leading to further growth in Jahriyya membership, leading in turn to the 1784 rebellion by Tian Wu.

The Qianlong emperor asked his minister what was going on as he was puzzled as to how the Muslims from many regions gathered together for revolt. He asked if the investigation of Muslim behavior b y Li Shiyao got leaked leading to rebels to incite violence by telling Muslims the government would exterminate them. He then pondered and said none of these could be why and kept asking why. To solve the issue of the 1784 revolt, northwestern China was put under military occupation by the Qing for 50 years until the Taiping rebellion of southern China forced the Qing to move them away from northwest China leading to the massive 1860s and 1870s Muslim revolts in the northwest caused by growing violence.

The sudden questions about Halal in Islam that Mongol Buddhists had in the 18th century was caused by all these things, northwestern China right next to Mongolia getting militarized, the Qing government officially declaring Muslims to be anti-Qing and violent and revivalist Islam coming to China

Palaces

The Qianlong Emperor was an aggressive builder. In the hills northwest of Beijing, he expanded the villa known as the "Garden of Perfect Brightness" (Yuanmingyuan) (now known as the Old Summer Palace) that was built by his father. He eventually added two new villas, the "Garden of Eternal Spring" and the "Elegant Spring Garden". In time, the Old Summer Palace would encompass , five times larger than the Forbidden City. To celebrate the 60th birthday of his mother, Empress Dowager Chongqing, the Qianlong Emperor ordered a lake at the "Garden of Clear Ripples" (Qingyiyuan) (now known as the Summer Palace) dredged, named it Kunming Lake, and renovated a villa on the eastern shore of the lake.

The Qianlong Emperor also expanded the imperial summer palace in Rehe Province, beyond the Great Wall. Rehe eventually became effectively a third capital and it was at Rehe that the Qianlong Emperor held court with various Mongol nobles. The emperor also spent time at the Mulan hunting grounds north of Rehe, where he held the imperial hunt each year.

European styles

For the Old Summer Palace, the Qianlong Emperor commissioned the Italian Jesuit Giuseppe Castiglione for the construction of the Xiyang Lou, or Western-style mansion, to satisfy his taste for exotic buildings and objects. He also commissioned the French Jesuit Michel Benoist, to design a series of timed waterworks and fountains complete with underground machinery and pipes, for the amusement of the imperial family. The French Jesuit Jean Denis Attiret also became a painter for the emperor. Jean-Damascène Sallusti was also a court painter. He co-designed, with Castiglione and Ignatius Sichelbart, the Battle Copper Prints.

Other architecture

During the Qianlong Emperor's reign, the Emin Minaret was built in Turpan to commemorate Emin Khoja, a Uyghur leader from Turfan who submitted to the Qing Empire as a vassal in order to obtain assistance from the Qing to fight the Zunghars.

Descendants of the Ming dynastys imperial family

In 1725, the Yongzheng Emperor bestowed a hereditary marquis title on a descendant of Zhu Zhilian, a descendant of the imperial family of the Ming dynasty. Zhu was also paid by the Qing government to perform rituals at the Ming tombs and induct the Chinese Plain White Banner into the Eight Banners. Zhu was posthumously awarded the title "Marquis of Extended Grace" in 1750, and the title was passed on for 12 generations in his family until the end of the Qing dynasty. However, it has been argued that Zhu Zhilian, in fact, had no relation to the imperial family at all.

Banner system

The Qianlong Emperor instituted a policy of "Manchu-fying" the Eight Banner system, which was the basic military and social organisation of the dynasty. In the early Qing era, Nurhaci and Huangtaiji categorised Manchu and Han ethnic identity within the Eight Banners based on culture, lifestyle and language, instead of ancestry or genealogy. Han Bannermen were an important part of the Banner System. The Qianlong Emperor changed this definition to one of descent, and demobilised many Han Bannermen and urged Manchu Bannermen to protect their cultural heritage, language and martial skills. The emperor redefined the identity of Han Bannermen by saying that they were to be regarded as of having the same culture and being of the same ancestral extraction as Han civilians Conversely, he emphasised the martial side of Manchu culture and reinstituted the practice of the annual imperial hunt as begun by his grandfather, leading contingents from the Manchu and Mongol banners to the Mulan hunting grounds each autumn to test and improve their skills.

The Qianlong Emperor's view of the Han Bannermen also differed from that of his grandfather in deciding that loyalty in itself was most important quality. He sponsored biographies which depicted Chinese Bannermen who defected from the Ming to the Qing as traitors and glorifying Ming loyalists. Some of the Qianlong Emperor's inclusions and omissions on the list of traitors were political in nature. Some of these actions were including Li Yongfang (out of his dislike for Li Yongfang's descendant, Li Shiyao) and excluding Ma Mingpei (out of concern for his son Ma Xiongzhen's image).

The identification and interchangeability between "Manchu" and "Banner people" (Qiren) began in the 17th century. Banner people were differentiated from civilians (Chinese: minren, Manchu: irgen, or Chinese: Hanren, Manchu :Nikan) and the term Bannermen was becoming identical with "Manchu" in the general perception. The Qianlong Emperor referred to all Bannermen as Manchu, and Qing laws did not say "Manchu", but "Bannermen".

Select groups of Han Chinese bannermen were mass transferred into Manchu Banners by the Qing, changing their ethnicity from Han Chinese to Manchu. Han Chinese bannermen of Tai Nikan 台尼堪 (watchpost Chinese) and Fusi Nikan 抚顺尼堪 (Fushun Chinese) backgrounds into the Manchu banners in 1740 by order of the Qing Qianlong emperor. It was between 1618 and 1629 when the Han Chinese from Liaodong who later became the Fushun Nikan and Tai Nikan defected to the Jurchens (Manchus). These Han Chinese origin Manchu clans continue to use their original Han surnames and are marked as of Han origin on Qing lists of Manchu clans.

Anti-gun measures

The Solons were ordered by the Qianlong Emperor to stop using rifles and instead practice traditional archery. The emperor issued an edict for silver taels to be issued for guns turned over to the government.

Chinese nobility

The Qianlong Emperor granted the title of Wujing Boshi (五经博士; Wǔjīng Bóshì) to the descendants of Zhang Zai, Fu Sheng, and Yan Hui.

The Manchu prince Abatai's daughter was married to the Han Chinese general Li Yongfang (李永芳). The offspring of Li received the "Third-class Viscount" (三等子爵 Sān Děng Zǐjué|labels=no|s=|t=) title. Li Yongfang was the great-great-great-grandfather of Li Shiyao (李侍尧), who, during the Qianlong Emperor's reign, was involved in graft and embezzlement, demoted of his noble title and sentenced to death; however, his life was spared and he regained his title after assisting in the Taiwan campaign.

Chinese political identity and frontier policy

The Qianlong Emperor and his predecessors, since the Shunzhi Emperor, had identified China and the Qing Empire as the same, and in treaties and diplomatic papers the Qing Empire called itself "China". The Qianlong Emperor rejected earlier ideas that only Han could be subjects of China and only Han land could be considered as part of China, so he redefined China as multiethnic, saying in 1755 that "there exists a view of China (zhongxia), according to which non-Han people cannot become China's subjects and their land cannot be integrated into the territory of China. This does not represent our dynasty's understanding of China, but is instead that of the earlier Han, Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties."

The Qianlong Emperor rejected the views of Han officials who said Xinjiang was not part of China and that he should not conquer it, putting forth the view that China was multiethnic and did not just refer to Han. The Qianlong Emperor compared his achievements with that of the Han and Tang ventures into Central Asia.

Han settlement

Han Chinese farmers were resettled from north China by the Qing government in the area along the Liao River in order to restore the land to cultivation. Wasteland was reclaimed by Han squatters in addition to other Han people who rented land from Manchu landlords. Despite officially prohibiting Han settlement on the Manchu and Mongol lands, by the 18th century the Qing government decided to settle Han refugees from northern China who were suffering from famine, floods, and drought into Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. Due to this, Han people farmed 500,000 hectares in Manchuria and tens of thousands of hectares in Inner Mongolia by the 1780s. The Qianlong Emperor allowed Han peasants suffering from drought to move into Manchuria despite him issuing edicts in favor of banning them from 1740 to 1776. Han tenant farmers rented or even claimed title to land from the "imperial estates" and Manchu Bannerlands in the area. Besides moving into the Liao area in southern Manchuria, the path linking Jinzhou, Fengtian, Tieling, Changchun, Hulun, and Ningguta was settled by Han people during the Qianlong Emperor's reign, and Han people were the majority in urban areas of Manchuria by 1800. To increase the Imperial Treasury's revenue, the Qing government sold lands along the Sungari which were previously exclusively for Manchus to Han Chinese at the beginning of the Daoguang Emperor's reign, and Han people filled up most of Manchuria's towns by the 1840s, according to Abbé Huc.

Later years

In his later years, the Qianlong Emperor became spoiled with power and glory, disillusioned and complacent in his reign, and started placing his trust in corrupt officials such as Yu Minzhong and Heshen.

As Heshen was the highest ranked minister and most favoured by the Qianlong Emperor at the time, the day-to-day governance of the country was left in his hands, while the emperor himself indulged in the arts, luxuries and literature. When Heshen was executed by the Jiaqing Emperor, the Qing government discovered that Heshen's personal fortune exceeded that of the Qing Empire's depleted treasury, amounting to 900 million silver taels, the total of 12 years of Treasury surplus of the Qing imperial court.

The Qianlong Emperor began his reign with about 33.95 million silver taels in Treasury surplus. At the peak of his reign, around 1775, even with further tax cuts, the treasury surplus still reached 73.9 million silver taels, a record unmatched by his predecessors, the Kangxi and Yongzheng emperors, both of whom had implemented remarkable tax cut policies.

However, due to numerous factors such as long term embezzlement and corruption by officials, frequent expeditions to the south, huge palace constructions, many war and rebellion campaigns as well as his own extravagant lifestyle, all of these cost the treasury a total of 150.2 million silver taels. This, coupled with his senior age and the lack of political reforms, ushered the beginning of the gradual decline and eventual demise of the Qing Empire, casting a shadow over his glorious and brilliant political life.

Macartney Embassy

During the mid-18th century, European powers began to pressure for increases in the already burgeoning foreign trade and for outposts on the Chinese coast, demands which the aging Qianlong emperor resisted. In 1793 King George III sent a large-scale delegation to present their requests directly to the emperor in Beijing, headed by George Macartney, one of the country's most seasoned diplomats. The British sent a sample of trade goods that they intended to sell in China; this was misinterpreted as tribute that was adjudged to be of low quality.

Historians both in China and abroad long presented the failure of the mission to achieve its goals as a symbol of China's refusal to change and inability to modernize. They explain the refusal first on the fact that interaction with foreign kingdoms was limited to neighbouring tributary states. Furthermore, the worldviews on the two sides were incompatible, China holding entrenched beliefs that China was the "central kingdom". However, after the publication in the 1990s of a fuller range of archival documents concerning the visit, these claims have been challenged. Some assert that China's present day autonomy and successful modernization put the Qianlong Emperor's actions in a new light. One historian summed the newly revised view by characterizing the emperor and his court as "clearly clever and competent political operators". They acted within the formal claims of Qing claims to universal rule, but also simply reacted prudently by placating the British with unspecified promises in order to avoid military conflicts and loss of trade.

Macartney was granted an audience with the Qianlong Emperor on two days, the second of which coincided with the emperor's 82nd birthday. There is continued debate about the nature of the audience and what level of ceremonials were performed. Macartney wrote that he resisted demands that the British trade ambassadors kneel and perform the kowtow and debate continues as to what exactly occurred, differing opinions recorded by Qing courtiers and British delegates.

Qianlong gave Macartney a letter for the British king stating the reasons that he would not grant Macartney's requests:

Yesterday your Ambassador petitioned my Ministers to memorialise me regarding your trade with China, but his proposal is not consistent with our dynastic usage and cannot be entertained. Hitherto, all European nations, including your own country's barbarian merchants, have carried on their trade with our Celestial Empire at Canton. Such has been the procedure for many years, although our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its own borders.

Your request for a small island near Chusan, where your merchants may reside and goods be warehoused, arises from your desire to develop trade... Consider, moreover, that England is not the only barbarian land which wishes to establish... trade with our Empire: supposing that other nations were all to imitate your evil example and beseech me to present them each and all with a site for trading purposes, how could I possibly comply? This also is a flagrant infringement of the usage of my Empire and cannot possibly be entertained.

Hitherto, the barbarian merchants of Europe have had a definite locality assigned to them at Aomen for residence and trade, and have been forbidden to encroach an inch beyond the limits assigned to that locality.... If these restrictions were withdrawn, friction would inevitably occur between the Chinese and your barbarian subjects...

Regarding your nation's worship of the Lord of Heaven, it is the same religion as that of other European nations. Ever since the beginning of history, sage Emperors and wise rulers have bestowed on China a moral system and inculcated a code, which from time immemorial has been religiously observed by the myriads of my subjects. There has been no hankering after heterodox doctrines. Even the European (missionary) officials in my capital are forbidden to hold intercourse with Chinese subjects...

The letter was unknown to the public until 1914, when it was translated, then later used as a symbol of China's refusal to modernize.

Macartney's conclusions in his memoirs were widely disseminated:

The Empire of China is an old, crazy, first-rate Man of War, which a fortunate succession of able and vigilant officers have contrived to keep afloat for these hundred and fifty years past, and to overawe their neighbours merely by her bulk and appearance. But whenever an insufficient man happens to have the command on deck, adieu to the discipline and safety of the ship. She may, perhaps, not sink outright; she may drift some time as a wreck, and will then be dashed to pieces on the shore; but she can never be rebuilt on the old bottom.

Titsingh Embassy

A Dutch embassy arrived at the Qianlong Emperor's court in 1795, which would turn out to be the last time any European appeared before the Qing imperial court within the context of traditional Chinese imperial foreign relations.

Representing Dutch and Dutch East India Company interests, Isaac Titsingh traveled to Beijing in 1794–95 for celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Qianlong Emperor's reign. The Titsingh delegation also included the Dutch-American Andreas Everardus van Braam Houckgeest, whose detailed description of this embassy to the Qing court was soon after published in the United States and Europe. Titsingh's French translator, Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de Guignes, published his own account of the Titsingh mission in 1808. Voyage a Pékin, Manille et l'Ile de France provided an alternate perspective and a useful counterpoint to other reports that were then circulating. Titsingh himself died before he could publish his version of events.

In contrast to Macartney, Isaac Titsingh, the Dutch and VOC emissary in 1795 did not refuse to kowtow. In the year following Mccartney's rebuff, Titsingh and his colleagues were much feted by the Chinese because of what was construed as seemly compliance with conventional court etiquette.

Abdication

In October 1795, the Qianlong Emperor officially announced that in the spring of the following year he would voluntarily abdicate his throne and pass the throne to his son. It was said that the Qianlong Emperor had made a promise during the year of his ascension not to rule longer than his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor, who had reigned for 61 years.

The Qianlong Emperor anticipated moving out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yangxindian) in the Forbidden City. The hall had been conventionally dedicated for the exclusive use of the reigning sovereign, and in 1771 the emperor ordered the beginning of construction on what was ostensibly intended as his retirement residence in another part of the Forbidden City: a lavish, two-acre walled retreat called the "Palace of Tranquil Longevity (Ningshou Palace)", which is today more commonly known as the "Qianlong Garden". The complex, completed in 1776, is currently undergoing a ten-year restoration led by the Palace Museum in Beijing and the World Monuments Fund (WMF). The first of the restored apartments, the Qianlong Emperor's Juanqinzhai, or "Studio of Exhaustion From Diligent Service," began an exhibition tour of the United States in 2010.

The Qianlong Emperor relinquished the throne at the age of 85, after almost 61 years on the throne, to his son, the 36-year-old Jiaqing Emperor, in 1796. For the next three years, he held the title "Taishang Huang (or Emperor Emeritus)" (太上皇) even though he continued to hold on to power and the Jiaqing Emperor ruled only in name. He never moved into his retirement suites in the Qianlong Garden. He died in 1799.

Legends

A legend, popularised in fiction, says that the Qianlong Emperor was the son of Chen Shiguan (陈世倌), a Han Chinese official from Haining County, Zhejiang Province. In his choice of heir to the throne, the Kangxi Emperor required not only that the heir be able to govern the empire well but that the heir's son be of no less calibre, thus ensuring the Manchus' everlasting reign over China. The son of Yinzhen, the Kangxi Emperor's fourth son, was a weakling so Yinzhen surreptitiously arranged for his daughter to be exchanged for Chen Shiguan's son, who became the favourite grandson of the Kangxi Emperor. Yinzhen succeeded his father and became the Yongzheng Emperor, while his "son", Hongli, succeeded him in turn as the Qianlong Emperor. During his reign, the Qianlong Emperor went on inspection tours to southern China and stayed in Chen Shiguan's house in Haining, where he wrote calligraphy. He also frequently issued imperial edicts to waive off taxes from Haining County.

However, there are major problems with this story. First, the Yongzheng Emperor's eldest surviving son, Hongshi, was only seven when Hongli was born, far too young to make the drastic choice of replacing a child of imperial birth with an outsider (and risking disgrace if not death). Second, the Yongzheng Emperor had three other princes who survived to adulthood and had the potential to ascend the throne. Indeed, since Hongshi was the son forced to commit suicide, it would have been far more logical for him to be the adopted son, if any of them were.

Stories about the Qianlong Emperor's six inspection tours to southern China in disguise as a commoner have been a popular topic for many generations. In total, he visited southern China six times – the same number of times as his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor.

Family

Parents

Father — Yinzhen, the Yongzheng Emperor (雍正帝) of the Aisin Gioro (爱新觉罗) Clan

Mother — Empress Xiaoshengxian (孝圣宪皇后) of the Niohuru (钮祜禄) Clan

Consorts and Issue

Empress

• Empress Xiaoxianchun (孝贤纯皇后) of the Fuca (富察氏) ClanTenure as Empress Consort: 23 January 1738 – 8 April 1748.

　• First daughter (3 November 1728 – 14 February 1730)

　• Yonglian, Crown Prince Duanhui (端慧皇太子 永琏; 9 August 1730 – 23 November 1738), second son

　• Princess Hejing of the First Rank (固伦和敬公主; 31 July 1731 – 30 September 1792), third daughter. Married Septeng Baljur (色布腾巴尔珠尔; d. 1775) of the Khorchin Borjigit clan in April/May 1747, and had issue: one son, four daughters.

　• Yongcong, Prince Zhe of the First Rank (哲亲王 永琮; 27 May 1746 – 29 January 1748), seventh son

• Empress of the Nara clan (皇后 那拉氏; 11 March 1718 – 19 August 1766). She is the only Qing Empress who did not receive a posthumous name. Her maiden clan is a matter of debate, either Ula-nara or Hoifa-nara.Tenure as Empress Consort: 2 September 1750 – 19 August 1766.

　• Yongji, Prince of the Third Rank (贝勒 永璂; 7 June 1752 – 17 March 1776), 12th son

　• Fifth daughter (23 July 1753 – 1 June 1755)

　• Yongjing (永璟; 22 January 1756 – 7 September 1757), 13th son

• Empress Xiaoyichun (孝仪纯皇后) of the Weigiya (魏佳) Clan

　• Princess Hejing of the First Rank (固伦和静公主; 10 August 1756 – 9 February 1775), seventh daughter. Married Lhawang Dorji (拉旺多尔济; 1754–1816) of the Khalkha Borjigit clan in August/September 1770

　• Yonglu (永璐; 31 August 1757 – 3 May 1760), 14th son

　• Princess Heke of the Second Rank (和硕和恪公主; 17 August 1758 – 14 December 1780), ninth daughter. Married Jalantai (; d. 1788) of the Manchu Uya clan in August/September 1772

　• Miscarriage at eight months (13 November 1759)

　• Yongyan (仁宗 顒琰; 13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), the Jiaqing Emperor (嘉庆帝), 15th son

　• 16th son (13 January 1763 – 6 May 1765)

　• Yonglin, Prince Qingxi of the First Rank (庆僖亲王 永璘; 17 June 1766 – 25 April 1820), 17th son

Imperial Noble Consort

• Imperial Noble Consort Huixian (慧贤皇贵妃) of the Gaogiya (高佳) ClanTenure as Imperial Noble Consort: 23–25 February 1745.

• Imperial Noble Consort Chunhui (纯惠皇贵妃) of the Su (苏) ClanTenure as Imperial Noble Consort: 25 May - 2 June 1760.

　• Yongzhang, Prince Xun of the Second Rank (循郡王 永璋; 15 July 1735 – 26 August 1760), third son

　• Yongrong, Prince Zhizhuang of the First Rank (质庄亲王 永瑢; 28 January 1744 – 13 June 1790), sixth son

　• Princess Hejia of the Second Rank (和硕和嘉公主; 24 December 1745 – 29 October 1767), fourth daughter. Married Fulong'an (福隆安; 1746–1784) of the Manchu Fuca clan on 10 May 1760, and had issue (one son).

• Imperial Noble Consort Shujia (淑嘉皇贵妃) of the Gingiya (金佳) Clan

　• Yongcheng, Prince Lüduan of the First Rank (履端亲王 永珹; 21 February 1739 – 5 April 1777), fourth son

　• Yongxuan, Prince Yishen of the First Rank (仪慎亲王 永璇; 31 August 1746 – 1 September 1832), eighth son

　• Ninth son (2 August 1748 – 11 June 1749)

　• Yongxing, Prince Chengzhe of the First Rank (成哲亲王 永瑆; 22 March 1752 – 10 May 1823), 11th son

• Imperial Noble Consort Qinggong (庆恭皇贵妃) of the Lu (陆) Clan

• Imperial Noble Consort Zhemin (哲悯皇贵妃) of the Fuca (富察氏) Clan

　• Yonghuang, Prince Ding'an of the First Rank (定安亲王 永璜; 5 July 1728 – 21 April 1750), first son

　• Second daughter (May/June 1731 – December 1731 or January 1732)

Noble Consort

• Noble Consort Ying (颖贵妃) of the Barin (巴林) Clan

• Noble Consort Xin (忻贵妃) of the Dagiya (戴佳) Clan

　• Sixth daughter (24 August 1755 – 27 September 1758)

　• Eighth daughter (16 January 1758 – 17 June 1767)

　• Obstructed labour or miscarriage at eight months (28 May 1764)

• Noble Consort Yu (愉贵妃) of the Keliyete (珂里叶特) Clan

　• Yongqi, Prince Rongchun of the First Rank (荣纯亲王 永琪; 23 March 1741 – 16 April 1766), fifth son

• Noble Consort Xun (循贵妃) of the Irgen Gioro (伊尔根觉罗) Clan

• Noble Consort Wan (婉贵妃) of the Chen (陈) Clan

Consort

• Consort Shu (舒妃) of the Yehe Nara (叶赫那拉) Clan

　• Tenth son (12 June 1751 – 7 July 1753)

• Consort Yu (豫妃) of the Borjigit ( 博尔济吉特氏) Clan

　• Miscarriage (1759 or 1760)

• Consort Rong (容妃) of the Xojam (和卓氏) Clan

• Consort Dun (敦妃) of the Wang (汪) Clan

　• Princess Hexiao of the First Rank (固伦和孝公主; 2 February 1775 – 13 October 1823), tenth daughter. Married Fengšeninde (丰绅殷德; 1775–1810) of the Manchu Niohuru clan on 12 January 1790, and had issue (one son).

　• Miscarriage (1777 or 1778)

• Consort Fang (芳妃) of the Chen Clan

• Consort Jin (晋妃 ) of the Fuca (富察氏) Clan

Concubine

• Concubine Yi (仪嫔) of the Huang (黄) Clan

• Concubine Yi (怡嫔 ) of the Bo (柏氏) Clan

• Concubine Shen (慎嫔) of the Bai'ergesi (拜尔葛斯氏) Clan

• Concubine Xun (恂嫔) of the Huoshuote (霍硕特氏) Clan

• Concubine Cheng (诚嫔) of the Niohuru (钮祜禄氏) Clan

• Concubine Gong (恭嫔) of the Lin (林氏) Clan

Noble Lady

• Noble Lady E (鄂贵人) of the Sirin Gioro (西林觉罗氏) Clan

• Noble Lady Rui (瑞贵人) of the Socoro clan (索绰络氏)

• Noble Lady Bai (白贵人) of the Bo (柏氏) Clan

• Noble Lady Lu (禄贵人) of the Lu (陆氏) Clan

• Noble Lady Shou (寿贵人) of a certain clan

• Noble Lady Shun (顺贵人) of the Niohuru (钮祜禄氏) Clan

Ancestry

In fiction and popular culture

• Portrayed by Tony Liu in The Adventures Of Emperor Chien Lung (1977)

• Portrayed by Zhang Tielin in My Fair Princess (1998)

• Portrayed by Nie Yuan in World granary (天下粮仓) (2001), Story of Yanxi Palace (2018) and Yanxi Palace: Princess Adventures (2019)

• Portrayed by Ti Lung in My Fair Princess III (2003)

• Portrayed by Chiu Hsinchih in New My Fair Princess (2011)

• Portrayed by Wang Wenjie in Empresses in the Palace (2011)

• Portrayed by Chen Xu in Palace II (2012)

• Portrayed by Kent Tong in Palace 3: The Lost Daughter (2014)

• Portrayed by KK Cheung in Succession War (2018)

• Portrayed by Wallace Huo in Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace (2018)

Works by the Qianlong Emperor

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