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Statue of Emperor Kangxi By Anonymous Qing Dynasty Court Painter –

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Kangxi Emperor

The Kangxi Emperor was born in Jingren Palace in the Forbidden City, Beijing in 1654. His parents were the Shunzhi Emperor and Empress Xiaokangzhang who originally gave him the personal name Xuanye. He was the third Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper for 61 years.

Known as the second longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history he reigned between 1661 to 1722. His grandson the Qianlong Emperor, had the longest period of de facto power, ascending as an adult and maintaining effective power until his death. Kangxi Emperors鈥� reign brought about long-term stability and relative wealth after years of war and chaos.

1 Early reign

Kangxi Emperor became enthroned on the 7^th of February 1661, at the age of seven. His era name 鈥淜angxi鈥� started to be used a year later on the 18^th of February 1662. Before the Kangxi Emperor ascended to power, Shunzhi Emperor appointed the powerful men Sonin, Suksaha, Ebilun, and Oboi as regents. When Sonin died after his granddaughter became Empress Xiaochengren, Suksaha was at odds with Oboi in politics. Eventually, Oboi had Suksaha put to death and seized absolute power as sole regent, to which Kangxi Emperor and the rest of the imperial court accepted this arrangement reluctantly without protesting.

By 1669, the Kangxi Emperor had Oboi arrested. This happened with the help of his grandmother Grand Dowager Empress Xiaozhuang. He began taking personal control of the empire and listed three issues that he was concerned with. He would control the floods of the Yellow River, repair the Grand Canal and finally engage in the Revolt of the Three Feudatories in south China. His grandmother had a great influence on him and he took care of her in the months leading up to her death in 1688.

2 Military Achievements

When Kangxi Emperor was in power, the main army of the Qing Empire, the Eight Banners Army, was in decline. It was smaller compared to Shunzhi Emperor鈥檚 reign and Hong Taiji when it was at its peak. The main reason for this decline was a change in the system between the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors reigns.

The Kangxi Emperor went on to use the traditional military system which was implemented by his predecessors. It was more efficient and stricter and required that a commander who returned from a battle alone when all his men have died would be put to death. This rule also applied to foot soldiers and is was meant to motivate them to fight valiantly in war, as there was no benefit for the sole survivor in a battle.

3 Personality

Emperor Kangxi at his desk By Unknown author –

The Kangxi Emperor rose early and went to rest way late in the night. He was a workaholic who had numerous memorials every day to read and respond to. He would be conferring with his councilors or giving audiences in normaattimes. During wartimes, he would read memorials on the waterfront past midnight or travel away on campaigns in person.

He was brilliant. He devised a system of communication that circumvented the scholar-bureaucrats, who tended to usurp the power of the emperor. They would transfer secret messages between him and trusted officials in the provinces. The messages were contained in locked boxes that only he and the official had access to. This started a system for receiving uncensored extreme-weather reports. It became their general-purpose secret 鈥渘ews channel鈥�. This Palace Memorial System soon grew to a Grand Council that dealt with extraordinary, especially military, events.

4 Revolt of the Three Feudatories

The Qing took over China in 1644 and were aided by three Ming generals. They gave them large parts of the land to the south and west as fiefs. By 1673, the three feudatories were controlled by Wu Sangui, Geng Jingzhong, and Shang Zhixin. Kangxi attempted to force the feudal princes to give up their lands and retire to Manchuria a mistake he would later ruminate about. This brought about a rebellion that lasted eight years and had lots of human casualties.

Wu Sangui’s forces overran most of southwest China and he sort out a way to ally himself with local generals. Meanwhile, Kangxi Emperor employed generals including Zhou Peigong and Tuhai to suppress the rebellion. They were also supposed to offer clemency to the ordinary people who got caught up in the war. He mainly used the Han Chinese Green Standard Army soldiers to crush the rebels. The Manchu Banners took a backseat and the revolt eventually ended with victory for Qing forces in 1681.

5 Economic achievements

The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty, around his 40’s By Unknown court artist –

There was a decline in economic trends in the later years of the Kangxi Emperor’s reign. This happened because of huge expenditure on military campaigns and an increase in corruption. To eliminate this problem, the emperor gave Prince Yong (the future Yongzheng Emperor) advice on how to make the economy more efficient.

6 Incited anti-Muslim sentiment

Emperor Kangxi incited anti-Muslim sentiment among the Mongols of Qinghai so that he could gain support against the Mongol leader Galdan. He claimed that Chinese Muslims inside China was plotting with Galdan, who he falsely accused of converting to Islam.

He also suggested that Galdan had spurned and turned his back on Buddhism and plotted to install a Muslim as a ruler of China. This would happen after invading it and conspiring with Chinese Muslims. Moreover, Kangxi did not trust the Muslims of Turfan and Hami.

7 Death and Succession

The Kangxi Emperor died on the 20^th of December 1722. Before his death, he called seven of his sons to assemble at his bedside. After his death, Longkodo announced that the emperor had selected the fourth prince, Yinzhen, as the new emperor. He ascended to the throne as the Yongzheng Emperor while the Kangxi Emperor was entombed at the Eastern Tombs in Zunhua, Hebei.

8 Cultural achievements

While Kangxi Emperor was in power he ordered the compilation of a dictionary of Chinese characters to be made. It became known as the Kangxi Dictionary and by 1705, a compilation of Tang poetry, the Quan Tangshi was produced. He had an interest in western technology and imported them to China through Jesuit missionaries.

Thomas Pereira taught the Kangxi Emperor how to play the harpsichord. He was the first Chinese emperor to play a western musical instrument. The Emperor also invented a Chinese calendar and saw China’s famed blue and white porcelain probably reaching its zenith during his reign.

9 Succession disputes

Armoured Kangxi Emperor By Author of Qing Dynasty –

There was a prolonged power struggle among the various princes on who should inherit the throne. Kangxi Emperor’s first spouse, Empress Xiaochengren, died while giving birth to his second surviving son Yinreng. Ginseng at the age of two was named crown prince a Han Chinese custom that ensured stability in the south during the time of chaos. Kangxi Emperor personally oversaw the upbringing of Yinreng and groomed him to be a perfect successor. He, however, proved to be unworthy of the succession despite being favored by his father. The emperor decided that he could no longer tolerate Yinreng’s behavior and placed his oldest surviving son, Yinzhi, in charge.

He had him oversee Yinreng’s house arrest. However, Yinzhi knew he was an unfavored Shu son and had no chance of being selected. He,, therefore,, proposed the eighth prince, Yinsi, and requested his father to order Yinreng’s execution. The Emperor was infuriated, stripped Yinzhi of his titles,,,,,,, and suspected that Yinreng might have been framed. He restored Yinreng as crown prince in 1709 on the excuse that Yinreng had previously acted under the influence of mental illness.

However, the emperor received news of a planned coup d’etat and was so angry that he deposed Yinreng and placed him under house arrest again. After the incident,,,,,,,, he decided not to appoint any of his sons as crown prince for the remainder of his reign. He settled on placing his Imperial Valedictory Will inside a box in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, which would only be opened after his death.

10 Featured in Fictional popular culture and video games

The Kangxi Emperor’s life has been romanticized by Er Yuehe in the historical novel The Great Kangxi Emperor. There is also a novel by Liang Yusheng, called Seven Swords Descend from Mount Heaven. It portrays the emperor discovering that his father, the Shunzhi Emperor, has become a monk in a monastery on Mount Wutai.

He orders a close aide to kill his father to consolidate power and attempts to erase evidence of the murder later. The Kangxi Emperor has featured as the Chinese leader in a real-time strategy game, called Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. He has also been featured as a minister in a Strategy Click-RPG game called Call Me Emperor.