Kangxi emperor

Treasury status
The contents of the national treasury in the Kangxi emperor's reign was:

1668 (7th year of Kangxi): 14,930,000 taels
1692: 27,385,631 taels
1702-1709: approximately 50,000,000 taels with little variation during this period
1710: 45,880,000 taels
1718: 44,319,033 taels
1720: 39,317,103 taels
1721 (60th year of Kangxi, second to last in his reign): 32,622,421 taels
As Kangxi was not yet of age when he became Emperor he did not have control of the affairs of state until later on in his reign after the arrest of the regent Oboi in 1669.

Gwen The reasons for the great decline in the later years were that the wars has been taking great amounts of money from the treasury, that the border defense against the Dzungars and the later civil war in Tibet had been costly and that, due to Kangxi's old age, the emperor had no more energy left to handle corrupt officials.

To cure this treasury problem, Kangxi advised Prince Yong (the future Emperor Yongzheng) some tactics to make the economy more efficient. The other problem that concerned Kangxi when he died was the civil war in Tibet; both that problem and the treasury problem would be solved during Yongzheng's reign.


[edit] Cultural achievements

The Kangxi Emperor in ceremonial armor, armed with bow and arrows, and surrounded by bodyguards.The Emperor, Kangxi ordered the compiling of the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put together, The Kangxi Dictionary. In many ways this was an attempt to win over the Chinese gentry. Many scholars still refused to serve the dynasty and remained loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Kangxi persuaded scholars to work on the dictionary without asking them to formally serve the Qing. In effect they found themselves gradually taking on more and more responsibilities until they were normal officials.


Jesuit astronomers of the Jesuit China missions, with Kangxi Emperor. Beauvais, 1690-1705.Kangxi also was keen on Western technology and tried to bring it to China. This was helped through Jesuit missionaries such as Ferdinand Verbiest whom he summoned almost everyday to the Forbidden City. From 1711 to 1723 Matteo Ripa, an Italian priest born near Salerno, sent to China by Propaganda Fide, worked as a painter and copper-engraver at the Manchu court. In 1723 Matteo Ripa returned to Naples from China with four young Chinese Christians, in order to let them become priests and go back to China as missionaries; this was the fundation of the "Collegio dei Cinesi", sanctioned by Pope Clement XII to help the propagation of Christianity in China.

The "Chinese Institute" was the first Sinology School on the European continent and the nucleus of what would then become the Istituto Orientale and today's "Università degli studi di Napoli L'Orientale" (Naples Eastern University).

Kangxi was also the first Chinese Emperor to have played a western instrument, the piano. He also invented a Chinese calendar.


[edit] Twice Removing the Crown Prince

The Kangxi Emperor on a tour, seated prominently on the deck of a junk ship.One of the mysteries of the Qing Dynasty was the event of Kangxi's will, which along with three other events, are known as the "Four greatest mysteries of the Qing Dynasty". To this day, whom Kangxi chose as his successor is still a topic of debate amongst historians, even though, supposedly, he chose Yinzhen, the 4th Prince, who was to become emperor Yongzheng. Many claimed that Yongzheng forged the will, and some suggest the will had chosen Yinti, the 14th Prince, who was apparently the favourite, as successor. However, there is strong evidence that Kangxi had in fact chosen Yinzhen as his successor.

Kangxi's first Empress gave birth to his second surviving son Yinreng, who was at age two named Crown Prince of the Great Qing Empire, which at the time, being a Han Chinese custom, ensured stability during a time of chaos in the south. Although Kangxi left several of his sons to be educated by others, he personally brought up Yinreng, intending to fashion him into the perfect heir.

Yinreng was tutored by the mandarin Wang Shan, who was devoted to the prince, and who was to spend the latter years of his life trying to revive Yinreng's position at court. Through the long years of Kangxi's reign, however, factions and rivalries formed. Those who favored Yinreng, the 4th Imperial Prince Yinzhen, and the 13th Imperial Prince Yinxiang had managed to keep them in contention for the throne. Even though Kangxi favoured Yinreng and had always wanted the best for him, Yinreng did not prove co-operative.

He was said to have beaten and killed his subordinates, and was alleged to have had sexual relations with one of Kangxi's concubines, which was defined as incest and a capital offense, and purchased young children from the Jiangsu region for his pleasure. Furthermore, Yinreng's supporters, led by Songgotu, had gradually developed a "Crown Prince Party" (太子黨). The faction wished to elevate Yinreng to the Throne as soon as possible, even if it meant using unlawful methods.


Kangxi at age 45, painted in 1699Over the years the aging Emperor had kept constant watch over Yinreng, and he was made aware of many of his flaws. The relationship between father and son gradually worsened. Many thought that Yinreng would permanently damage the Qing Empire if he were to succeed the throne. But Kangxi himself also knew that a huge battle at court would ensue if he was to abolish the Crown Prince position entirely. Forty-six years into Kangxi's reign (1707), Kangxi decided that "after twenty years, he could take no more of Yinreng's actions, which he partly described in the Imperial Edict as "too embarrassing to be spoken of", and decided to demote Yinreng from his position as Crown Prince.

With Yinreng rid of and the position empty, discussion began regarding the choice of a new Crown Prince. Yinzhi (胤禔), Kangxi's eldest surviving son, the Da-a-go (大阿哥), was placed to watch Yinreng in his newly found house arrest, and assumed that because his father placed this trust in himself, he would soon be made heir.

The 1st Prince had many times attempted to sabotage Yinreng, even employing witchcraft. He went as far as asking Kangxi for permission to execute Yinreng, thus enraging Kangxi, which effectively erased all his chances in succession, as well as his current titles. In Court, the 8th Imperial Prince, Yinsi, seemed to have the most support among officials, as well as the Imperial Family.

In diplomatic language, Kangxi advised that the officials and nobles at court to stop the debates regarding the position of Crown Prince. But despite these attempts to quiet rumours and speculation as to who the new Crown Prince might be, the court's daily business was strongly disrupted. Furthermore, the first Prince's actions led Kangxi to think that it may have been external forces that caused Yinreng's disgrace. In the Third Month of the 48th Year of Kangxi's reign (1709), with the support of the fourth and thirteenth Imperial Princes, Kangxi re-established Yinreng as Crown Prince to avoid further debate, rumours and disruption at the imperial court. Kangxi had explained Yinreng's former wrongs as a result of mental illness, and he had had the time to recover, and think reasonably again.

In 1712, during Kangxi's last visit south to the Yangtze region, Yinreng and his faction yet again vied for supreme power. Yinreng ruled as regent during daily court business in Beijing. He had decided to allow an attempt at forcing Kangxi to abdicate when the Emperor returned to Beijing. Through several credible sources, Kangxi had received the news, and with power in hand, he saved the Empire from a coup d'etat. When Kangxi returned to Beijing in December 1712, he was enraged, and removed the Crown Prince once more. Yinreng was sent to court to be tried and placed under house arrest.

Kangxi had made it clear that he would not grant the position of Crown Prince to any of his sons for the remainder of his reign, and that he would place his Imperial Valedictory Will inside a box inside Qianqing Palace, only to be opened after his death. What was in his will is subject to intense historical debate.


[edit] Disputed succession
The seated Kangxi EmperorFollowing the abolition, Kangxi made some sweeping changes in the political landscape. The 13th Imperial Prince, Yinxiang, was placed under house arrest for "cooperating" with the former Crown Prince. Yinsi, too, was stripped of all imperial titles, only to have them restored years later. The 14th Imperial Prince Yinti, whom many considered to have the best chance in succession, was named "Border Pacification General-in-chief" quelling rebels and was away from Beijing when the political debates raged on. Yinsi, along with the 9th and 10th Princes, had all pledged their support for Yinti. Yinzhen was not widely believed to be a formidable competitor.

Official documents recorded that during the evening hours of December 20, 1722, Kangxi assembled at his bedside seven of the imperial princes who had not disgraced themselves—these were his third, fourth, eighth, ninth, tenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth sons. After his death, Longkodo announced that Kangxi had selected as his heir the fourth prince, Yinzhen. Yinti was in Xinjiang fighting a war when he received word that he had been summoned to Beijing. He did not arrive until days after Kangxi's death. In the meantime Yinzhen had declared that Kangxi had named him as heir. The dispute over his succession revolves around whether Kangxi intended his fourth or fourteenth son to succeed to the throne. (See: Yongzheng) He was entombed at the Eastern Tombs (東陵) in Zunhua County (遵化縣), Hebei.