Kangxi

The Beginning of the Reign
Born on May 4, 1654 to the Shunzhi Emperor and Empress Xiao Kang, the Kangxi Emperor, whose personal name was Aisin-Gioro Xuanye (Chinese: 愛新覺羅.玄燁), succeeded the imperial throne at the age of 7 on February 7, 1661, two days after his father's death. Although the Kangxi reign period only started on February 18, 1662 (the first day of the following lunar year), the Kangxi Emperor actually ruled for more than 61 years from February 1661 to his death on December 20, 1722. His reign was the longest in Chinese history. His temple name (i.e. the official name given after his death for reveration in temple ceremonies) was Shengzu ("Sacred Ancestor"); his descendants thus called him Qing Shengzu.

His father died in his early twenties, and as Kangxi was not able to rule in his minority, the Shunzhi Emperor appointed Soni, Suksaha, Ebilun, and Oboi as the Four Regents. Soni died soon after his granddaughter was made the Empress, Heseri, leaving Suksaha at odds with Oboi politically. In a fierce power struggle, Oboi had Suksaha put to death, and seized absolute power as sole Regent. For a while Kangxi and the Court accepted this arrangement. In 1669 the Emperor arrested Oboi with help from the Xiao Zhuang Grand Dowager Empress and began to take control of the country himself.

In the spring of 1662, the regents ordered the Great Clearance in southern China, in order to fight the anti-Qing movement, begun by Ming Dynasty loyalists under the leadership of Zheng Chenggong (also known as Koxinga), to regain Beijing. This involved moving the entire population of the coastal regions of southern China inland.

He listed three issues of concern, being the flood control of the Yellow River, the repairing of the Grand Canal and the Revolt of the Three Feudatories in South China. The Revolt of the Three Feudatories broke out in 1673 and Burni of the Chahar Mongols also started a rebellion in 1675.

The Revolt of the Three Feudatories presented a major challenge. Wu Sangui's forces had overrun most of southern China and he tried to ally himself with local generals such as Wang Fuchen. Kangxi, however, united his court in support of the war effort and employed capable generals such as Zhou Pei Gong and Tu Hai to crush the rebellion. He also extended clemency to the common people who had been caught up in the fighting. Although Kangxi personally wanted to lead the battles against the 3 Feudatories, he was advised not to by his advisors. Kangxi would later lead the battle against the Mongol Dzungars.

Kangxi crushed the rebellious Mongols within two months and incorporated the Chahar into the Eight Banners. After the surrender of the Zheng family, the Qing Dynasty annexed Taiwan in 1684. Soon afterwards, the coastal regions were ordered to be repopulated, and to encourage settlers, the Qing government gave a financial incentive to each settling family.

In a diplomatic success, the Kangxi government helped mediate a truce in the long-running Trinh-Nguyen War in the year 1673. The war in Vietnam between these two powerful clans had been going on for 45 years without result. The peace treaty that was signed lasted for 101 years.[3]


[edit] Russia and the Mongols

European couple, Kangxi period.At the same time, the Emperor was faced with the Russian advance from the north. The Qing Dynasty and the Russian Empire fought along the Sahaliyan ula (Amur, or Heilongjiang) Valley region in the 1650s, which ended with a Qing victory. The Russians invaded the northern frontier again in 1680s. After series of battles and negotiations, the two empires signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 giving China the Amur valley and fixing a border.

At this time the Khalkha Mongols preserved their independence and only paid tribute to the Manchu Empire. A conflict between the Houses of Jasaghtu Khan and Tösheetü Khan led another dispute between the Khalkha and the Dzungar Mongols over influence over Tibetan Buddhism. In 1688 Galdan, the Dzungar chief, invaded and occupied the Khalkha homeland. The Khalkha royal families and the first Jebtsundamba Khutughtu crossed the Gobi Desert, sought help from the Qing Dynasty and, as a result, submitted to the Qing. In 1690, the Dzungar and the Manchu Empire clashed at the battle of Ulaan Butun in Inner Mongolia, during which the Qing army was severely mauled by Galdan.


The young Kangxi Emperor in informal dressIn 1696, the Kangxi Emperor himself as commander in chief led three armies with a total of 80,000 in the campaign against the Dzungars. The notable second-in-command general behind Kangxi was Fei Yang Gu (費揚古) who was personally recommended by Zhou Pei Gong (周培公). The Western section of the Qing army crushed Galdan's army at the Battle of Zuunmod and Galdan died in the next year. The Dzungars continued to threaten China and invaded Tibet in 1717. They took Lhasa with an army 6,000 strong in response to the deposition of the Dalai Lama and his replacement with Lha-bzan Khan in 1706. They removed Lha-bzan from power and held the city for two years, destroying a Chinese army in 1718. Lhasa was not retaken until 1720.


[edit] The Banner System
The 8 Banner Army was already in decline. The 8 Banner Army was inferior to the Qing army at its peak during Huang Taji and early Shunzhi's reign; however, it was still superior to the later Yongzheng period and even more so than the Qianlong period. In addition, the Green Standard Army was still powerful with generals such as Tu Hai, Fei Yang Gu, Zhang Yong, Zhou Pei Gong, Shi Lang, Mu Zhan, Shun Shi Ke, Wang Jing Bao. These generals were stronger than the Qianlong period's generals.

The main reason for this decline was because of the change in system between Kangxi and Qianlong's reign. During Kangxi's reign, the empire still used the ancestor's military system that was far more efficient and strict. Based on the old system, if a general was to return by himself, he was to be slain. If a soldier returned by himself, the soldier was to be slain. Basically, a group of general and soldiers are to co-exist. This obviously meant that the generals and soldiers would fight for their lives because if the rest of the group were defeated, he would also die either way.


Kangxi returning to Beijing after a southern inspection tour of 1689By Qianlong's reign, because the Lord status was passed on for generations, the war lords started to become lazy. The warlords' ancestor's had already given them fame and so the war lords saw the training of the army as less important than it once was. In a sense, Kangxi's reign was a reign where he tried to reunify China, which meant the war lords had to get back in combat, but by Qianlong's reign it was mostly expansion.