Shunzhi Emperor

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Shunzhi Emperor bigraphy, stories - Qing Dynasty emperor of China

Shunzhi Emperor : biography

15 March 1638 – 5 February 1661

The Shunzhi Emperor; Manchu: 35px ijishūn dasan hūwangdi; Mongolian: Eyebeer Zasagch Khaan; 15 March 1638 – 5 February 1661 (Shun-chih Emperor) was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty and the first Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1644 to 1661. A committee of Manchu princes chose him to succeed his father, Hong Taiji (1592–1643), in September 1643, when he was five years old. The princes also appointed two co-regents: Dorgon (1612–1650), fourteenth son of Qing founder Nurhaci (1559–1626), and Jirgalang (1599–1655), one of Nurhaci’s nephews, both of whom were members of the Qing imperial clan.

From 1643 to 1650, political power lay mostly in the hands of Dorgon. Under his leadership, the Qing conquered most of the territory of the fallen Ming dynasty (1368–1644), chased Ming loyalist regimes deep into the southwestern provinces, and established the basis of Qing rule over China despite highly unpopular policies such as the "hair cutting command" of 1645, which forced Qing subjects to shave their forehead and braid their remaining hair into a queue resembling that of the Manchus. After Dorgon’s death on the last day of 1650, the young monarch started to rule personally. He tried, with mixed success, to fight corruption and to reduce the political influence of the Manchu nobility. In the 1650s he faced a resurgence of Ming loyalist resistance, but by 1661 his armies had defeated the Qing’s last enemies, seafarer Koxinga (1624–1662) and the Prince of Gui (1623–1662) of the Southern Ming, both of whom would succumb the following year. The Shunzhi emperor died at the age of 22 of smallpox, a highly contagious disease that was endemic in China, but against which the Manchus had no immunity. He was succeeded by his third son Xuanye, who had already survived smallpox, and who reigned for sixty years under the name of Kangxi. Because fewer documents have survived from the Shunzhi era than from later Qing reigns, the Shunzhi age is a relatively little-known period of Qing history.

"Shunzhi" was the name of this ruler’s reign period in Chinese. This title had equivalents in Manchu and Mongolian because the Qing imperial family was Manchu, and ruled over many Mongol tribes that helped the Qing to conquer China. The emperor’s personal name was Fulin, and the posthumous name by which he was worshipped at the Imperial Ancestral Temple was Shizu (Wade–Giles: Shih-tsu; Chinese: 世祖).

Becoming emperor

When Hong Taiji died on 21 September 1643 without having named a successor, the fledgling Qing state faced a possibly serious crisis. (p. 38), (p. 297), and (p. 51) all place Hong Taiji’s death on September 21 (Chongde 崇德 8.8.9). (p. 74) gives the date as September 9. Several contenders––namely Nurhaci’s second and eldest surviving son Daišan, Nurhaci’s fourteenth and fifteenth sons Dorgon and Dodo (both born to the same mother), and Hong Taiji’s eldest son Hooge––started to vie for the throne.. With his brothers Dodo and Ajige, Dorgon (31 years old) controlled the Plain and Bordered White Banners, Daišan (60) was in charge of the two Red Banners, whereas Hooge (34) had the loyalty of his father’s two Yellow Banners. (about the White and Yellow banners); (table with age of the imperial princes and the banners they controlled).

The decision about who would become the new Qing emperor fell to the Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers, which was the Manchus’ main policymaking body until the emergence of the Grand Council in the 1720s. (convening of the Deliberative Council to discuss Hong Taiji’s succession); (Deliberative Council as "the most influential shaper of policy in the early Ch’ing" [i.e., Qing]; (the Grand Council rose "to the overlordship of almost the entire central government of the Chinese empire" in the 1720s and 1730s). Many Manchu princes advocated that Dorgon, a proven military leader, should become the new emperor, but Dorgon refused and insisted that one of Hong Taiji’s sons should succeed his father.. To recognize Dorgon’s authority while keeping the throne in Hong Taiji’s descent line, the members of the council named Hong Taiji’s ninth son, Fulin, as the new Emperor, but decided that Dorgon and Jirgalang (a nephew of Nurhaci who controlled the Bordered Blue Banner) would act as the five-year-old child’s regents. Fulin was officially crowned Emperor of the Qing dynasty on 8 October 1643; it was decided that he would reign under the era name "Shunzhi.". Because the Shunzhi reign is not well documented, it constitutes a relatively little-known period of Qing history..