[barbarian]

I've heard of the famous Emperor Kangxi.. can someone tell me more about his history? What were his accomplishments?

[lycosasia]

His accomplishments:

1. Defeat of Aobai's rebellion.

2. Defeat of Wusangui and other 3 rebels

3. Annexed Taiwan to the Qing Empire

[jiangji]

During Kang Xi's reign, the number of foreign missionaries in China increased drastically, and they contributed greatly to the Qing government. During his reign,

Taiwan captured (1,683 A.D.).

Delineated boundary between Russia and China (1,689 A.D.).

Included Mongolia as part of Qing’s territory (1,697 A.D.)

Suppressed Tibet’s rebellion (1,720 A.D.)

End the Revolt of the Three Feudatories

[General_Zhaoyun]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Emperor Kangxi (Wade-Giles: K'ang Hsi) (May 4, 1654 - December 20, 1722) was the third emperor of the Manchurian Qing Dynasty from 1662 to 1722. The fourth in a successive line of Manchurian rulers starting from Nurhaci, he was the second Qing emperor to rule the whole of mainland China. He is known as one of the greatest Chinese emperors in history.

Beginning of the Reign

Technically, the Kangxi Emperor inherited his father Fulin's throne at the age of seven. Since Kangxi certainly would not have been able to rule as the emperor, the Shunzhi Emperor left Sonin, Suksaha, Ebilun, and Oboi as assistant ministers. As a result of a fierce power struggle, Oboi seized absolute power. In 1669 the Emperor arrested Oboi with help from the Grand Empress Dowager Xiao Zhuang and began to take the reins by himself.

In the sping of 1662, Kangxi ordered the Great Clearance in southern China, in order to fight the anti-Qing movement, began by Ming Dynasty loyalists to regain Beijing.

He listed three major issues: the flood control of the Yellow River, the repairing of the Grand Canal and the Three Feudatories in South China. The Revolt of the Three Feudatories was raised in 1673 and Burni of the Chakhar Mongols also started a rebellion in 1675.

The revolt of the three feudatories proved to be hard to clear. Wu Sangui's emerging forces had overran most of southern China and began allying himself with local generals. A prominent general of this kind was Wang Fuchen.

He crushed the latter within two months and incorporated the Chakhar 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 pecuniary incentive to each settling family.


Russia and the Mongols

At the same time, the Emperor was faced with the Russian advance from the north. The Qing Dynasty and the Russian Empire went into battle on the Sahaliyan ula in 1650s, which ended up with the Manchu 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.

The Khalkha Mongols preserved their independence while they 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 Jüün Ghar about Tibetan Buddhism. In 1688 Galdan, Jüün Ghar chief, invaded and occupied Khalkha. The Khalkha royal families and the first Jebtsundamba Khutughtu crossed the Gobi Desert, sought help from the Qing Dynasty and, as a result, came under the empire. In 1690, the Jüün Ghar and the Manchu Empire clashed in Ulaan Butun, Inner Mongolia, where the Qing army were severely damaged by Galdan. In 1696, the Kangxi Emperor himself led the campaign against the Jüün Ghar. The West Branch of the Qing army crushed Galdan's army in the Battle of Juun Modu and Galdan died in the next year.


Cultural achievements

He commanded the most complete dictionary of Chinese characters ever put together at the time, The Kangxi Dictionary.


Race for successor

After Kangxi's first Empress gave birth to his second son Yinreng, who was immediately named Crown Prince of the Great Qing Emprire, many rivalries had began to eventually isolate Yinreng. Those in slight favor towards him, the Fourth Imperial Prince Yinzhen and the Thirteenth Imperial Prince Yinxiang had managed to keep his status afloat. Even though Kangxi liked Yinreng and had always wanted the best out of him, Yinreng did not cooperate. 40 some years into Kangxi's reign he had developed a tempor and was known to put his personal pleasures above important matters of the Empire.

Kangxi's continual watch over Yinreng had introduced him to Yinreng's fatal problems that would permanently damage the Qing empire if Yinreng was to succeed. But Kangxi himself also knew that a huge battle for crown Prince would thus start if he is to abolish the Crown Prince position. 46 years into Kangxi's reign (Kangxi-46, See Chinese Calendar), he could take no more of Yinreng's increasingly absurd actions, and decided to abolish Yinreng's position as Crown Prince.

Soon after this action a sea of discussion started regarding who should be the new Crown Prince. The Eighth Imperial Prince, Yinsi, seemed to have the most support among feudal officials within the court, but Kangxi disapproved anyone being Crown Prince.

Despite Kangxi's attempts to quiet rumours and speculations of who the new Crown Prince is, the court's daily businesses were strongly affected by the abolition of the Crown Prince. In the Third Month of Kangxi-48, with the support of the Fourth and Thirteenth Imperial Princes, Kangxi brought Yinreng back as Crown Prince to avoid further fabrications, rumours and disruption of the imperial court.

During Kangxi's last visit southward to the Yangtze region, Yinreng grew hungry for supreme power as he ruled as regent in Beijing; he had decided with bad influence from many of his supporters to give a try at forcing Kangxi to abdicate when he returns to Beijing. However this failed after Kangxi heard of the news.

When Kangxi returned to Beijing he once again abolished the Crown Prince post once and for all. Yinreng was sent to prison.

From this emerged a huge political battle, but Kangxi stated that he would not leave a Crown Prince post in his reign, and that he would place his Imperial Will inside a box only to be opened after his death, thus no one knew Kangxi's real intentions.

On the political side of things, Thirteenth Imperial Prince Yinxiang was also placed under house arrest for "cooperating" with Yinreng; soon thereafter emerged two powerful forces, one being that of Yinsi, whom most imperial officials supported, and Yinzhen, who was hard on corrupt officials (which is almost all of them and therefore did not receive much support). A third emerging force, Fourteenth Imperial Prince Yinti, who after his increasing apprehensions among his trusted brother Yinsi, was away from the scene in Beijing because he was fighting a war in the Xinjiang region.

At what was believed to be minutes after midnight of the thirteenth day of the Eleventh Month in Kangxi-61 (1722 A.D.), Kangxi assembled all of his Imperial Princes in Beijing at the time for a word with him, thereafter allowing his trusted official Zhang Tingyu to announce the heir to the throne. But once the box containing Kangxi's will arrived, Kangxi himself had died. Therefore never confirming that the decision for Yinzhen to be Emperor was Kangxi's will.

[snowybeagle]

One of the interesting titbits about him: The ethnic Han (scholars) could not deny he ruled well, much better compared to their last ethnic Han rulers from the Ming dynasty. But how could they acknowledge that a barbarian could rule better than the orthodox inheritors of the Hua Xia civilisation which was supposed to be the paragon of all civilisations?

To make him more acceptable, it was made generally known that he was not of completely foreign (barbarian) lineage, and that his mother was supposed to be the ethnic Han concubine of the previous Empress, the ill-fated Concubine Dong Xiao Wan. This was considered remarkable because there had been a strong tradition by the Manchus against officially recognising ethnic Han women's status in the harem.

His personal sterling qualities as a ruler aside, a recent China production drama serial of the Court of Emperor Kang Xi reflected some of his not so obvious failings.

Imperial Succession
In one scene, the aged Kang Xi acknowledged the dry irony that he was used to comparing himself favourably with Emperor Tai Zong of the Tang Dynasty - and he used to pick on Tai Zong's inability to raise his sons well. Too late, Kang Xi realised also that he was no better as a father to his own brood, and that his sons were already engaged in various intrigues for the succession of the throne. Many of his sons disappointed him, including the second son whom he deposed as Crown Prince. Kang Xi's tried to control the situation through naming the heir through a will to be announced only after his death, but the intrigue continued.

Graft
In another scene, Kang Xi acknowledged that he had deliberately been lax about the graft in the official circles. He had considered it necessary to secure stability for the Empire and support for his rule. This rationale bore some historical support - Kang Xi ascended to the throne as a minor, and had to wrestle power from his regents. After ridding of a fair number of officials (senior and junior) from the cliques of the deposed regents, he had to secure support from other officials to maintain the empire and deal with various internal and external threats. He practically bought over his supporters, and also his foes. It kept the empire from breaking apart and established smooth running of the bureaucracy.

In the long run, the policy also created another vulnerability - fiscal deficit. Officials had become used to helping themselves from the state coffers, either through outright stealing or in the form of unrepaid loans. As a test, he issued a challenge to his sons to recover the funds.

Veterans benefits
In their traditional society, the Manchus made a living by hunting more than agriculture. The early Manchus who conquered China realised they could not continue this lifestyle in China. Instead, the veterans of the Manchu army who settled in China to secure the Empire received generous stipends, which their descendants would continue to enjoy in perpetuity. This of course, caused an acute problem several decades down the road without a proper revenue policy to support it. There was no proper revenue policy to support it.

These were the problems inherited by the next Emperor, Yong Zhen.