The Oboi regency
editThe reign of the Kangxi emperor started with a regency by four Manchu nobles
The child emperor
editOverwhelmed with grief after the death of his beloved Consort Donggo a few months earlier, the emperor fell into dejection and contracted smallpox on 2 February 1661.[1] On 4 February 1661, officials Wang Xi (王熙) and Margi (the latter a Manchu) were called to the emperor's bedside to record his last will.[2] On the same day, his third son Xuanye, who was then less than seven years old, was chosen to be his successor, probably because he had already survived smallpox.[3] The Shunzhi emperor died on 5 February 1661 in the Forbidden City at the age of twenty-two.[1]
The return of the conquest elite
editControversial policies
editThe fall of the regents
editStabilisation of rule
editMilitary challenges and foreign contacts
editThe Three Feudatories
editTaiwan
editEuropean trade missions
editInner Asia: Russians and Mongols
editTreaty of Nerchinsk (1689).
Khalkha Mongols, Dzungars, Galdan.
Managing the bureaucracy
editManchus and Chinese
editCliques
editCourt Jesuits
editWestern science
editPolicies on Christianity
editThe Rites Controversy
editSocial and cultural policies
editThe problem of succession
editThe Heir apparent
editFactional politics
editDenouement
editPersonality
editFamily
editMother
editConsorts
editSons
editDaughters
editNotes
edit- ^ a b Dennerline 2002, p. 118.
- ^ Oxnam 1975, p. 205.
- ^ Spence 2002, p. 125. Note that Xuanye was born in May 1654, and was therefore less than seven years old at the time. Both Spence 2002 and Oxnam 1975 (p. 1) nonetheless claim that he was "seven years old." Dennerline 2002 (p. 119) and Rawski 1998 (p. 99) indicate that he was "not yet seven years old." Following East_Asian_age_reckoning, Chinese documents concerning the succession say that Xuanye was eight sui (Oxnam 1975, p. 62).