Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Jiaqing Emperor
Qing emperor of the Jiaqing reign who received the throne from Qianlong, had Heshen put to death once his father died, and spent years suppressing the White Lotus rising
In a side chamber of a palace, a yellow ceremonial robe embroidered with a dragon hangs on a wooden stand, its hem worked with waves and rocks, before a carved folding screen, while a black lacquer chest sits on a low table by a lattice window and no person is in view.
Also known as Jiaqing Di · Qing Renzong · Ai Xin Jue Luo · Yong Yan
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
Yongyan, fifteenth son of the Qianlong Emperor, was born in 1760 and secretly chosen as heir in 1773; in 1795 he was made Prince Jia and openly named crown prince. Qianlong abdicated in his favour in 1796, the first year of Jiaqing, but kept real power as retired emperor. When his father died in 1799, Yongyan at once charged the favourite Heshen with twenty crimes, ordered him to take his own life and confiscated his fortune. The White Lotus rising in Sichuan, Hubei and Shaanxi, which had broken out in 1796, was not put down until 1804. In 1813 followers of Lin Qing's Heavenly Principle sect broke into the Forbidden City, and the emperor afterwards issued an edict blaming himself. He died at the summer palace in Chengde in 1820 and was buried at the Changling tomb in the Western Qing Tombs, with the temple name Renzong.
Life and times
Dates 1760 CE–1820 CE