, 18th century The Qianlong Emperor, like his predecessors, took his cultural role seriously. First, he worked to preserve the
Manchu heritage, which he saw as the basis of the moral character of the Manchus and thus of the dynasty's power. He ordered the compilation of Manchu language genealogies, histories, and ritual handbooks and in 1747 secretly ordered the compilation of the
Shamanic Code, published later in the
Complete Library of the Four Treasuries. He further solidified the dynasty's cultural and religious claims in
Central Asia by ordering a replica of the Tibetan
Potala Palace, the
Putuo Zongcheng Temple, to be built on the grounds of the
imperial summer palace in
Chengde. In order to present himself in Buddhist terms for appeasing the Mongols and Tibetan subjects, he commissioned a
thangka, or sacred painting, depicting him as
Manjushri, the
Bodhisattva of Wisdom. He was also a poet and essayist. His collected writings, which he published in a tenfold series between 1749 and 1800, contain more than 40,000 poems and 1,300 prose texts, which if he had composed them all would make him one of the most prolific writers of all time. He formed a team of cultural advisers to help locate collections of merchant families who needed to sell or whose heirs had lost interest. He sometimes pressured or forced wealthy officials to surrender precious objects by offering to excuse shortcomings in their performance if they made a certain "gift". On several occasions he claimed that a painting could be secure from theft or fire only if it was taken into the Forbidden City. The Emperor's massive art collection became an intimate part of his life; he took
landscape paintings with him on his travels to compare them with the actual landscapes, or to hang them in special rooms in palaces where he lodged, in order to inscribe them on every visit there. Most of the several thousand jade items in the imperial collection date from his reign. The Emperor was also particularly interested in collecting ancient bronzes, bronze mirrors and
seals," The authority would judge any single character or any single sentence's neutrality; if the authority had decided these words, or sentence, were derogatory or cynical towards the rulers, then persecution would begin. In the Qianlong Emperor's time, there were 53 cases of
Literary Inquisition, resulting in the victims executed by beheading or slow slicing (
lingchi), or having their corpses mutilated (if they were already dead).
Literary works In 1743, after his first visit to Mukden (present-day
Shenyang,
Liaoning), the Qianlong Emperor used Chinese to write his "Ode to Mukden", (
Shengjing fu/Mukden-i fujurun bithe), a
fu in classical style, as a poem of praise to Mukden, at that point a general term for what was later called
Manchuria, describing its beauties and historical values. He describes the mountains and wildlife, using them to justify his belief that the dynasty would endure. A Manchu translation was then made. In 1748, he ordered a jubilee printing in both Chinese and Manchu, using some genuine pre-
Qin forms and Manchu styles which had to be invented and which could not be read.
Languages In his childhood, the Qianlong Emperor was tutored in
Manchu,
Chinese and
Mongolian, arranged to be tutored in
Tibetan, and spoke
Chagatai (Turki or Modern Uyghur). However, he was even more concerned than his predecessors to preserve and promote the Manchu language among his followers, as he proclaimed that "the keystone for Manchus is language." He commissioned new Manchu dictionaries, and directed the preparation of the
Pentaglot Dictionary which gave equivalents for Manchu terms in Mongolian, Tibetan and Turkic, and had the
Buddhist canon translated into Manchu, which was considered the "national language". He directed the elimination of loanwords taken from Chinese and replaced them with
calque translations which were put into new Manchu dictionaries. Manchu translations of Chinese works during his reign contrasted with supposedly Manchu books of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, which were simply Chinese texts written in Manchu script. The Qianlong Emperor commissioned the
Qin ding Xiyu Tongwen Zhi (欽定西域同文志; "Imperial Western Regions Thesaurus") which was a thesaurus of geographic names in
Xinjiang, in
Oirat Mongol, Manchu, Chinese, Tibetan, and Turki (Modern Uyghur).
Tibetan Buddhism The Qianlong Emperor showed a personal belief in Tibetan Buddhism, following the tradition of Manchu rulers associating with the Bodhisattva
Manjushri. He continued their patronage of Tibetan Buddhist art and ordered translations of the
Buddhist canon into Manchu. Court records and Tibetan language sources affirm his personal commitment. He learned to read Tibetan and studied Buddhist texts assiduously. His beliefs are reflected in the Tibetan Buddhist imagery of his tomb, perhaps the most personal and private expression of an emperor's life. He supported the Yellow Church (the Tibetan Buddhist
Gelug sect) to "maintain peace among the Mongols" since the Mongols were followers of the
Dalai Lama and
Panchen Lama of the Yellow Church. He also said it was "merely in pursuance of Our policy of extending Our affection to the weak" which led him to patronize the Yellow Church. In 1744 he turned the
Palace of Harmony (Yonghe Palace) into a Tibetan Buddhist temple for Mongols. To explain the practical reasons for supporting the "Yellow Hats" Tibetan Buddhists and to deflect Han Chinese criticism, he had the "Lama Shuo" stele engraved in
Tibetan,
Mongol,
Manchu and Chinese, which said: "By patronizing the Yellow Church, we maintain peace among the Mongols. This being an important task we cannot but protect this (religion). (In doing so) we do not show any bias, nor do we wish to adulate the Tibetan priests (as it was done during the
Yuan dynasty)."
Mark Elliott concludes that these actions delivered political benefits but "meshed seamlessly with his personal faith."
Anti-Islam laws Qing policy on Muslims and Islam was changed during the reign of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors. While the Kangxi Emperor proclaimed Muslims and Han to be equal, his grandson, the Qianlong Emperor, endorsed Han officials harsh recommendations towards treatment of Muslims. The Kangxi Emperor said that Muslim and Han Chinese were equal when people argued for Muslims to be treated differently. The Yongzheng Emperor held the opinion that "Islam was foolish, but he felt it did not pose a threat" when a judge in Shandong petitioned him to destroy mosques and ban Islam. Yongzheng then fired an official for demanding Muslims be punished more harshly than non-Muslims. This policy changed in the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.
Chen Hongmou, a Qing official, said that Muslims needed to be brought to law and order by being punished more harshly and blaming Muslim leaders for criminal behavior of Muslims in a letter to the Board of Punishments called
Covenant to Instruct and Admonish Muslims that he wrote in 1751. Although the Board of Punishment did nothing, the
Shaanxi-Gansu Governor-General in 1762 then proceeded to implement his recommendation and had Muslim criminals punished severely more than Han Chinese ones. He also implemented the policy that the criminal deeds of Muslim congregants of Mosques ended up with their Imams being punished and held responsible for them. These anti-Muslim policies by the governor general received endorsement from the Qianlong Emperor.Great changes happening to Chinese Muslims, like the introduction of a Sufi order, the
Naqshbandiyya to the Hui, causing the Qianlong emperor to adopt this harsh attitude against Muslims in contrast to his grandfather and father. This led to larger connections between the Hui and the broader Islamic world from the west, as the Naqshbandiyya order came east to the Hui when Hui scholars in Suzhou were converted to Naqshbandiyya by
Muhammad Yusuf Khoja.
Afaq Khoja, Muhammad Yusuf's son, also further spread Naqshbandi orders among Chinese Muslims like Tibetan Muslims, Salars, Hui and other Muslim ethnicities in Hezhou, Gansu (now Linxia) and Xining in Qinghai and Lanzhou.
Ma Laichi was the leader of one of these orders and he personally studied in the Islamic world in
Bukhara to learn Sufism, and Yemen and in
Mecca where he was taught by Mawlana Makhdum. This brought him prestige among Chinese Muslims. In an argument over the breaking of fast during
Ramadan Ma Laichi said that before praying in the
mosque, fast should be broken, not vice versa and this led to him getting many Naqshbandi converts from Hui and Turkic Salars. It came to court in 1731 when the Muslims arguing over how to break Ramadan fast filed lawsuits. The Muslim plaintiffs were told by the Qing authorities at the court to resolve them themselves, as the legal authorities who had no idea about Ramadan fasting. The dispute was not solved and continued to go on and was compounded by even more disputes like how to perform
dhikr in Sufism, in a jahri (vocal) as taught by Ma Mingxin, another Sufi who learned in the western Islamic lands like Bukhara, or khufi (silent) like what Ma Laichi did. The Zabid Naqshbandiyyas in Yemen taught Ma Mingxin for two decades. They taught vocal dhikr. Ma Mingxin was also affected by another series of events in the Middle Eastern Muslim world, revivalist movements among Muslims like the Saudis who allied with Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab. This renewal tajdid influenced Ma Mingxin in Yemen. While Ma Mingxin was in Yemen and away from China, all of Muslim Inner Asia was conquered by the "infidel" Qing dynasty giving even more relevance to his situation and views. Ma Laichi and Ma Mingxin again sued each other in court but this second time the Qing passed a verdict in favor of the quiet dhikr faction, the Silentist Khafiyya of Ma Laichi and gave it the status of orthodoxy while damning as heterodox the Aloudist Jahriyya of Ma Mingxin. Ma Mingxin ignored the order and kept proselytizing in Shaanxi, Ningxia and Xinjiang going to Guangchuan from Hezhou in 1769 after being kicked out and banned from Xunhua district. Turkic Salars in Xunhua followed his orders even after the Qing banned him from there and he continued to have further lawsuits and legal issues with the Khafiyya and Ma Laichi as the Qing backed the Khafiyya. A violent battle where a Qing official and Khafiyya followers were among one hundred slaughtered by a Jahriyya assault headed by Su Forty-three, a supporter of Ma Mingxin in 1781 led to Ma Mingxin declared a rebel and taken to jail in Lanzhou. The Qing executed Ma Mingxin after his release was demanded by the armed followers of Su Forty-three. A Jahriyya rebellion all over northwest China ensued after Ma Mingxin was executed. In response, the Manchus in Beijing sent Manchu Grand Secretary Agui with a battalion to slaughter Jahriyya chiefs and exile the adherents of the Sufi order to the border regions. Tian Wu led another Jahriyya rebellion 3 years after that, which was crushed by the Qing, and the Ma Datian, the Jahriyya's 3rd leader was exiled to Manchuria in 1818 by the Qing and died. , Beijing in 1761 (winter). In
Ten Thousand Nations Coming to Pay Tribute (萬國來朝圖) This continual build up of conflict between Muslims and the Qing court led to the 19th century full-scale wars with Muslim rebellions against the Qing in southern and northern China. The change in Manchu attitudes towards Muslims, from tolerating Muslims and regarding them as equal to Han Chinese, before the 1760s, to the violence between the Qing state and Muslims after the 1760s, was due to progressive Qing involvement in the conflict between the Sufi orders Jahriyya and Khafiyya making it no longer possible for the Qing to keep up with the early rhetoric of Muslim equality. The Manchu court under Qianlong began approving and implementing Chen Hongmou's anti-Muslim laws that targeted Muslims for practicing their religion and the violence by the Qing state, the communal violence between Jahriyya and Khafiyya coincided with the Jahriyya's major expansion. Chen Hongmou's policies were implemented as laws in 1762 by the Qing government's Board of Punishments and the Qing Manchu Qianlong emperor leading to severe tensions with Muslims. State authorities were mandated to receive all reports of Muslim criminal behaviour by local officials and all criminal behaviour by Muslims had to be reported by Muslim leaders to Qing authorities under these laws. This led to an inundation of anti-Muslim reports filing in Qing offices as the Qing court received information that Muslims were inherently violent and Muslim bandits were committing crimes as report after report were filed by local officials and Muslim crimes inundated court records. The Qing became even more anti-Muslim after receiving these reports about criminal behavior and started passing even more anti-Muslim laws one of them being that if any weapon was found in a group of 3 or more Muslims all of those Muslims would by sentenced as criminals by the Qing. A new criminal category or act, brawling (dou'ou) was designated by the Qing Manchu court of the Manchu Qianlong emperor in the 1770s especially as an anti-Muslim measure to arrest Muslims leading to even non-Jahriyya Muslims to join with Jahriyya against the Qing and leading the Qing court to be even more anti-Muslim, apprehensive of anti-Qing rebellion by Muslims. This led to the execution of Ma Mingxin in 1781 and the rebellion and violence was compounded by lack of Qing intelligence. A Qing official who was tasked with ending the Jahriyya and Khafiyya communal violence mistakenly thought the people he were talking to were Khafiyya when they were in fact Jahriyya, and he told them that the Qing would massacre all Jahriyya adherents. This led to him being murdered by the Jahriyya mob, which led to the Qing sending Manchu Grand Secretary Agui on a full scale pacification crackdown campaign against the Jahriyya. The military victory of the Qing against the Jahriyya led to even more Jahriyya anger. Officials went overboard in massacring Muslims deemed as state enemies to impress the Qing court, leading to further growth in Jahriyya membership, leading in turn to the 1784 rebellion by Tian Wu. The Qianlong Emperor asked his minister what was going on as he was puzzled as to how the Muslims from many regions gathered together for revolt. He asked if the investigation of Muslim behavior by Li Shiyao got leaked leading to rebels to incite violence by telling Muslims the government would exterminate them. He then pondered and said none of these could be why and kept asking why. To solve the issue of the 1784 revolt, northwestern China was put under military occupation by the Qing for 50 years until the Taiping rebellion of southern China forced the Qing to move them away from northwest China leading to the massive 1860s and 1870s Muslim revolts in the northwest caused by growing violence. The sudden questions about
halal in Islam that Mongol Buddhists had in the 18th century was caused by all these things, northwestern China right next to Mongolia getting militarized, the Qing government officially declaring Muslims to be anti-Qing and violent and revivalist Islam coming to China. More than 1000 Hui Muslim children and women from the Sufi Jahriya order in eastern Gansu were massacred by Qing Banner general Li Shiyao during a 1784 uprising by Hui Jahriyya Muslims Zhang Wenqing and Tian Wu, 3 years after an early 1781 rebellion by Salar Sufi Jahriyya members when the Qing executed Jahriya leader
Ma Mingxin. The Qing government under Qianlong then ordered the extermination of the Sufi Jahriya "New Teaching" and banned adoption of non-Muslim children by Muslims, converting non-Muslims to Muslim and banning new mosques from being built. Some Sufi Khafiya "Old Teaching" Muslims still served in Qing forces in fighting against the Jahriya Sufi "New Teaching" Muslims despite the fact that those laws forbdding them from spreading their religion applied to them too. Li Shiyao was a member of the Qing Eight Banners and related to the Qing royal family.
Christianity The persecution of Christians by Yongzheng became even worse during the Qianlong reign.
Palaces The Qianlong Emperor was an aggressive builder. In the hills northwest of Beijing, he expanded the villa known as the
Garden of Perfect Brightness (or Yuanmingyuan; now known as the Old Summer Palace) originally built by his father. He eventually added two new villas, the "Garden of Eternal Spring" and the "Elegant Spring Garden". In time, the Old Summer Palace would encompass , five times larger than the
Forbidden City. To celebrate the 60th birthday of his mother,
Empress Dowager Chongqing, Qianlong Emperor ordered a lake at the
Garden of Clear Ripples (or Qingyiyuan; now known as the Summer Palace) dredged, named it
Kunming Lake, and renovated a villa on the eastern shore of the lake. The Qianlong Emperor also expanded the
imperial summer palace in
Rehe Province, beyond the Great Wall. Rehe eventually became effectively a third capital and it was at Rehe that the Qianlong Emperor held court with various Mongol nobles. The emperor also spent time at the Mulan hunting grounds north of Rehe, where he held the
imperial hunt each year.
European styles For the
Old Summer Palace, the Qianlong Emperor commissioned the Italian Jesuit
Giuseppe Castiglione for the construction of the
Xiyang Lou, or Western-style mansion, to satisfy his taste for exotic buildings and objects. He also commissioned the French Jesuit
Michel Benoist, to design a series of timed
waterworks and
fountains complete with underground machinery and pipes, for the amusement of the imperial family. The French Jesuit
Jean Denis Attiret also became a painter for the emperor.
Jean-Damascène Sallusti was also a court painter. He co-designed, with Castiglione and
Ignatius Sichelbart, the
Battle Copper Prints.
Other architecture During the Qianlong Emperor's reign, the
Emin Minaret was built in
Turpan to commemorate
Emin Khoja, a
Uyghur leader from
Turpan who submitted to the Qing Empire as a vassal in order to obtain assistance from the Qing to fight the Dzunghars.
Descendants of the Ming dynasty's imperial family In 1725, the Yongzheng Emperor bestowed an hereditary marquis title on a descendant of Zhu Zhilian, a descendant of the
imperial family of the
Ming dynasty. Zhu was also paid by the Qing government to perform rituals at the
Ming tombs and induct the Chinese Plain White Banner into the
Eight Banners. Zhu was posthumously awarded the title "
Marquis of Extended Grace" in 1750, and the title was passed on for 12 generations in his family until the end of the Qing dynasty. However, it has been argued that Zhu Zhilian, in fact, had no relation to the
imperial family at all.
Banner system The Qianlong Emperor instituted a policy of "Manchu-fying" the Eight Banner system, which was the basic military and social organisation of the dynasty. In the early Qing era,
Nurhaci and
Hong Taiji categorised Manchu and Han ethnic identity within the Eight Banners based on culture, lifestyle and language, instead of ancestry or genealogy. Han Bannermen were an important part of the Banner System. The Qianlong Emperor changed this definition to one of descent, and demobilised many Han Bannermen and urged Manchu Bannermen to protect their cultural heritage, language and martial skills. The emperor redefined the identity of Han Bannermen by saying that they were to be regarded as of having the same culture and being of the same ancestral extraction as Han civilians Conversely, he emphasised the martial side of Manchu culture and reinstituted the practice of the annual imperial hunt as begun by his grandfather, leading contingents from the Manchu and Mongol banners to the Mulan hunting grounds each autumn to test and improve their skills. The Qianlong Emperor's view of the Han Bannermen also differed from that of his grandfather in deciding that loyalty in itself was most important quality. He sponsored biographies which depicted Chinese Bannermen who defected from the Ming to the Qing as traitors and glorifying Ming loyalists. Some of the Qianlong Emperor's inclusions and omissions on the list of traitors were political in nature. Some of these actions were including
Li Yongfang (out of his dislike for Li Yongfang's descendant, Li Shiyao) and excluding
Ma Mingpei (out of concern for his son Ma Xiongzhen's image). The identification and interchangeability between "Manchu" and "Banner people" (Qiren) began in the 17th century. Banner people were differentiated from civilians (
Chinese:
Minren,
Manchu:
Irgen; or
Chinese:
Hanren,
Manchu:
Nikan) and the term "Bannermen" was becoming identical with "Manchu" in the general perception. The Qianlong Emperor referred to all Bannermen as Manchu, and Qing laws did not say "Manchu", but "Bannermen". Select groups of Han Chinese bannermen were mass transferred into Manchu Banners by the Qing, changing their ethnicity from Han Chinese to Manchu. Han Chinese bannermen of
Tai Nikan (台尼堪) and
Fusi Nikan (抚顺尼堪) backgrounds were moved into the Manchu banners in 1740 by order of the Qianlong Emperor. It was between 1618 and 1629 when the Han Chinese from Liaodong who later became the Fusi Nikan and Tai Nikan defected to the Jurchens (Manchus). These Han Chinese origin Manchu clans continued to use their original Han surnames and are marked as of Han origin on the
Qing lists of Manchu clans.
Anti-gun measures The
Solons were ordered by the Qianlong Emperor to stop using rifles and instead practice traditional archery. The emperor issued an edict for silver taels to be issued for
guns turned over to the government. ==Chinese political identity and frontier policy==