Jiaqing Emperor
Qing · 7th ruler
嘉慶帝 Jiāqìng Dì愛新覺羅顒琰 Àixīnjuéluó Yóngyǎn
Wade–Giles: Chia-ch'ing Emperor · Ai-hsin-chüeh-lo Yung-yen
Reigned 1796–1820 (24 years)
Reigned 24 years (1796–1820). Died at 61 (East Asian reckoning) of natural causes. 7th ruler of Qing.
Facts
- Reign
- 9 February 1796 – 2 September 1820 (7th ruler of Qing)
- Length of reign
- 24 years
- Born
- 13 November 1760
- Died
- 2 September 1820
- Age at accession
- 37
- Age at death
- 61
- Cause of death
- Natural causesNatural death or illness (including old age)
- Path to the throne
- Abdication within the dynastyThe previous emperor of the same regime handed over the throne while still alive (e.g. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Jiaqing Emperor, Emperor Aizong of Jin)
- Predecessor
- Qianlong Emperor
- Successor
- Daoguang Emperor
- Era names
- 嘉慶 Jiāqìng (proclaimed 1796)
Ages are given in East Asian reckoning (sui): a person is one year old at birth and gains a year at each New Year, so the figure is one or two years higher than the Western age.
Life
In brief
He received the throne from his father the Qianlong Emperor while his father was still alive, and after his father's death he removed Heshen and put down the rebellion of the religious sectarians.
Road to the throne
He was the fifteenth son of the Qianlong Emperor, and was made Prince Jia in 1789. He was made crown prince in 1795, and on the lunar New Year's Day of the following year the Qianlong Emperor handed him the imperial seal in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and enthroned him. Even after becoming Retired Emperor, the Qianlong Emperor went on running the government.
Reign and death
In the very month of his accession, sectarians rose in arms in Hubei. When the Qianlong Emperor died in 1799 and he began to rule in his own right, he at once sent the grand secretary Heshen to prison and ordered him to die within the same month. His testamentary edict looks back on how, at the start of his personal rule, the rebellions in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei had not yet been quelled, and how it took four years to clear out the remnants. In 1813, while the Jiaqing Emperor was away, several dozen followers of Lin Qing broke into the Forbidden City, and his second son shot one of the rebels down with a firearm. The Jiaqing Emperor issued an edict saying he was ashamed of something that had not happened even under the Han, Tang, Song or Ming. In 1820, on the way to the hunt at Mulan, he fell ill at the Mountain Resort in Rehe, became critically ill in the evening, and died that night. The annals of Renzong say he fell ill the day after reaching the resort, while the Veritable Records and the annals of Xuanzong say he fell ill on the day he arrived. The annals of Renzong say only that an edict was proclaimed making his second son crown prince, while the annals of Xuanzong and the Veritable Records say that, as he lay dying, the ministers opened the box and a document in his own hand from 1799 showed that his second son Minning was the heir. Minning took the throne as the Daoguang Emperor. Neither the Draft History of Qing nor the Veritable Records contains the story that he was killed by lightning; all of them say only that he fell ill, became critically ill and died.
Translated from the Japanese text of this site, which is written from the official histories. Years are given in the Western calendar; months are omitted because the histories use the Chinese lunar calendar.
During the reign
Number of times each event is recorded in the official histories. How each item is counted
- Era name changes
- 1
- General amnesties
- 0
- Empresses installed
- 2
- Crown princes deposed
- 0
- Personal campaigns
- 0
- Rebellions suppressed
- 13
- Rebellions faced
- 13
- Capital relocations
- 0
Emperors of Qing
- 2ndHong Taiji清太宗 Qīng Tàizōng愛新覺羅皇太極 Àixīnjuéluó Huángtàijí1636–1643 · 7 years · Unknown, age 521636–16437 yearsUnknown, age 52
- 3rdShunzhi Emperor順治帝 Shùnzhì Dì愛新覺羅福臨 Àixīnjuéluó Fúlín1643–1661 · 17 years · Natural causes, age 241643–166117 yearsNatural causes, age 24
- 4thKangxi Emperor康熙帝 Kāngxī Dì愛新覺羅玄燁 Àixīnjuéluó Xuányè1661–1722 · 61 years · Natural causes, age 691661–172261 yearsNatural causes, age 69
- 5thYongzheng Emperor雍正帝 Yōngzhèng Dì愛新覺羅胤禛 Àixīnjuéluó Yìnzhēn1722–1735 · 12 years · Disputed, age 581722–173512 yearsDisputed, age 58
- 6thQianlong Emperor乾隆帝 Qiánlóng Dì愛新覺羅弘曆 Àixīnjuéluó Hónglì1735–1796 · 60 years · Natural causes, age 891735–179660 yearsNatural causes, age 89
- 7thJiaqing Emperor嘉慶帝 Jiāqìng Dì愛新覺羅顒琰 Àixīnjuéluó Yóngyǎn1796–1820 · 24 years · Natural causes, age 611796–182024 yearsNatural causes, age 61
- 8thDaoguang Emperor道光帝 Dàoguāng Dì愛新覺羅旻寧 Àixīnjuéluó Mínníng1820–1850 · 29 years · Natural causes, age 691820–185029 yearsNatural causes, age 69
- 9thXianfeng Emperor咸豐帝 Xiánfēng Dì愛新覺羅奕詝 Àixīnjuéluó Yìzhǔ1850–1861 · 11 years · Natural causes, age 311850–186111 yearsNatural causes, age 31
- 10thTongzhi Emperor同治帝 Tóngzhì Dì愛新覺羅載淳 Àixīnjuéluó Zàichún1861–1875 · 13 years · Natural causes, age 191861–187513 yearsNatural causes, age 19
- 11thGuangxu Emperor光緒帝 Guāngxù Dì愛新覺羅載湉 Àixīnjuéluó Zàitián1875–1908 · 33 years · Assassinated, age 381875–190833 yearsAssassinated, age 38
- 12th, 13th, 14thPuyi宣統帝 Xuāntǒng Dì愛新覺羅溥儀 Àixīnjuéluó Pǔyí1908–1912; restored 1917; restored 1934–1945 · 14 years · Natural causes, age 621908–1912; restored 1917; restored 1934–194514 yearsNatural causes, age 62