When it comes to the dynasty ruled by the Qianlong Emperor, most people think of the "Prosperous Era of Kangqian", and in many literary and film works, life during the Kangxi period was rich and peaceful.
The well-known "Huan Zhu GeGe" is based on the Qing Dynasty under the rule of the Qianlong Emperor, and although there is little ink on the living conditions of the people under the prosperous kangqian dynasty, the atmosphere of national peace permeates from all aspects.
But in the real history, what exactly does the "prosperous era of Kangqian" look like? If you carefully read the historical materials, people will find that the so-called prosperous dynasty of the Qianlong Emperor has long been decayed and now seems absurd.
Mixed reviews
To talk about the prosperous life of Kangqian, we must go back to the source to see how the title of "Prosperous World of Kangqian" came about and whether the people at that time advocated it themselves.
The concept of Kangqian's prosperous life was first proposed by a group of literati under the Qianlong Emperor, which made this "prosperous world" reveal an unbelievable atmosphere from the beginning; after all, in order to please the Qianlong Emperor, what kind of words could these literati say, and what kind of prosperous world could not advocate it?
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the quality of life of the people was much worse than before, and the term "prosperous" was naturally scorned, and few people had a good feeling for the Qing Dynasty.
In the Republic of China period, the first batch of scholars who studied the history of the Qing Dynasty appeared, and they had two completely different attitudes toward the "prosperous era of Kangqian"; most scholars who studied the entire period of Chinese history could not look up to the so-called prosperous era of the Qing Dynasty, but scholars who specialized in the history of the Qing Dynasty praised this period of history, and it is not difficult to see the beginning of it from the attitude of the two.
At that time, when it comes to the study of the history of the Qing Dynasty, it is bound to mention Meng Sen and Xiao Yishan, who can be said to be the representatives of the Qing Dynasty's praise and depreciation of opposing forces.
In Meng Sen's comments on the Qing Dynasty, the word "prosperous" cannot be found, and although he wrote in the book that his evaluation of the Qing Dynasty should not be deliberately disparaged, he could not find any praise for the "prosperous life of Kangqian" in his text.
Coupled with the fact that the Qing Dynasty happened to be the junction of the collision of new ideas and old feudalism, such a dynasty would naturally be scolded by the literati of the Republic of China period, Ma Yong once commented that "the prosperous life of Kangqian" was only the prosperity of the government, and Lu Xun, Liang Qichao and other progressives also held a more critical attitude towards the Qing Dynasty.
On the other hand, Xiao Yishan has a completely different attitude, and his praise for the Qing Dynasty is like a gushing river, endless, until now many praises for the "Prosperous Era of Kangqian" are from his hands.
Some people may feel that this is a radish cabbage with their own love, and since some people are crazy to belittle the Qing Dynasty, it is not a strange thing that some people are fanatically pursuing the Qing Dynasty.
But in fact, if we compare the famous "prosperous world" in China's history horizontally, we will find that in the previous history, China's "prosperous world" not only referred to the harmony of the people and living and working in peace and contentment, but also meant that China's comprehensive national strength ranked among the forefront of the world.
However, the Qing government was corrupt and incompetent, and its national strength was not only not at the forefront, but it was even the object of bullying by the great powers, and such a "prosperous world" naturally did not get the recognition of general historians.
Then, why did Xiao Yishan still insist on touting the Qing government in an environment where everyone was spurning the Qing government?
When you study Xiao Yishan's life, you will find that he was only 21 years old when he published and touted the General History of the Qing Dynasty, when he was just a hot-blooded young man studying at Peking University, he did not experience the suffering of the people, and did not understand the oppression and suffering brought by the Qing government to the people.
He only saw that the territory of that era was vast, there was no invasion of foreign enemies, and there was no oppression of the great powers, so he held the Qing Dynasty to a very high position.
The truth of the "prosperous world"
Although scholars during the Republic of China period criticized the Qing Dynasty, it seems that Xiao Yishan's theory alone is not unreasonable, if the "Kangqian prosperous world" is really as unbearable as others say, then how is the large land on its territory preserved? But in fact, behind the "prosperous world", the rule of the Qing government has long been on the decline.
In the historical records, the Qing Dynasty ruled the largest area, and the people who supported the Qing Dynasty were also the largest in history, but behind the seemingly vast land, the rift of political division has long divided the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
On the seemingly vast territory, the area under the actual direct control of the Qing government, in addition to the Han dynasty that was often controlled by the dynasties, was only the central and eastern regions of Inner Mongolia, when the north bank of the Heilongjiang River had been eroded by Tsarist Russia, while the other side, because there was no garrison, could basically be said to be far away from the Emperor of Shangao, and was basically not controlled by the Qing government.
However, even in areas directly controlled by the Qing government, the majesty of many regional governments declined sharply.
In the south of the territory, the Penghu Islands, Taiwan Island, Xiamen, and Southern Fujian were actually controlled by Ming Zheng, and his power also spread to Taizhou, Putian, Fuzhou, and even to Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, which shows that the Qing government has basically lost its right to rule in the southern region.
In order to thank him for what he had done, the Qing government gave him great power, and in the areas under his control, basically everything was decided by him, and the Qing government never interfered.
Wu Sangui was basically a powerful person there, and even the nearby Fujian and Guangdong regions were affected, gradually no longer listening to the leadership of the government, but following Wu Sangui wholeheartedly.
Similarly, sun Yanling, who was not very controlled by the Qing government, made great military achievements for the Qing Dynasty, and after the Qing government assigned the Guilin area to him, he did not ask too much questions and gave full authority to Sun Yanling to govern.
It can be seen from this that the jurisdiction of the Qing Dynasty was either basically out of control without garrisons, or it was distributed to trusted subordinates who did not listen to the command of the Qing government, and more than half of the vast territory could basically be said to have nothing to do with the Qing government.
However, compared with this problem, the Qing government faced a more serious crisis, that is, the hearts of more than half of the courtiers above the imperial court were not toward the Qing government. The Qing government was ruled by the Manchus, but no matter how many Manchus were, they could not appoint a large number of suitable officials to govern the country at once.
The country changed its master, but life still had to go on, so in order to put the whole country on the right track as soon as possible, the Qing Dynasty accepted a large number of Ming officials, and most of the officials in the whole country surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and the officials who accepted the surrender quickly made the Qing Government run, but also laid the foundation for the future.
During the San Francisco Rebellion, many of the former ministers of the Ming Dynasty fell like grass on the wall, and they were not loyal to the Qing government at all.
How can such a country whose territory exists in name only and is extinct, and whose internal officials are duplicitous and three-faced, can talk about a "prosperous world"?
Ridiculous arrogance
The beginning of modern history is a history of blood and tears, and it is a scar that the Chinese nation will never be able to heal. But in fact, in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, during the reign of Qianlong, China had the opportunity to understand the gap, but this opportunity was ignored by the arrogant Qianlong Emperor and missed the opportunity.
In 1793, a British envoy named Macartney traveled thousands of miles to China in order to show the Qianlong Emperor several "high-tech" products he brought from Britain, thereby opening up the Chinese market.
But unfortunately, the Qianlong Emperor was not interested in the products that the envoy and him brought, but only looked at it twice, nodded, and let people send it down like usual tribute.
The British ambassador did not expect that the old man who had ruled the country for many years was not at all interested in the advanced things he brought with him, such as chimes, pistols, hot air balloons, etc., but was very kind to the 12-year-old boy who was acting as a translator.
The Qianlong Emperor called the accompanying interpreter to his side, took care of him as if he were his own grandson, and finally rewarded him with a yellow purse.
The British ambassador came to China to wish the Qianlong Emperor a happy birthday, but the British were obviously drunk and did not want to drink, what they wanted was to surprise the Chinese who were closed to the country, make them envy their advanced technology, and let them pay money to buy their own advanced products.
Unfortunately, the Qianlong Emperor did not take these things in his eyes at all, he believed that China is rich in land and has everything, and these new things presented by the British ambassador are just the products of some different cultures, he did not realize that After the closure of the country, China has been thrown a big deal in science and technology, arrogance blinded the eyes of the emperor, so that China missed the opportunity for development.
Interestingly, the reason why the Qianlong Emperor liked the little translator was also because of his arrogance, he thought that this child could speak Chinese, and was a person who knew how to appreciate China's noble culture, but he and his dynasty had become fish and meat on other people's boards, leaving only the share of being slaughtered.
brief summary:
In some articles in modern China, the word "Kangqian's prosperous life" is always associated with the word "so-called", which shows how the literati at that time held an attitude towards the prosperous world advocated by the Qing Dynasty.
From a historical point of view, whether it is a horizontal comparison of the "Prosperous Era of Kangqian" with other countries at that time, or a comparison of other prosperous times in Chinese history, it can be seen that China during the Qianlong period of the Kangxi Dynasty was not as powerful as others advocated.
Looking back at other prosperous times, more or less will leave some influence on modern times, and the rapid development of economy, politics and culture will always collide with a dazzling spark in society, leaving a good story, but looking back at the history of the Qing Dynasty, we will find that it is bleak and ridiculous.