The Qing Dynasty Kang, Yong, Qian prosperous, the country is rich and the people are strong, and the culture also deeply affects neighboring countries, and the three emperors of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong respectively experienced the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty to gradually weaken, and it was also very important to choose who to inherit the throne at that time, it is rumored that Kangxi wanted to test the reaction of his grandchildren in order to see the future national fortune, and specially came out with an upper link, but only Qianlong answered it perfectly.
▲ Kangxi once issued a couplet to test the intelligence of his grandchildren. (Photo/Taken from the encyclopedia entry)
We all know that the Kangxi Emperor is one of the few Ming monarchs in history, and in the Kangxi era, the martial arts skills reached an unprecedented height, and the Kangxi Emperor succeeded to the throne very early, he was only 6 years old when he succeeded to the throne, and his body was still childish, so many decisions must be made by the ministers of the central government.
Although he was young, he had an imperial heart, and he designed to capture the then important minister Ao Bai when he was a teenager, took the power of the imperial government back into his hands, eliminated the threat of the clan to the imperial court, and recovered the treasure island of Taiwan in one fell swoop, making indelible contributions to the territorial integrity of the country, it can be said that Kangxi laid a solid and good foundation for the later "Kang Qian prosperous era".
When the Kangxi Emperor first took the throne, many decisions had to be made by the ministers of the central government, which made Kangxi very dissatisfied, so after a little age and experience, he paid great attention to his country and created a prosperous era, and when Kangxi was old, in addition to being busy with imperial politics, he could not help but indulge his grandson.
Moreover, the Kangxi Emperor had many grandsons, and he was particularly optimistic about the eight brothers and the fourteenth brother, and also took the opportunity to test to see which of the two of them was better, but only testing the two of them alone was too conspicuous, for fear of causing dissatisfaction among other grandsons and concubines, so Kangxi called all the grandsons over.
Because the Qing Dynasty was very popular at that time to test the level of literati, when Kangxi said Shanglian, he only spoke one "ink" character, so for a while, many princes could not answer at all, and finally only the little brother fourteen brother Hongli stood up and said: "Quan", he explained that the word "ink" was taken apart, the top was black and the bottom was earth, black to white, earth to water. Hongli's answer made Kangxi couldn't help but clap and applaud, praising the good and right wonderful, and also made him feel the power of this little grandson even more.
Some people also believe that it is precisely because Kangxi feels that this young grandson is very intelligent and has great potential, so he later passed the throne to Yongzheng, who was not favored at the beginning.
Of course, the above story is just folklore, and there is no real record in history. However, this short story is not only an episode within the royal family, but also shows the cultural heritage of the Qing Dynasty and the emperor's concern for the future of the country.
At that time, couplets tested literati were very popular and an important part of many people's exams. The Kangxi Emperor's choice of this method to test his grandson also shows that he attached great importance to cultural literacy and knowledge, and hoped that his family would continue to build on this foundation.
The choice of the Kangxi Emperor also shows his concern and thinking about the future. Knowing that his years were numbered, he began to turn his attention to his family and descendants. He chose to test the abilities of his grandsons also in search of a talented heir who he hoped would inherit and continue the prosperity of the Qing dynasty. Of course, we can also see in the later ending, Yongzheng and Qianlong well continued Kangxi's policy and created the "Kang Qian Prosperous Era", which can be regarded as living up to Kangxi's original choice.
Reference: Qing History Manuscript