In the history of the mainland, there have been more than 400 orthodox emperors, but unfortunately most of them did not live long.
According to statistics, the average life expectancy of all emperors in China is only 39 years, only 8 emperors have lived past 70 years old, and more than 60 emperors have died before the age of 30.
From the perspective of the overall life expectancy of ancient people, the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors of the Qing Dynasty were emperors who lived relatively long, the Kangxi Emperor lived 69 years old, and the Qianlong Emperor did not die until the age of 89, making him the longest-lived emperor in Chinese history. So, why did these two emperors live so long? The answer is that they never touch a "thing", but other emperors love it.
The lifespan of ancient emperors
For modern people, 40 years old has just entered middle age, and there is still a long way to go, but in ancient times, when plagues were prevalent, food shortages, frequent wars, and high infant and child mortality, the average life expectancy of successive dynasties was basically only between 40 and 60 years old.
And it was difficult for the ancient emperors to live a little longer. If you are a wise monarch who is considerate of the people, then you will be busy with the government all day long, taking care of all kinds of opportunities, and in the end you are likely to die of overwork; If you become a mediocre tyrant, not to mention whether you will be killed by a traitor, you will seek pleasure all day, and sooner or later you will also break your body.
Therefore, many emperors wanted to borrow another five hundred years from heaven to maintain their rule. The first emperor in Chinese history, the first emperor Huan Zheng, had such an idea, in order to obtain eternal life, he squandered thousands of gold before his death to ask the world's sorcerers to alchemize pills, and also sent Xu Fudong to cross the immortal island to find immortals, and after his death, he was buried in the mausoleum and dreamed of soaring.
But this is a fruitless matter after all, Qin Shi Huang did not have immortality, nor was he resurrected, Xu Fu, who was sent to ask for Dan, was also gone, and the Qin Dynasty did not endure. In 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang died of illness while touring the east to the Dune Palace, when he was only 49 years old.
After the first emperor, there were many emperors who had the idea of immortality, but they failed to achieve their wishes in the end, and they folded their lives. So, what are the ways for Kangxi and Qianlong to live longer?
The secret of Kangxi and Qianlong's longevity
As we all know, Kangxi ascended the throne at the age of 8 and reigned for 61 years, Qianlong ascended the throne at the age of 25, reigned for 60 years, and then became emperor for 3 years.
In fact, the Kangxi Emperor was a typical workaholic, he was always busy with imperial politics during his reign, calming the San Francisco Rebellion, personally conscripting Zhun Geer, recovering Taiwan, resisting the invasion of Tsarist Russia, signing the Treaty of Nebuchu, etc., diligent in political affairs all year round, but his health was very healthy, if not for the broken heart of the princes' battle for the throne in his later years, he might have lived a few more years. As Kangxi's grandson, Qianlong was also a model emperor.
The reason why the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors can live so long is that they "have a way of health", which boils down to the following three points:
The first is the regularity of the diet. As the lord of the dynasty, the emperor's recipes could be whatever he wanted, swimming in the water, flying in the sky, and running on the ground, but Kangxi was very restrained in terms of diet, and most of them were vegetarian. His daily diet consists of very little meat, mostly fruits and vegetables, and he only eats twice a day, and does not eat anything else.
In this regard, Kangxi also said: "Since he ascended the throne, all food has been ordinary food. He also said, "Do not eat much of what is good." ”
The second is to quit bad habits. During the Qianlong period, tobacco had flowed into China, and the dignitaries in the capital liked this thing, and the Qianlong Emperor was even more fanatical about tobacco, and he never left his hand in the morning and evening.
But later, the Qianlong Emperor, who had been smoking for a long time, suddenly began to cough for no reason, and the imperial doctor diagnosed it and said that the disease was in the lungs or related to smoking tobacco. After hearing this, Qianlong immediately made up his mind to quit smoking, although Qianlong was already an "old smoking gun" at this time, he still resisted the temptation and completely quit tobacco.
In addition, Kangxi and Qianlong never touched one "thing", that is, the elixir of life. The Yongzheng Emperor, sandwiched between these two, was a pill fanatic, and his love for pills could already be described as "obsession", but he only lived to be 58 years old in the end, and it is said that he died violently without warning.
Alchemy began to be popular in China more than 2,000 years ago. According to historical records, during the Han and Jin dynasties, the art of dan had been fully developed, and successive emperors also believed that elixir could prolong life. But in fact, most of the pills contain highly toxic heavy metals, and all kinds of harmful substances are difficult to remove, once these toxins accumulate in the body to a certain amount, light will break life, heavy will die.
However, even with the risk of violent death, it was still difficult for many emperors to quit the "elixir", and Kangxi and Qianlong did not believe much in this kind of immortality, otherwise they would not have lived so long.
The last secret to longevity is exercise. The Manchus are a people on horseback, and horseback archery is a compulsory course for every Manchu in their formative years. Since the founding of the Great Qing Dynasty, the Qing royal family has continued to follow the Manchu tradition in order to enrich the armament of future generations, allowing each prince to practice martial arts from the age of 6.
According to historical records, both Kangxi and Qianlong enjoyed hunting, and no matter how busy they were, Kangxi would go to the paddock every year.
All in all, the methods of longevity of these two emperors are: one diet and moderation; 2. abstain from bad habits; Third, stick to exercise. What do you think about this?