There are many trivia about Qianlong, such as that he is not tall, and that he is the only emperor in history who has "experienced seven generations", and that he has inadvertently set a world record.
Emperor Qianlong, whose full name is Aixin Jueluo Hongli, was the fourth son of Emperor Yongzheng, the fourth emperor after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, and the most well-known emperor in the history of the Qing Dynasty.
The reason why Emperor Qianlong can have such a high reputation is due to his longevity, according to historical records, Emperor Qianlong lived a total of 89 years old, and throughout feudal history, he is the only emperor who can live so long.
In addition to longevity, Qianlong also has a lot of interesting cold knowledge.
In many film and television dramas, the height description of Emperor Qianlong is generally described as a big tall man, such as in "The Record of Qing Gaozong", it is mentioned that Qianlong has a tall posture.
"Born a god, the sky is quite strange, the court is wide, the body is long, the pronunciation is sonorous, and the steps are heavy" --- "Qing Gaozong Record"
What does that mean? Translated into the vernacular, Qianlong looked very aura, and his appearance was not an ordinary person, and he still had a high nose bridge and a big tall man, and his voice was powerful and loud, and he walked with a tigerish style.
So, is Qianlong's real appearance as described? Frankly speaking, it is really not.
Let's talk about height first, Qianlong's real height is not very tall, and even strictly speaking, he is a little short, and the history books describe him as tall, which is just a compliment.
In fact, it is no wonder that the historian who wrote the history book, after all, in ancient times, it was indeed a difficult thing to describe the appearance of the emperor.
Emperors are also human beings, so there are all kinds of things they look like, and even unsightly ones are common, but do historians dare to write truthfully when describing them?
For example, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, has a very high forehead and cheekbones, which is a bit of a "heaven and earth" feeling, but the historians absolutely dare not write like this, so they can only use Liu Bang's "dragon face" to deal with it, so as to metaphorize that Liu Bang's high cheekbones are like the horns of a dragon.
It's not that the historians don't want to be realistic, but if the emperor is too ugly, then his own life will be gone.
Therefore, when describing Qianlong's height, the historians can only be vague and use the safe word "Long Zhun" to describe it, after all, the word "Long Zhun" has been used many times in history to describe the appearance of the emperor, like the aforementioned Liu Bang, which is also the body of "Long Zhun".
Therefore, under the description of the historians, Qianlong had a tall body and a majestic figure, and the so-called "Long Zhun Xin Body" came from this way.
But in fact, Qianlong's figure is not tall and powerful, and he is not at all touched.
Qianlong's real height was about 1.6 meters, and this conclusion was reached by a British envoy named Ma Ngoni, who was about five feet two inches tall after he visited and met with Emperor Qianlong.
One foot is equal to more than 0.3 meters, and five feet is about 1.53 meters, plus the extra two inches, and a slight error in his visual inspection, therefore, Qianlong's height is indeed around 1.6 meters.
Another piece of evidence is Qianlong's clothes, the Palace Museum has two summer dresses in Qianlong's old age, these two court clothes are 144 cm long, and this length is basically equal to the length of Qianlong's neck to his feet.
The length of a human head is usually one-seventh of the overall height, so when converted, Qianlong's height is about 1.6 meters, less than 1.7 meters.
This height, although it is not too short, at least it has nothing to do with being tall and mighty, that is, an ordinary person.
Another is the problem of Qianlong's appearance, thanks to the introduction of Western painting technology at that time, the portrait of Qianlong we see so far, although there are beautifying elements, but still have a certain degree of authenticity.
And the closest to Qianlong's real appearance should be the treasure of the town museum now stored in the Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art in Ningxia, that is, the "Bust of Emperor Qianlong in Winter Clothes" painted by Lang Shining that year.
In this portrait, Qianlong's thin eyes and narrow eyebrows, thin mouth, and "same" face shape, if you don't say that the person in the portrait is Qianlong, it is estimated that many people will think that this is just an ordinary person.
This is Emperor Qianlong, a person of average height and average appearance, if he fades the emperor's halo and throws him into the pile, he will also be unfamiliar to everyone, there is nothing surprising, at least, his real appearance is far worse than what is deduced in the TV series.
To put it simply, it means that he has met seven generations of immediate family members, including him, which is very difficult, especially in ancient times when the average life expectancy was relatively short.
According to relevant records, the average life expectancy of people in the Qing Dynasty was about 45 years old, while in the Qing Dynasty royal family, the average life expectancy of the royal family was even lower, about 40 years old.
A low life span means that you will not live long, so it is destined to be very difficult if you want to live in the same house for five generations or Liu Shi, let alone see seven generations.
But Emperor Qianlong did this very easily.
Qianlong was born in 1711 AD, this year, it was still the 50th year of Kangxi, and there were still 11 years before the death of Emperor Kangxi, which means that when Qianlong was born, Emperor Kangxi was still alive and well.
And, when Qianlong was a child, Emperor Kangxi also saw him in person, historical records record that it was Kangxi who had a dinner party at the home of Yongzheng, who was still the prince, and in order to please his father, Yongzheng specially called his son Qianlong out.
After meeting the young Qianlong, Kangxi praised this grandson, and soon ordered him to be brought to the palace to be personally cultivated, which later became one of the things that Qianlong was proud of.
Back to the topic, Qianlong has seen his grandfather and grandfather Kangxi, and his father Yongzheng needless to say, plus himself, this is already three generations.
And after that, Qianlong's children also needless to say, and his eldest grandson Miande was born in the twelfth year of Qianlong, counting these two generations, Qianlong has seen five generations.
Later, Miande's eldest son Yichun (Qianlong's great-grandson) was born in the 36th year of Qianlong, while Yichun's son Zaixi, the first great-great-grandson of Qianlong, was born in the 49th year of Qianlong.
Counting the two generations of great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, it is exactly seven generations.
According to records, when Zai Xi was born, Emperor Qianlong was very happy, after all, this is his first great-grandson, and Zai Xi is also a "eldest son of the eldest son of the long house, the eldest grandson of the eldest great-grandson, the eldest great-grandson of the eldest great-grandson", these identities together make the elderly Qianlong very happy.
What do the Chinese pay the most attention to? To put it bluntly, it is a simple and great wish that the Qianlong Emperor not only fulfilled, but also achieved it in a record-setting way.
As mentioned earlier, in ancient times, productivity was low, and the level of medical care was also low, even if it was a royal family, the life span was not long, and it was almost impossible to see seven generations of people while still alive.
Throughout the feudal period, Qianlong was the only emperor who could do this.
Not to mention the royal family, the common people are also added, and there are only a handful of people who can live together for seven generations, according to records, for thousands of years, there are only seven people who can achieve this point, including Qianlong.
Therefore, he will be very happy, not only to educate this great-grandson personally, but also to reward him with many rewards.
First of all, it is necessary to clarify the concept of holding real power, that is, it does not include the stage of not being in power, and other stages where there is only a name and no power.
In the thirteenth year of Yongzheng (1735 AD), Emperor Yongzheng died, and at the same time as Yongzheng died, the palace attendants announced that Qianlong succeeded to the throne in accordance with Yongzheng's will, and in the following year, that is, in 1736 AD, the year name was officially changed to the first year of Qianlong.
From this year, Qianlong began his long ruling career, when he succeeded to the throne, he was already 24 years old, in terms of age, there is no such young succession as his grandfather Kangxi, therefore, there is no need for someone to assist the government.
That is, from the moment he succeeded to the throne, he had already begun to govern, and what year did he abdicate?
The answer is the sixty years of Qianlong, that is, in 1795 AD.
If calculated in this way, the actual time he was in power was 60 years, plus the beginning of his reign, that is, the year when the year name was not changed, the whole is 61 years.
Sixty-one years is not much, Emperor Kangxi also reigned for sixty-one years, but don't forget, Kangxi ascended the throne at the age of eight, and he was far from having the ability to govern at that time, and he relied on someone to assist him.
More importantly, after Qianlong's abdication, the power was still firmly in his own hands.
On the first day of the first month of the first year of Jiaqing (1796 AD), Emperor Qianlong held a grand ceremony of returning to power, and his son Jiaqing officially ascended the throne, and after that, Qianlong began a three-year career as Emperor Taishang.
However, Qianlong is a typical "abdication without delegating power", and he still has the final say on major and minor matters in the court, and Emperor Jiaqing can only do some work such as sacrifices at most.
Even, during this period, Qianlong also demanded that after foreign officials arrived in the capital, they needed to report to him first, and only after listening to his instructions could they go to the court to meet Emperor Jiaqing.
In addition, when a foreign envoy came to see Qianlong, Qianlong said in front of a group of people that although he had returned to power, he still had to preside over major affairs.
In this kind of situation that Qianlong did not give up his power at all, Jiaqing could only be a "good baby" with his tail between his legs for three years, and in these three years, Jiaqing said the most to the ministers who came to ask him for government affairs: "But the emperor (Qianlong) is punished, how dare I deal with it?"
This situation was maintained until Qianlong died three years later, and Jiaqing was in power.
Therefore, these three years also belong to the actual period when Qianlong was in power, and together with the previous 61 years, it is 64 years.
In history, none of the monarchs who actually held power for a longer time surpassed Qianlong.
Kangxi's reign is longer than Qianlong's, but his reign is not as long as Qianlong's, except for these two masters, in the ancient history of the mainland, no one is longer than them.
Looking abroad, there are two who reigned longer than Kangxi, one is King Louis XIV of France, who has been king for 72 years, and the other is King Shapur II of Iran, who has been king for a longer time, for 72 years.
But these two are also incomparable with Qianlong, first of all, Louis XIV, his situation is very similar to Kangxi, he ascended the throne at the age of five, so the government had to rely on the assistance of others, and the time when he was in power was when he was 22 years old.
That is, he reigned for only fifty years, and another Shapur II, who was king even younger than Louis XIV, died before he was born, and the nobles of the time crowned him in this way by placing the crown on his mother's belly.
Similarly, after he became king, he relied on people to assist him for a long time, and he only ruled for 60 years.
Therefore, after calculation, Qianlong's actual time in power is the longest in world history, which can be regarded as a world record.
As for Qianlong's lifespan, he was the longest-lived among the emperors of ancient China, but in the world, he could only rank second, and the pharaoh Ramses II of ancient Egypt lived to be 90 years old, just one year older than Qianlong.