The idea of "surpassing the predecessors" now seems to be not only necessary but also a great encouragement to oneself, which is why society has changed with each passing day. However, there is an emperor in history who looks like he is learning from his predecessors, but it is more like using the achievements of his predecessors to set off himself.
Qianlong was a well-known emperor of the Qing Dynasty, especially the story of his descent to Jiangnan, which is almost a household name. And historians always put him and his grandfather Kangxi together and said: They believe that the "prosperous era of Kangqian" is the best period in the history of the Qing Dynasty. For the achievements of Kangxi, almost no one refuted, the emperor who "became the head of the family" at a young age laid a solid foundation for the foundation of the Qing Dynasty for 200 years.
So, what about Qianlong's achievements?
Perhaps, it is more sayable to compare the data.
Let's look at politics first.
In the early days of the Kangxi dynasty, because the country had just come out of the war, the ethnic contradictions were very large, which determined that it was necessary to sing the "leniency" tune in politics. What's more, Kangxi's ruling style throughout his life was very peaceful, even if he adopted a literal prison in order to consolidate the position of the Qing government, but compared with the later Yongzheng and Qianlong generations, it was already a very lenient treatment.
The social situation faced by Qianlong was completely different from that of the Kangxi period, and the Yongzheng era adopted a strict ruling system, which led to the gradual deterioration of high-level contradictions in the country. To this end, Qianlong had to resolve the contradictions and also implemented the policy of "leniency and benevolence." However, doing so has brought about the corruption of the bureaucracy, so it is necessary to be lenient and strict.
It can be seen that the styles of Kangxi and Qianlong should be said to be completely different, because the social problems faced are different.
The style of government may not be easy to score, but the results of government will always be divided into a high and low.
Starting with soft power, culture:
In fact, Kangxi and Qianlong attached great importance to the development of culture, especially Qianlong paid more attention to its own cultural edification. During the Kangxi Dynasty, he compiled the "Integration of Ancient and Modern Books", which was second only to the Yongle Canon in scale. In addition, there are the familiar "Kangxi Dictionary", "Quan Tang Poems", etc., as well as the valuable "Almanac Kaocheng" and "Mathematical Essence".
What about the achievements of the Qianlong period?
The first is naturally the Four Libraries Complete Book. However, although Qianlong spent so much energy compiling this book, and his achievements were greater than those of the "Integration of Ancient and Modern Books", he destroyed many books.
Since we are talking about culture, we must talk about the cultural level of Kangxi and Qianlong themselves.
Speaking of language skills, Qianlong was not as good as his grandfather, but Kangxi learned a lot of Latin from missionaries, and he also knew Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian, and Sanskrit. It can be seen that Kangxi's language ability is estimated to be unsurpassed in Chinese history.
Qianlong, on the other hand, only understood Manchu, Tibetan, and Chinese.
Looking at the ability to write articles, Kangxi's creativity is far inferior to Qianlong, it can be said that Qianlong is absolutely prolific, writing more than 40,000 poems in his lifetime. From this, I feel that Qianlong is still quite literate, and it is estimated that the spare time outside of work is used for creation.
However, the quality of their poems seems to be rated very low, and his works are not included in the Collected Works of Qing Poetry, the History of Chinese Literature, and the History of Ming and Qing Literature.
Then look at hard power, military:
Later generations always liked to talk about Qianlong's "Ten Complete Martial Arts", so that Qianlong even had to compare with his grandfather in war. Several wars during the Kangxi Period had a far-reaching impact, and the pacification of San Francisco and the reunification of Taiwan brought China into a period of peaceful development. The destruction of the Russian army in Yaksa is a land issue.
Looking at Qianlong, attacking the Dzungars and Huis, and resisting the aggression of the Gurkhas, these are all very necessary, otherwise the country will face the danger of splitting. However, attacking Burma is a bit of a "bullying" taste, and as a result, this matter is still laborious and unflattering, and it has not prevailed. Later, the Manchu Qing actually resorted to bribery, using tribute to bribe the Burmese monarch, making the battle uninteresting.
So, who is more powerful, Kangxi and Qianlong?
Comprehensive strength one: foreign trade
After the reunification of Taiwan, Kangxi encouraged foreign trade and opened up the ports of Macau, Zhangzhou, Ningbo, and Yuntaishan. In his later years, because piracy was rampant, Kangxi cut off trade with Luzon and TheArapa. However, as usual, foreign merchant ships could come to China, but they could no longer sell ships to foreign countries or sell rice.
However, Qianlong did not open up at all in terms of foreign trade, and there was only one treaty port in Guangzhou, and the activities of merchants were restricted everywhere. In his view, China is rich in products, and what it wants and what it wants does not need to be exchanged at all.
It can be seen that compared with Kangxi, Qianlong really has no vision.
Comprehensive strength two: scientific and technological level
Kangxi was a very learned emperor, who could be described as a master of both arts and sciences, not only studying astronomy, calendar, and geography, but also deeply accomplishing mathematics, physics, agriculture, and medicine. Therefore, in the Kangxi era, there would be books such as "Mathematical Essence" instead of various "general examinations". More importantly, Kangxi was good at accepting suggestions, and thus achieved the "Imperial Public Opinion Overview Map".
As for Qianlong, there seems to be no record of this, but I heard that he hired a teacher for the children, who was very good at mathematics. However, Qianlong said in advance that mathematics should be "interested." It is estimated that anyone who listened to this was unwilling to teach mathematical knowledge to the princes. The later Qing government was getting worse and worse, and it was estimated that this was the problem.
After talking about the national level, let's look at the personal aspect.
Kangxi may be the influence of his childhood experience, his emotions can be said to be relatively introverted and peaceful, and he does not like extravagance and waste, he came to Jiangnan six times to deal with flooding.
Look at Qianlong again, that pomp and circumstance, eager to bring all the people in the harem. This is purely to create trouble for the locality, not only to arrange food and accommodation, but also to pay attention to security. In short, Qianlong was a particularly good-looking emperor.
In fact, it has been seen very clearly from the above points that Kangxi's focus is basically on state affairs, while Qianlong is "public and private" without distinction, thus opening a very bad head for future generations.
Although it seems that what Qianlong did on the surface is not inferior to Kangxi, in his bones he is regressive. What's more, in the same period, Britain had entered the era of the Industrial Revolution, but the Manchu Qing was still the same.
Therefore, "if you don't advance, you will retreat" will always be the truth.
Resources:
[Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Volume 6, Benji 6, Shengzu I, Detailing the Prosperity of Kangqian, Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Volume 10, Gaozong Benji I]