Text/Lord of Blue Dream Island
Original article, has opened the whole network rights protection, plagiarism must be investigated!
On arrogance, there are few emperors in history who can match Qianlong, and the emperors he admires in his heart are nothing more than Tang Gaozong, Song Renzong, plus his grandfather Kangxi Emperor, even his father Yongzheng Emperor, he has never paid attention to it. Qianlong prides himself on being the "Ten Perfect Old Man", and in his heart, only he is the "Emperor of the Ages" with the most gold content.
In fact, the Qianlong Emperor's arrogance was tantamount to Yelang's arrogance, he was just stained with the light of his grandfather and father, and Bai picked up a Kangqian prosperous world and became the Taiping Heavenly Son for sixty years. Under the cover of false prosperity, it is a road of no return to decay.
But it is undeniable that regardless of merit or wrong, Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty was indeed an emperor who opened his mouth, and he created the most emperors in Chinese history: the longest life expectancy (at the age of 89), the longest actual time of holding the highest power of the country (60 years in power, plus 3 years of the Emperor Taishang), and the largest number of poems written (more than 40,000 poems were written in his lifetime, equivalent to the sum of the poems of more than 2200 Tang Dynasty poets, and one person "completed" the entire Tang Dynasty).
(Portrait of the Qianlong Emperor' Youth)
So the question is, the Qianlong Emperor has been admiring Kangxi and imitating Kangxi all his life, so why didn't he just learn from his grandfather Kangxi to call him "Zu"?
Seeing this question, I believe that most readers who are familiar with history first think of it: "According to the custom, the temple name is added by the successor emperor after death, is it possible that he can call it 'zu' if he wants to call it 'zu'?" Although this is true, Qianlong is also an ordinary emperor, and it is not his style to follow the rules and follow the customs, and it is really his own decision to call "Zong" instead of "Zu" after death.
"Those who have meritorious service are called ancestors, and those who have virtue are called ancestors; those who open up territory and expand the territory are called ancestors, and those who keep their deeds are called "sects", according to this basic criterion, under normal circumstances, the founding emperor is called "ancestors", and the successive emperors are called "sects". However, there are exceptions, for example, the Ming Dynasty is Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di'er", the situation of the Qing Dynasty is more extreme, and there are three "ancestors" Standing: Nurhaci called "Qing Taizu", Shunzhi Emperor called "Qing Shizu", and Kangxi Emperor called "Qing Shengzu".
(Portrait of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty)
However, even though there were already three "ancestors" standing in front of him, the Qianlong Emperor could not learn from them, but it was not that he did not want to, but the conditions did not allow it.
First of all, the three "ancestors" of the Qing Dynasty have their own reasons. Nurhaci was the founder of the Qing Dynasty, and the country was called "Taizu", such as Zhao Kuangyin, the Taizu of the Song Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Taizu. The Shunzhi Emperor was the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty to open the national rule, and carried forward the ancestral industry and opened up a new era called "Shizu", which is in line with tradition, such as Liu Xiu, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty. During the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, he fought against Tsarist Russia, seized Taiwan, and conquered Mongolia, and although the "Holy Ancestor" was suspected of being innovative, it was also legally justified.
In short, the situation in the Qing Dynasty is indeed quite special, Nurhaci, Shunzhi, Kangxi, all three do have "the merit of opening up the territory and expanding the territory", which meets the standard of being called "ancestor". However, the situation of the Qianlong Emperor was completely different; although he considered himself to be of high merit, he did not have a substantial "merit in opening up the territory and expanding the territory", and he could not meet the basic conditions for being called "ancestor".
(Portrait of the Qianlong Emperor in middle age)
What's more, although there are different reasons, it is indeed a bit ugly that there are three "ancestors" in a dynasty, and if there is a fourth one, it is simply faceless, after all, from Nurhaci to Qianlong, there are only six emperors in total.
To sum up, even if the Qianlong Emperor was a great hero and thought that he was unique throughout the ages, he could not be called "ancestor", which was contrary to legal reason and did not conform to the reality of the Qing Dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor was still self-aware, and in view of the precedent of the Kangxi Emperor calling himself "Zu", in order to avoid the situation being too ugly, he said to the Jiaqing Emperor and the military ministers on his deathbed: "It is true to call the Emperor Zong." Thus, the Qianlong Emperor set the basic criteria for his temple number before his death--calling "Zong" instead of "Zu".
(Stills of the Qianlong Emperor)
On the third day of the first lunar month of the fourth year of Jiaqing (February 7, 1799 AD), the Qianlong Emperor died at the Yangxin Hall at the age of 89. Temple number Gaozong, 谥号 Fa Tianlong transported to The Chengxian Jue Body Yuan Li Ji Shi Wen Fenwu Qin Ming Xiao Ci Divine Pure Emperor.
Since the Qianlong Emperor would specifically explain on his deathbed that after his death, he would not be called "Ancestor", it must have been revealed at that time that he wanted to be called "Ancestor", fortunately, the Qianlong Emperor had admired Han culture all his life, and his reverence for the traditional etiquette system finally suppressed the arrogance in his heart, and it was a wise move not to call himself "Ancestor" instead of arrogantly, and finally retained the last face for himself and even the Qing Dynasty.
References: Records of Emperor Renzong of the Qing Dynasty, Draft History of the Qing Dynasty
The pictures in the text originate from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author.