Zhao Yanzhe: "The Twelve Hours of Qianlong" focuses on human nature from a cultural perspective

Author: Zhao Yanzhe (Associate Researcher of Beijing Academy of Painting, Postdoctoral Fellow of Palace Museum)

What is time? How do people spend their time? Time is everywhere, but it cannot be seen or touched. On this eternal topic, people seem to never understand. Confucius said: "The deceased is like a sif, who does not give up day and night." Li Bai, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, also said: "Today's people do not see the ancient time and month, and this month once looked at the ancients." "People look up at the sky, look down at the earth, feel the ancient and modern in the unconscious passage of time, experience all things, and care for themselves. In modern life, the ticking of clocks and watches is like an invisible net, controlling people in the order of minutes and seconds. If time were to go back more than two hundred years, how would people in the Qing Dynasty understand and appreciate time? For the Qianlong Emperor, the longest-lived emperor in ancient China, what did time mean? If you are interested in these questions, then you may wish to read the book "The Twelve Hours of Qianlong".

Microhistory of time

The qianlong emperor's life was very long, not only a long lifespan, but also a long reign. If you count the three years he abdicated but still actually ruled, the Qianlong Emperor was the longest-serving emperor in Chinese history. In his rich life, he was filled with all kinds of highlight moments, great moments. Whether it is the "Ten Complete Martial Arts" he advertises, or the six southern tours that people talk about, the Qianlong Emperor, as the emperor of the prosperous world, his many acts of Wenzhi martial arts deserve to be singled out and described in detail.

On the contrary, the Twelve Hours of Qianlong does not take a grand historical narrative, or even select the "meaningful" moments and events that are usually considered by historians. "The Twelve Hours of Qianlong" only talks about the inconspicuous day in the daily life of the Qianlong Emperor. This day is the eighth day of the first lunar month of the 30th year of Qianlong, that is, January 28, 1765 in the Western calendar. It was an ordinary day, nothing special. There are only a few lines of historical documents about this day, and there is neither a twisty storyline nor an earth-shattering historical turn. This day seems really ordinary to the political career of the Qianlong Emperor, and it can even be said to be a day of universal significance, a random day.

But who would dare to say with certainty that this day is not worth writing? Who can say that in the seemingly ordinary twelve hours of the day, there are no twists and turns and earth-shattering twists and turns? This microscopic observation of history is undoubtedly deeply influenced by the historical view of Huang Renyu's "Fifteen Years of the Wanli Calendar". Compared with "Fifteen Years of the Wanli Calendar", the perspective of "The Twelve Hours of Qianlong" is more nuanced, not in terms of years, but in terms of days. A leaf knows autumn, a glimpse of leopard. This short period of time can reflect the entire era style of the Qianlong Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty. As the author puts it: "That day was a specimen of the last prosperous 'Kangqian prosperous era' in the middle of Qianlong and the last prosperous world in ancient Chinese society. Even if it is just a day's ordinary history, it contains rich and intricate scenes. "Such ingenuity, it's a crime.

The time of layering

Neither expounding the highlight moments of the Qianlong Emperor nor paying attention to the macroscopic context of his life, the Twelve Hours of Qianlong only observes the emperor's daily life on the eighth day of the first lunar month of the 30th year of Qianlong. Under such a purpose, the exposition of political history is no longer placed in a priority position, and "The Twelve Hours of Qianlong" focuses on human nature from a cultural perspective.

On this day, Aisin Kyora Hiroshi was a man over half a hundred years old. He was not only an emperor but also a husband; not only a father, but also a son; not only had Manchurian ancestry, but also devoted himself to Han culture; he was proud of the peak of the prosperous world, and secretly surged with signs of decline. It can be said that political life is only one aspect of his many activities on this day, and the aura of being a political figure is lowered in the narrative of this day.

Let's take a look at what the Qianlong Emperor did during the day. A list of emperors' residences on the eighth day of the first month of the 30th year of Qianlong provides readers with credible historical events that can be known on this day. From the 4 o'clock Yangxin Hall to change clothes, to the 20 o'clock Yangxin Hall apse to sleep in the east of the Yangxin Hall, in this short period of less than nine hours and ten hours, the Qianlong Emperor did a lot of things. These events are also the embodiment of different levels of time. Layers of time are superimposed on each other to form the day of the Qianlong Emperor.

As the Ninth Five-Year Emperor, the Qianlong Emperor spent a large chunk of his day dealing with government affairs: from 10 o'clock to 12 noon, he reviewed the recitals at the Yangxin Hall; from 13:00 to 14:00 in the first month, he summoned his ministers to the front hall of the Yangxin Hall; at 15:00 in the first 15:00 of the first year, he approved the various ministries and departments entered by the cabinet and the governor and the governor; and at 16 o'clock, he "met with Fu Heng at night". These are the times that belong to national politics.

In addition, the Qianlong Emperor also had many other levels of time at the same time.

Snow fell the night before. When he woke up, facing the snowy scenery of the Forbidden City wrapped in silver, the Qianlong Emperor was full of hopes for this year's agricultural harvest. This can be said to be the attention of the Manchurian emperor to farming in the Central Plains after entering the customs. At 7 o'clock in the first month of the new year, a tea banquet was held at Chonghua Palace. From 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., more than 20 people from the monarch and courtiers jointly praised a snow elephant at chonghua Palace. The Qianlong Emperor's imperial poems are known for their poetic chronicles, which is also a manifestation of his acceptance of Han culture. This is the time that belongs to the Han culture of the Central Plains.

At 6 o'clock, the Qianlong Emperor read the records and hadiths at the Qianqing official Xi Nuan Pavilion. As the Emperor of Manchuria, the deeds of the ancestor Emperor Jinge Tiema in pioneering the foundation are unforgettable at any time, and the daily reliving of the ancestral training is to ensure that the people of Manchuria do not forget the tradition of riding and shooting Chinese while integrating Han culture. This is the time that belongs to Manchuria.

As a son and husband, at 5 o'clock in the first year, the Qianlong Emperor went to the Cining Palace to ask the empress dowager for peace. The Qianlong Emperor honored his mother with filial piety and proposed to rule the world with filial piety. At 20 o'clock, the Qianlong Emperor took a bed in the east of the apse of the Yangxin Hall. Although we cannot find a single word about the private life of the Qianlong Emperor in all the court records, it is not difficult for us as readers to think of the familiar shadows of Empress Xiaoxian, Empress Ulanala, and Concubine Xiang. This is time that belongs to the family.

During this busy day, the Qianlong Emperor even paid attention to the Kunning Palace Pilgrimage Festival at the 4th hour of Yinzheng, the Shunxing Sacrifice after 20:00 of The Shunxing Festival, and the Xibe Expeditionary Force stationed in the imperial border city of Ulyasutai thousands of miles away, which belonged to religious and military time.

Self and time

After the function of being an emperor, a son, and a husband was fulfilled, was there anything left out? On this day, in addition to eating morning and evening meals, as a personal Qianlong Emperor, did he still have time to belong to himself? Fortunately, there is still an hour that belongs to him, and that is the self-time that belongs to aisin Kyora Hiroshi - from 17:00 to 18:00 in the first month of the unitary period, he played with cultural relics at the Sanxi Hall of the Yangxin Hall and so on. This is a time of leisure, a time of relaxation, and a time to enjoy cultural relics at will by your own nature. What he enjoyed was the calligraphy and painting utensils and antique treasures that he searched for and hidden in the imperial palace.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month of the 30th year of Qianlong, what calligraphy and painting artifacts did the Qianlong Emperor see? Now it appears that there are at least eight paintings, one calligraphy, six pieces of jade, and one piece of porcelain:

Five generations later, the Khitan painter Li Zanhua (eldest son of Liao Taizu, real name Yelü Bei) of the Tang Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty painter Sheng Mao's "Yingxue Reading Map", the Yuan Dynasty painter Fang Congyi's "Songyan Tandao Map", one of the Four Ming Families Shen Zhou's "Yulanzhi Tree Map", the Ming Dynasty painter Zhou Chen's "Village Nongqing Map", one of the Ming Dynasty painters Tang Yin's "Huiqin Tu", one of the Ming Four Families Wen Zhengming's "Songtang Yin Appreciation Scroll", the Qianlong Dynasty court painter Fang Chun's landscape painting, the Qianlong Dynasty Wenchen Qian Chenqun's grandfather Qian Ruizheng wrote the seal book "Seal Book" Rui Ri Xiang Yun and Feng Gan Yu Zhang", Zhou Dynasty Piece Yun Qi, Khotanese Jade Bowl, Khotanese Han Yu Yu Yu Weng, Khotanese Yu Guan Mei Xian Tu, Han Dynasty YuGu Bi, Khotanese Jade Cow, Ge Kiln Porcelain Pillow.

These works of art viewed by the Qianlong Emperor span a long time span, from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Qianlong Dynasty, and the theme style is also all-encompassing and very rich, but this is just a drop in the sea in the imperial "collection" collection of the Qianlong Dynasty. Watching calligraphy and painting in the spare time of the day is probably the biggest luxury left by the Qianlong Emperor to himself. The editing of large-scale cultural relics series such as "Shiqu Baodi", "Secret Hall Zhulin", "Western Qing Ancient Classic", "Western Qing Yan Spectrum", "Tianlu Linlang", "Sanxitang Fa Ti", "Jingsheng Zhai Fa Ti", "Mo Miao Xuan Fa Ti" and so on shows the essence of the Qianlong Inner House's collection of various kinds of treasures and antiquities, and also shows the emperor's obsession and desire. Immerse yourself in your own time and enjoy it. And the Qianlong Emperor seems to be unwilling to be just a bystander, he also wants to collect, to appraise, to taste, to examine, to inscribe poems, to stamp, and to be a collector, appraiser, and scholar at the same time. This is his contradiction and greed, and naturally he cannot avoid making mistakes.

The time of national politics, the time of the Han culture in the Central Plains, the time of Manchuria, the time of religion, the time of the military, the time of the family, the time of the self... The layers of time divide the day of the Qianlong Emperor into strands, and also divide his life into different aspects. Such a superimposed time makes people feel divided. It is as if the Qianlong Emperor, when he was watching calligraphy and paintings and sending elegant feelings, he still said that he did not forget to be diligent in government and love the people, and tried his best to make it clear that he was not addicted to sound. Therefore, in the intricate historical time and space, they together constitute such a Qianlong Emperor - "a synthesis of contradictions, a person who combines sincerity and hypocrisy."

In historical works, the Qianlong Emperor was mighty and tall because of kangqian's prosperity; in the film and television network drama, the Qianlong Emperor was as shallow and funny as a clown jumping beam. What the hell is he like? Which image is closer to the truth of history? Professor Wu Shizhou's book "The Twelve Hours of Qianlong" provides a new perspective of thinking, that is, to understand the multiple aspects of the Qianlong Emperor from the day of the Qianlong Emperor. Since its launch, "The Twelve Hours of Qianlong" has not only been recognized by scholars in the industry, but also broken the circle and become the choice of the majority of history and art lovers.