The Qianlong Emperor, born in 1711 and died in 1799, was the longest-lived emperor in Chinese history. In the early period of his reign, Qianlong exerted great efforts to govern and pushed the "prosperous life of Kangqian" to the peak; in his later years, he was very happy and meritorious, and he made endless conquests abroad, made six southern tours of the interior, organized large-scale compilation of books, manufactured utensils, collected literary and play calligraphy and paintings, jade clocks and watches, and spent very little of the family foundation he had accumulated before. The Qianlong Emperor's collection exceeded that of Emperor Huizong of Song.
Beauty is not as good as Beauty Jade
Many emperors throughout the ages had countless beauties and indulged in luxurious and promiscuous lives. Qianlong also had three thousand beautiful women, but beauty was not his main pastime. He loves beauty more than beauty. The Palace Museum has more than 30,000 pieces of jade, half of which are held by Qianlong, which is enough to show Qianlong's extreme obsession with jade.
The Qianlong Emperor always tried his best to find good jade, and in addition to paying tribute three times a year, he allowed the officials who paid tribute at any time, and the most officials could pay tribute more than thirty times a year.
However, the expenses of the Qing government and the royal expenses were separated, and Qianlong, as the king of a country, could not use the treasury funds casually. In order to satisfy his own desires, he ordered that all officials who made mistakes in the imperial court, if they did not hinder the safety of the Qing Dynasty, could be exempted from the punishment of dismissal by handing over some silver and two pieces, and these fines would become Qianlong's "pocket money" for buying jade.
With this money, Qianlong collected jade more fanatically, and in his later years, his collection of ancient jade was close to 10,000 pieces. In his free time, Qianlong would take out these ancient jades every day to wipe, stroke and play. The degree of obsession with meiyu has far exceeded his desire to obsess over beauty.
In the Book of Poetry, there is a saying that "a humble gentleman is gentle as a jade", and Xu Shen of the Han Dynasty said: "Jade, the beauty of stone has five virtues." Moisten with warmth, benevolence with the party; reason from the outside, can know the middle, the righteous side is also; its voice is soothing, dedicated to the far hearing, the wisdom of the party also; not to bend and fold, the courageous side is also; sharp and honest but not shy, the clean side is also. "People love jade and are infiltrated by the traditional concept of "gentlemen like jade".
After long-term wear of jade, due to the influence of human skin, its own smoothness will also change, the ancients believe that this can bring themselves good luck, naturally have a good feeling for jade.
However, it was Qianlong who set off the climax of playing with jade. Qianlong was so fond of jade that the so-called "good things are good at the top, and they will be very good at the bottom." In order to curry favor with Qianlong, Qing Dynasty officials searched everywhere for good jade offerings, which naturally also led to the atmosphere of playing with jade.
The unique clock of the emperor's "cousin"
Most of the Qianlong Emperor's love for clocks and watches was inherited from his grandfather Kangxi and father Yongzheng, and "blue is better than blue", those Western clocks that can jump out of a bird or go out of a villain to tell the time, from infancy to adulthood, have always surprised him.
Do not think that the rulers of the Qing Dynasty had no contact with the outside world under the closed country. In fact, popular things in Paris or London often soon arrived in Beijing with merchant ships or missionaries. Europe's top watchmakers pondered the preferences of the Chinese emperors of the Kangqian era. There were also Europeans who traveled thousands of miles, transported machinery and equipment from Europe, and opened a watch factory in Guangzhou, which produced luxury goods for the emperor and the nobility. Some Chinese craftsmen also played Chinese unique imitation genius, a large number of imitations of Western products, and the beauty of the picture. However, Qianlong saw at a glance that these joint ventures and counterfeit products were not authentic, and emphasized that the use in the palace must be original imported goods: "From the front, bamboo leaf green and foreign lacquerware are not made of foreign." Such as clocks, foreign lacquerware, gold and silver satin, felt blankets and other pieces, if you make it in the foreign world. (The Qianlong Emperor and Ma Garni)
He spared no effort to collect all kinds of strange clocks and watches, according to the "Qianlong Dynasty Tribute File", in the twenty-second year of Qianlong (1757), Li Yongbiao, the governor of Guangdong Customs, and Li Shiyao, the general of Guangzhou, paid tribute to "a glass-encrusted foreign self-chiming music clock, and a gilded foreign scenery watch pavilion". The Qianlong Emperor saw the tribute and issued an edict: "The gilded yangjing pavilion that has been entered this time is very good, and it seems that there are more than a few pieces that are as good as this, and then there are a few pieces that are large and good, and there is no need to be afraid of the price." During the Qianlong Dynasty, edicts instructing the purchase, manufacture, and transformation of clocks and watches abounded.
The Qianlong Emperor's mood of liking foreign bells was very urgent, so when duanyang tribute was not made, Li Shiyao and others offered "thirteen large and small self-chiming bells and one gold-encrusted foreign bell" according to the way of special instructions. Qianlong's attention and admiration naturally promoted the development of clock production, so the watchmaker designed and improved many interesting functions for the clock, such as changing text, music birds, moving dolls, water law, boating, turning flowers, rolling balls and other complex functions, dazzling. Not only clocks, the Qianlong Emperor was fascinated by Western automatic toys, especially "robots" and "robotic animals". The Western missionary Xi Chengyuan in the palace developed a "self-propelled lion", the size of which is no different from that of a real lion, and the clockwork is hidden in the belly of the lion, which can walk a hundred steps. The emperor himself came to watch and watched the "self-propelled lion" striding towards him with his head held high, and was very happy. (The Great Biography of the Qianlong Emperor)
In addition, the Qianlong Emperor was curious about Western musical instruments. He ordered the missionaries Wei Jijin and Lu Zhongxian to teach the little eunuchs to learn the "big laqin" and "little laqin", and organized a Western orchestra in the palace, including violin, piano, oboe, clarinet, and guitar, so that the female relatives living in the deep palace could also experience the exotic style.
Collection and compilation of books
During his lifetime, the Qianlong Emperor initiated several activities in the collection of books, the most famous of which was the compilation of the "Four Libraries of the Whole Book". The Siku Quanshu is the largest series of books in ancient China. Along with the process of compiling the Siku Quanshu, it was the Daxing Script Prison of the Qianlong Dynasty. According to records, in order to compile the Siku Quanshu, the Qianlong Emperor ordered the collection of books from all over the country and collected more than 10,000 kinds of books, but only more than 3,500 kinds were included after compilation, and most of the remaining ones were destroyed as "forbidden books". In this sense, the compilation of the "Four Libraries Complete Book" can be described as "the merit does not make up for the suffering", which is also the place where the "Four Libraries Complete Book" is criticized by posterity.
In terms of calligraphy and painting collection, due to the love of the Qianlong Emperor, it once set off a nationwide upsurge of calligraphy and painting sales, which is rare in the entire history of China. Like his father, the Yongzheng Emperor, the Qianlong Emperor was particularly enthusiastic about Han culture, often dressing himself up as an ancient Han scholar, wearing Han costume to burn incense and drums, chanting poems, and appreciating calligraphy and painting.
Qianlong's most famous collection is the "Sanxitang Fa Ti". The Qianlong Emperor was passionate about calligraphy, and on several occasions ordered the collection of calligraphy from famous artists throughout the country, among which his favorite was Wang Xizhi's calligraphy. The so-called "Three Xi" of the "Three Xi Tang", that is, "Three Rare Treasures", these three rare treasures are from the hands of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Wang Clan, namely: Wang Xizhi's "Qing Ti in the Fast Snow", Wang Xianzhi's "Mid-Autumn Festival" and Wang Xun's "Boyuan Ti". These three calligraphy works were regarded by the Qianlong Emperor as the supreme treasures in all his collections, and a special room was set up for collection, and this collection room was named "Sanxi Hall".
Although collecting is a pleasant and elegant thing to cultivate emotions, everything must be measured, and it is even more important to recognize their roles. If you waste your career because of collection, it is a plaything.
As an emperor, Emperor Huizong of Song obviously did not understand the truth that "the son of heaven stomps forward, it is related to the life of the people", and blindly lost his mind. Although it has been said that the collection of hobbies was not the only reason for the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is undoubtedly one of the important reasons. Emperor Huizong caused himself to be imprisoned in Huanglong, sit in a well and watch the sky, and also harmed countless soldiers and civilians, which was condemned by posterity.
In contrast, the Qianlong Emperor was much better, and although he was a plaything, he was not yet demoralized. During his reign, he repeatedly quelled rebellions and accomplished many meritorious deeds; pushing the "prosperous era of Kangqian" to the peak can also be regarded as benefiting the people. However, his good and great achievements and "stubborn lord" style greatly depleted the national strength of the Qing Dynasty. By the time jiaqing arrived, the Qing Dynasty already had a false name for itself, but in fact it was full of crises.