Monarchy in the Emperor's Eye: Image and Reality in the Ch'ien-Lung Reign

332 Pages·1971·34.382 MB·English

by  Harold L. Kahn

Monarchy in the Emperor's Eyes
Harvard East Asian Series 59
The East Asian Research Center at Harvard University administers
research projects designed to further scholarly understanding of
China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and adjacent areas.
' ' ' ".'i
Portrait miniature of the Ch'ien-lung emperor and specimen of his calligraphy from
a presentation book commemorating an imperial anniversary (artist unknown).
The two hand-written graphs,ku-yun literally "ancient rhymes" appear to have no relation
to the portrait or text and presumably were selected simply as examples of the imperial
hand. The seal between them testifies to the authenticity of the calligraphy and reads
Ch'ien-lung pao han (By the imperial hand of Ch'ien-lung).
The two seals vertically affixed to the left of the portrait read respectively Ch'ien, Lung.
The square seal to the right reads T'ai-shang huang-ti (retired emperor) and refers to
Ch'ien-lung's status during the years 1796-1799. The oval seal reads Te jih hsin, literally,
"Virtue daily renewed." This is an allusion to the Book of Documents: "When a
sovereign's virtue is daily being renewed, he is cherished throughout the myriad States;
when he is full of his own will, he is abandoned by the nine classes of his kindred"
(James Legge, The Chinese Classics, III, The Shoo King, Hong Kong, 1961, p. 182).
Monarchy in the Emperor's Eyes
Image and Reality in the Ch'ien-lung Reign
Harold L. Kahn
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
1971
© Copyright 1971 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Distributed in Great Britain by Oxford University Press, London
Preparation of this volume has been aided by a grant from
the Ford Foundation.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-135546
SBN 674-58230-6
Printed in the United States of America
For W. W. K.
Acknowledgments
John K. Fairbank is a masochist and I for one am glad of it. He posi-
tively enjoys being put upon by data-ridden thesis writers who walk
the halls of the East Asian Research Center at the pace (pace Marcus
Cunliffe) of pregnant mothers. In this case the more apt figure is a
pregnant grandmother so long was this book in the making. In John
Fairbank's workshop (can a masochist run a sweatshop?) I learned
something of the historian's responsibility to be creative as well as
honest, thoughtful of people as well as of the past.
David T. Roy on the other hand is a sadist. He delights in discover-
ing new and absolutely critical sources which require the scrapping
or revising of whole chapters. He glows with an inner warmth when
exposing well-honed pomposities, mistranslations, and general
historical nonsense. He has a penchant for turning silver slippers into
hollow pumpkins and then (flaw in the ointment) has the kindness
to help fill the shells with meaning and sound scholarship. Without
his help on this book, his own would have been completed years
earlier.
David Nivison, Benjamin Schwartz, and Jonathan Spence have
read and offered comments on all of the manuscript; L. S. Yang,
Arthur Wright, the late Mary Wright, Fang Chao-ying, and Winston
Hsieh have done the same on parts of it. I have not always taken
their advice but am nonetheless grateful for it. Others who have
offered specific advice and help are mentioned in the notes.
I am particularly grateful to D. C. Lau and Yuji Muramatsu for
the elegant précis in Chinese and Japanese which they have so kindly
contributed to the book.
The illustrations were assembled and identified with the assistance
of James Cahill, Louise Cort, Sandra Kahn, Max Loehr, Toda Teisuke,
and Sugimura Yùzô. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Madame Ling
Su-hua, Mr. Pierre de Menasce and the executors of the estate of
the late Baron George de Menasce have graciously consented to pub-
lication here of paintings in their collections; the editors of Art News
have supplied a print of an otherwise unobtainable painting.
Contents
Abbreviations Used in the Notes, 2
Prologue, 3
Part One. The Imperial Image and Its Sources
1 Ego Enthroned, 7
The Mid-Ch'ing Monarchs
The Self-image
2 Official Historiography: The Limits of Objectivity, 12
The Historian's Craft and the Crafty Historian:
Wang Hung-hsii and the Draft History of the Ming
Yung-lo and Chien-wen in Fact
The Yung-lo Interpretation
The Chien-wen Interpretation
The Mid-Ch'ing Interpretation: Wang Hung-hsii's
Commitment
Official History: The Ch'ien-lung Solution
3 Private Historiography, 47
The Official Pole
The Unofficial Pole
The Middle Ground
4 The Fractured Image, 65
The Image and Class Authorship
The Tarnished Image: Gentry Dissent
The Broken Image: Popular Dissent
viii Contents
Part Two. The Self-Image: A Prince's View
5 Mother and Son: Lessons in Applied Piety, 85
Genealogy and Chronology
"And Everywhere that Mary Went..."
6 Two Brothers: Lessons in the Public Life, 98
Private Parity and Mutual Admiration
Public Parity and Ritual Responsibilities
Introduction to Reality
Private Lives and the Parting of Ways
7 Sources of the Self-image: The Curriculum, 115
The Institutional Setting
Metaphysics and Morality
History
Arts and Letters
Military Theory and a Little Practice
8 Sources of the Self-image: The Tutors, 144
Form and Function in the Tutorial Appointment
Politicians and Princes as Pedagogues
The Generalists
The Tutor's Dilemma
Two Scholars and a Teacher
9 The Self-image: Preparation for Reality, 168
"Delight in Doing Good"
The Search for Talent
Norms and Deeds
Contents ix
Part Three. Self-image at the End: Abdication and the
Politics of Filiality
10 Abdication Ceremony: The Implications of Ritual, 191
Preparations
Ritual Parity: Abdication and Succession
11 The Beau Geste as High Politics: History and Precedent, 200
Ch'ien-lung's Claim to Uniqueness
The Retired Emperor: The Ancient Heritage
T'ang Euphimisms
Sung Precedents
Ch'ien-lung's Confirmation of Uniqueness
12 Secret Succession and the Control of Cliques, 231
Evolution of Ch'ing Succession Practices
K'ang-hsi's Failure with Tradition
Yung-cheng's Success with Innovation
Ch'ien-lung's Defense of Secrecy
13 1796-1799: A Ho-shen Regency?, 248
Ch'ien-lung as a Public Health Problem
Ho-shen as Untitled Regent
Rule and Reign: Ho-shen and Chia-ch'ing at the Last
Epilogue, 260
Appendix—Titles Cited from LSTCC, 265
Bibliography, 271
Glossary, 289
Index, 299
Chinese Summary of the Prologue by D. C. Lau, 310
Japanese Translation of the Prologue by Muramatsu Yuji, 311
Illustrations
Frontispiece
Portrait miniature of the Ch'ien-lung emperor and specimen of
his calligraphy taken from a page of a presentation book compiled
by scholars and writers in honor of an anniversary of the emperor.
The artist is unknown. It is in the collection of the late Baron
George de Menasce and is reproduced by permission of Mr. Pierre
de Menasce and the executors of the estate. It was published in
Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1963-64 (London, 1965),
plate 25, no. 58.
1. Emperor Ch'ien-lung and the eleven imperial consorts
(detail). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance
Fund. 76
2. Ch'ien-lung with bamboo, Ch'ing-tai ti hou hsiang, ts'e
3, plate 12. 77
3. Ch'ien-lung in middle age. Ch'ing-tai ti hou hsiang, ts'e 2,
plate 19. 78
4. Studio portrait of Ch'ien-lung in middle age. Ch'ing-tai
ti hou hsiang, ts'e 2, plate 26. 79
5. Ch'ien-lung in old age. Ch'ing-tai ti hou hsiang, ts'e 2, plate
30. 80
6. Ch'ien-lung writing in a spring setting. Ch'ing-tai ti hou
hsiang, ts'e 2, plate 25. 81