Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-05T13:31:27.971Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Death of the Xiaoxian Empress: Bureaucratic Betrayals and the Crises of Eighteenth-Century Chinese Rule

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2024

Norman Kutcher

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In April of 1748 the Xiaoxian empress, first wife of Qianlong, died of a malarial fever. In the months that followed, a scandal erupted that shook the bureaucracy and left several officials dead. Their crime was shaving themselves before the expiration of the hundred days of declared state mourning. The case was an important moment in Qing rule, showing a very saddened and still-learning emperor grappling with different methods and models of governing, questioning his role as a specifically Manchu leader, and struggling with the place that law would occupy in his reign. He emerges from mourning his wife, and from the scandals that ensued, with a changed sense of how to govern that would have long-term consequences for the Qing government. Before turning to our story, it is best to begin with a context for the issues.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , August 1997 , pp. 708 - 725
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1997

References

List of References

Bartlett, Beatrice S. 1991. Monarchs and Ministers: The Grand Council in Mid- Ch'ing China, 1723–1820 Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Crossley, Pamela Kyle. 1989. “The Qianlong Retrospect on the Chinese-Martial (hanjun) Banners.” Late Imperial China 10:1 (June).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dqtl, . Da Qing tong li. 1818. Siku Quanshu Zhenben ed. Vol. 125.Google Scholar
Dqhdsl, . Da Qing huidian shili. 1991. Reprint, Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju.Google Scholar
De Groot, J. J. M. [1894] 1982. The Religious System of China: Its Ancient Forms, Evolution, History and Present Aspect, Manners, Customs and Social Institutions Connected Therewith. 6 vols. Reprint, Leyden: E.J. Brill. Southern Materials Center.Google Scholar
Gzsl, . Gaozong Chun Huangdi shilu. 1985. In Qing shilu. Reprint, Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju.Google Scholar
Hummel, Arthur W., ed. 1943. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Kang, Xuewei. 1991. Xian Qin xiaodao yanjiu. Taibei: Wenjin Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Philip A. 1990. Soulstealers: The Chinese Sorcery Scare of 1768. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuwabara, Jitsuzo. 1977. Chūgoku no kōdō. Reprint, University of Michigan Library.Google Scholar
Lyzp, . Zouzhe, Zhupi; Lei, Li-Yi. Palace Memorials in the Number One Historical Archives, Beijing, China.Google Scholar
Qctd, . Qingchao tongdian. 1935. Wanyou Wenku ed.Google Scholar
Qsg, . Qing shi gao. 1977. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju ed., 1977.Google Scholar
Suoning'an. 1801. Manzhou si Li ji.Google Scholar
Syd, . Dang, Shangyu. Imperial Edicts in the Number One Historical Archives, Beijing, China.Google Scholar
Watson, James L. 1982. “Of Flesh and Bones: The Management of Death Pollution in Cantonese Society.” In Death and Regeneration of Life, edited by Bloch, Maurice and Parry, Jonathan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Xiao Heng Xiang Shi Zhu Ren. 1959. Qingchao Yeshi Daguan: (1) Qing Gong Yiwen. Reprint, Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju ed.Google Scholar
Yzs, . Yu zhi shi. Yale University Library.Google Scholar
Zhu, Baojiong, and Peilin, Xie. 1980. Qing jinshi timing beilu suoyin. Shanghai: Guji Chubanshe.Google Scholar