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The 'Daoguang Emperor' (September 16, 1782 – February 25, 1850) was the seventh emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty and the sixth Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1820 to 1850.

Contents

Early years

Reign as emperor and the opium trade

Family

Consorts

Children

Sons

Daughters

Death and legacy

See also

Early years

He was born in the Forbidden City, Beijing, and was given the name 'Mianning' (綿寧), changed into Minning (旻寧) when he became emperor: the first character of his private name was changed from Mian (綿) to Min (旻) so that his brothers and cousins of the same generation would not have to change the first character of their names (a character identical for all relatives of the same generation), which they should normally have done given that the private name of an emperor is taboo and cannot be written or pronounced. This novelty was introduced by his grandfather the Qianlong Emperor who thought it not proper to have a whole generation of people in the imperial family changing their names on an emperor's accession to the throne.
He was the second son of Yongyan (永琰), who became the Jiaqing Emperor in 1796. His mother, the principal wife of Yongyan, was Lady Hitara of the (Manchu) Hitara clan, who became empress when Jiaqing ascended the throne in 1796. She is known posthumously as Empress Xiaoshu Rui (孝淑睿皇后).

Reign as emperor and the opium trade

Daoguang inherited a declining empire with Western imperialism encroaching upon the doorsteps of China. During his reign, China experienced major problems with opium, which was imported into China by British merchants. Opium had started to trickle into China during the reign of his great grandfather Emperor Yongzheng but was limited to approximately 200 boxes annually. By Emperor Qianlong's reign, the amount had increased to 1000 boxes, 4000 boxes by Jiaqing's era and more than 30,000 boxes during Daoguang's reign. He made many edicts against opium in the 1820s and 1830s, which were carried out by the famous Lin Zexu. Lin Zexu's effort to halt the spread of opium in China was quite successful, but, with the development of the First Opium War, Lin quickly fell out of favour and the Daoguang emperor suddenly removed Lin's authority and banished him to Xinjiang. Daoguang's decision was a blow to China's effort to halt the influx of opium and deepened the Europeans' resolution to enter the vast Chinese market which eventually led to the First Opium War against Britain. Technologically and militarily inferior to the European powers and hobbled by the incompetence of the Qing government, China lost this war and was forced to surrender Hong Kong at the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842. Henceforth, Daoguang became the first emperor of the Qing dynasty to have lost a portion of its sovereign territories.

Family

★ Father: Emperor Jiaqing (嘉庆帝).

★ Mother: Empress Xiao Shu Rui (孝淑睿皇后).

Consorts

★ Empress Xiao Mu Cheng (孝穆成皇后) (? - 1808) of the Niuhuru clan.

★ Empress Xiao Shen Cheng (孝慎成皇后) (? - 1833) of the Tunggiya clan.

★ Empress Xiao Quan Cheng (孝全成皇后) (1808 - 1840) of the Niuhuru clan.

★ Empress Xiao Jing Cheng (孝静成皇后) (1812 - 1855) of the Borjigit clan.

★ Imperial Honoured Consort Zhuang Shun (庄顺皇贵妃) (? - 1866) of the Wuya clan, she was the natural birth mother of the First Prince Chun.

★ Honoured Consort Tun (彤贵妃) (? - 1877) of the Shumulu clan.

★ Consort He (和妃) (? - 1836) of the Nala clan.

★ Consort Xiang (祥妃) (? - 1861) of the Niuhuru clan.

★ Noble Consort Jia (佳贵妃) (? - 1890) of the Gogiya clan.

★ Noble Consort Cheng (成贵妃) (? - 1888) of the Niuhuru clan.

★ Consort Chang (常妃) (? - 1860) of the Heseri clan.

Children

Sons

# First son: Prince Yiwei (奕緯) (16th May, 1808 - 23rd May, 1831), son of He Fei of the Nala clan.
# Second son: Yikang (奕綱) (22nd November, 1826 - 5th March, 1827), son of Empress Xiaojing Cheng
# Third son: Yichi (奕繼) (2nd December, 1829 - 22nd January, 1830), son of Empress Xiaojing Cheng
# Fourth son: Yichu (1831 - 1861), son of Empress Xiao Quan Cheng
# Fifth son: Yicong (23rd July, 1831- 18th February, 1889), the second Prince Tun, great-grandfather of Prince Yuyan and son of Imperial Consort Xiang (祥妃) of the Niuhuru clan.
# Sixth son: Yixin (11th January, 1833 - 29th May, 1898), the Prince Gong. Son of Empress Xiao Jing Cheng.
# Seventh son: Yixuan, the First (16th October, 1840 - 1st January, 1891) Prince Chun. Father of Zaitian the Guangxu Emperor.
# Eight son: Yiho (奕詥) (21st February, 1844 - 17th December, 1868), son of the Imperial Noble Consort Zhuangshun.
# Ninth son: Yihui(奕譓) (1845 - 1877) son of the Imperial Noble Consort Zhuangshun.

Daughters

# First daughter: Duanmin (端悯固伦公主) (1813 - 1819), daughter of empress Xiaozhen Cheng.
# Second daughter: (1825), daughter of Xiang Fei.
# Third daughter: Duanshun (端顺固伦公主) (1825 - 1835), daughter of empress Xiaoquan Cheng.
# Fourth daughter: Shou-An (寿安固伦公主) (1826- 1860), daughter of empress Xiaoquan Cheng.
# Fifth daughter: Shou? (寿臧和硕公主) (1829 - 1856), daughter of Xiang Fei.
# Sixth daughter: Shou-Yen (寿恩固伦公主) (1830 - 1859), daughter of empress Xiaojing Cheng.
# Seventh daughter: (1840 - 1844), daughter of Tun Kuai Fei.
# Eight daughter: Shou-Xi (寿禧和硕公主) (1841- 1866), daughter of Tun Kuai Fei.
# Ninth daughter: Shou-Zhuang (寿庄固伦公主) (1842 - 1884), daughter of Zhuangshun Huang Kuai Fei.
# Tenth daughter: (1844 - 1845), daughter of Tun Kuai Fei.

Death and legacy

Daoguang died on February 25, 1850, at the Old Summer Palace (圓明園), 8 km/5 miles northwest of the walls of Beijing. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son. Daoguang failed to understand the resolution of the Europeans and although the Europeans were outnumbered, outgunned and were thousands of miles away from home, Daoguang did not take advantage of these factors. He had a poor understanding of the British and the industrial revolution that Britain had undergone, preferring to turn a blind eye to the rest of the world. It was said that Daoguang did not even know where Britain was located in the world. His thirty-year reign introduced the initial onslaught by western imperialism and foreign invasions that would plague China, in one form or another, for the next one hundred years.
He was interred amidst the Western Qing Tombs (清西陵), 120 kilometers/75 miles southwest of Beijing, in the Muling (慕陵 - meaning "Tomb of longing", or "Tomb of admiration") mausoleum complex.

See also

★ Treaty of Nanking (1842)

★ First Opium War