#puyi

Visiting Tiantan (天坛; "Temple of Heaven") in Beijing while cosplaying Puyi, the last emperor of China

English added by me :)

Photo of the real Puyi under the cut:

How different revolutionaries dealt with their monarchs

The former Emperor of China Puyi attending a banquet with revolutionaries who overthrew the Qing Dynasty, 1961.

What’s your opinion of the Qing dynasty post-Qianlong?

I think the Qing Dynasty post-Qianlong was a period of of decline marked by corruption, internal strife, rebellion, and foreign pressure. Here’s why

1. Jiaqing Emperor (1796-1820)

Challenges

Faced immense corruption, especially from the notorious official Heshen, Qianlong’s favorite.

Upon Qianlong’s death in 1799, Jiaqing executed Heshen and tried to clean up the court.

Faced major internal unrest like the White Lotus Rebellion (1796–1804), a costly peasant uprising.

Legacy: Tried to reform but struggled with financial crisis and unrest; the decline had already begun.

2. Daoguang Emperor (1820-1850)

Problem Intensify

Faced growing social unrest and foreign pressure

First Opium War (1837-1842) against Britain lead the Treaty of Nanjing, which ceded Hong Kong and open ports to British trade

The Qing Dynasty lost face and sovereignty for the first time on a large scale

Legacy: A moral and well-meaning ruler overwhelmed by crises beyond his control

3. Xianfeng Emperor (1850-1861)

Chaos Reigns

Tailing Rebellion (1850-1864): A massive civil war led by a pseudo-Christian rebel Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to be Jesus’s brother. Over 20 million died

Faces the second Opium War (1856-1860) with Britain and France. The Summer Palace was looted and burned in 1860.

Fled to Chengde and died demoralized

Legacy: His reign saw the near-collapse of the Qing authority

4. Tongzhi Emperor (1861-1875)

Reigned as a child under the regency of Empress Dowager Cixi

Period marked by the Tongzhi Restoration— an effort to revive the dynasty through Confucian reforms, military modernization, and bureaucracy repairs

However, reforms were half-hearted and superficial

Legacy: Brief glimmer of hope that didn’t last; real power was in Cixi’s hands.

5. Guangxu Emperor (1875-1908)

Nephew of Cixi, he later tried to assert control with the Hundred Days’ Reform in 1898—radical modernization effort inspired by Japan’s Meiji Restoration

Cixi opposed and put him under house arrest

Boxer Rebellion (1899-1902): Anti-foreign, anti-Christian uprising. Qing secretly supported it, leading to foreign invasion and humiliation via the Boxer Protocol

Legacy: A progressive emperor crushed by conservative forces.

6. Xuantong Emperor (Puyi, 1908-1912)

Last Emperor of China, enthroned as a toddler

Real power still held by Cixi’s allies (Cixi herself dies in 1908)

Faced the 1912 Xianhai Revolution, which led to the fall of the Qing Dynasty

Abdicated in 1912, ending over 2,000 years of imperial rule

Legacy: A tragic figure, manipulated by other, later used as a puppet ruler in Manchukuo but the Japanese.

So the key reasons for the Qing Dynasty decline after Qianlong is :

Corruption

Heshen’s influence during the last Qianlong reign, and widespread official graft

Population Pressure

Exploding population outpaced food, land, and jobs

Peasant Rebellions

White Lotus, Taiping, Nian, Boxer, and other destabilizied the regime

Foreign Invasion

Opium Wars, Unequal Treaties, spheres of influence eroded sovereignty

Weak Reform

Tongzhi Restoration and Hundred Days’ Reform failed due to conservatism

Empress Dowager Cixi

Sincerely convincing a sheltered child emperor is at least convincing one person.

Emperor Puyi and Empress Wanrong in the Forbidden City, China, early 20th century.