Emperor Qianlong: Son of Heaven, Man of the World

Mark Elliott's book on Emperor Qianlong was excellent. Qianlong was the longest serving Chinese emperor. He came to power at the height of Qing Dynasty, just before the big fall. Clearly the book is intended for someone like myself who has more than a passing familiarity in China and Chinese history. This was my first deep dive into a more modern Chinese emperor. Qianlong's name kept popping up in my mind, somehow from my visit to Beijing a while ago, but I couldn't recall exactly why.Admittedly, the first parts of Qianlong's childhood life and ascension seemed like more of a repetition of the official history of Qianlong's life, when I was expecting a more fact-based writing. Realistically, there probably wasn't much other information without CNN and the NY Times covering Palace intrigues, so that is what we are left with.Fortunately, after that the writing was excellent and only got better. The book is nicely broken up into little sections focusing on different aspects of his rule, much more than a straight time line.The author makes a big deal of being able to read the Manchu language and having gone over Manchu documents in order to better understand the Manchu emperor. I can't judge the benefit, but most of the rest of the book seems like the author could have written a much longer book, but is distilling the important aspects of Qianlong's life.I really liked the section on conquering Xinjiang, which is so relevant now. There was a nice section on the emperor's travels around the empire; the beginnings of the decline in the late 1700's; Qianlong's interactions and view of the rest of the world, which was interesting since he was so isolated from it in many respects. Even the conclusion was excellent where the author tries to explain the renewed of interest within China in Qianlong today, as a result of China's rise in the world.The author succeeded in portraying Qianlong as a man who was truly interested in the welfare of his people and seemed intelligent…though this aspect of his character is balanced against his ignorance of the importance of Western technology and the benefits of interacting with the rest of the world.It is hard to get underneath the official propaganda since we have no videos of the Emperor and Chinese emperors of the time were isolated from the population, but many foreign, more objective descriptions of the Emperor are analyzed.I really wished that the illustrations were in color instead of extremely grainy black and white, but I guess Googling the paintings and artefacts is possible. The cover painting of the Emperor done by Castiglione is great.I really appreciated this book. It is actually quite short at about 160 pages of text, but very chock full of insight from an author who knows him as well as anyone outside of China.Glossy color illustrations would have made the rating 6 stars!

This book is at best a good introduction to the Qianlong emperor's reign. Whole books have been written about several aspects of the reign. The author himself mentions Perdue's book on the Qing conquest of central Asia (which I've bought but not had time to read). Alan Peyrifitte has written _ The Immobile Empire _ about the MacCartney mission (which I did read and heartily recommend). This book includes many paintings by Catiglione who's another topic in his own right. So, as I said, it's at best a good introduction to the period. But it does do that very well and even includes very topical information.By far the most moving aspect of the book was the portrayal of the emperor's personal life, such as his lifelong grief over the death of his first wife, or his doting on his last daughter. It shows yet again that these people were indeed people with loves and losses of their own.

This biography of the QianLong Emperor of the Ching Dynasty includes both personal and political information of this very long and important reign. Well written and dramatic description reveal a political social system running at its best to produce a rich, cultivated society providing satisfactory outlets for the energy of most of its peoples. Managing this diverse structure took constant effort and clear judgements which the Qianlong Emperor provided most of the time. The traditional authoritarian Chinese outlook and the fear that different ideas and methods would prove upsetting to a rather smoothly running society inhibited decision making so that the seeds of possible long term disruption were present. But those problems the emperor left to the future.

This book by Mark Elliot is excellent as it offers an unbiased panorama of the world in which the Qianlong emperor lived. It sets the emperor's thoughts and behavior into the context of this panorama. What I find expecially notable is the fact that Mark Eliott doesn't fall into the eurocentristic trap as so many other sinologists do. His language is clear and direct and is thus also easily understandable for for non-sinologists.

Easy read to understand the world of Quinlong, his father and son. The Chinese world was advanced then and it becoming advance now. A great way to understand it.

I used this book as part of my research for a historical novel and found it really useful in giving some insight into Qianlong as a person - especially as it has specific instances of his behaviour in certain situations during his life. A very interesting read.

I was disappointed in this book. I had not appreciated it would have so few illustrations and be printed on poor quality paper. I also bought Chinese Art by Patricia Welch. .It is a fabulous book wonderfully illustrated in colour and excellent value compared to Elliott's book.