Shunzhi Emperor 順治帝 |
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3rd Emperor of the Qing dynasty | |||||||||||||
Reign | 8 October 1643 – 5 February 1661 | ||||||||||||
Coronation | 1643 | ||||||||||||
Predecessor | Hong Taiji | ||||||||||||
Successor | Kangxi Emperor | ||||||||||||
Regent |
Dorgon (1643–1650) Jirgalang (1643–1647) |
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Qing Emperor of China | |||||||||||||
Reign | 8 November 1644 – 5 February 1661 | ||||||||||||
Predecessor | Last reigning Emperor of Inner China from previous dynasty: Chongzhen Emperor | ||||||||||||
Successor | Kangxi Emperor | ||||||||||||
Born |
Shengjing, Liaodong |
15 March 1638||||||||||||
Died | 5 February 1661 Forbidden City, Beijing, Qing Dynasty |
(aged 22)||||||||||||
Burial | Xiaoling, Eastern Qing Tombs, Zunhua | ||||||||||||
Empress |
Lady Borjigit Empress Xiaohuizhang Empress Xiaokangzhang Empress Xiaoxianduanjing |
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Issue | Niuniu Fuquan, Prince Yu Xuanye Prince Rong Changning, Prince Gong Qishou Longxi, Prince Chun Yonggan Heshuo Princess Gongque five other daughters three adopted daughters |
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House | Aisin Gioro | ||||||||||||
Father | Hong Taiji | ||||||||||||
Mother | Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang |
Full name | |
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Chinese: Aixin-Jueluo Fulin愛新覺羅·福臨 Manchu: Aisin-Gioro hala-i Fulin ᠠᡳᠰᡳᠨ ᡤᡳᠣᡵᠣ ᡶᡠᠯᡳᠨ |
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Posthumous name | |
Emperor Titian Longyun Dingtong Jianji Yingrui Qinwen Xianwu Dade Honggong Zhiren Chunxiao Zhang 體天隆運定統建極英睿欽文顯武大德弘功至仁純孝章皇帝[ Listen |
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Temple name | |
Emperor Shizu of Qing 清世祖 |
The Shunzhi Emperor (15 March 1638 – 5 February 1661), formerly romanized as the Shun-chih Emperor, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty and the first Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1644 to 1661. A committee of Manchu princes chose him to succeed his father, Hong Taiji (1592–1643), in September 1643, when he was five years old. The princes also appointed two co-regents: Dorgon (1612–1650), the 14th son of the Qing dynasty's founder Nurhaci (1559–1626), and Jirgalang (1599–1655), one of Nurhaci's nephews, both of whom were members of the Qing imperial clan.
From 1643 to 1650, political power lay mostly in the hands of Dorgon. Under his leadership, the Qing Empire conquered most of the territory of the fallen Ming dynasty (1368–1644), chased Ming loyalist regimes deep into the southwestern provinces, and established the basis of Qing rule over China despite highly unpopular policies such as the "hair cutting command" of 1645, which forced Qing subjects to shave their forehead and braid their remaining hair into a queue resembling that of the Manchus. After Dorgon's death on the last day of 1650, the young Shunzhi Emperor started to rule personally. He tried, with mixed success, to fight corruption and to reduce the political influence of the Manchu nobility. In the 1650s, he faced a resurgence of Ming loyalist resistance, but by 1661 his armies had defeated the Qing Empire's last enemies, seafarer Koxinga (1624–1662) and the Prince of Gui (1623–1662) of the Southern Ming dynasty, both of whom would succumb the following year. The Shunzhi Emperor died at the age of 22 of smallpox, a highly contagious disease that was endemic in China, but against which the Manchus had no immunity. He was succeeded by his third son Xuanye, who had already survived smallpox, and who reigned for sixty years under the era name "Kangxi" (hence he was known as the Kangxi Emperor). Because fewer documents have survived from the Shunzhi era than from later eras of the Qing dynasty, the Shunzhi era is a relatively little-known period of Qing history.