The Emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) Quiz

Answer: Shunzhi

The Shunzhi Emperor reigned from 1644 to 1661. He died of smallpox aged 22.

Nurhaci was Shunzhi's grandfather.
Hong Taiji was Shunzhi's father.
Dorgon was Shunzhi's uncle who became his regent.

A famous mythical tale about Shunzhi says that he did not die of smallpox in 1661. Instead, the story goes that Shunzhi was so overcome by the death of his favourite consort that he became a monk and lived at a temple on Five Mountains for the rest of his life. This is only a myth, though.

Answer: Oboi

The Kangxi Emperor (1661-1722) was the longest reigning emperor in Chinese history, reigning for 61 years. He died aged 68.

One of Kangxi's most significant events in his life was the arrest of the regent Oboi. Kangxi came to the throne aged eight, and he had four appointed regents. Sonin died not long after, and Ebilun stood with Oboi, which left Suksaha alone trying to destabilise Oboi's power, but Suksaha was later executed by Oboi. When Kangxi was 15 years old, he arrested Oboi and imprisoned him, paving the way for him (Kangxi) to rule alone.

Answer: The Fourteenth Prince, Yinti

Fourteenth Prince, Yinti, was Yongzheng's real brother (they shared the same mother) unlike the other princes who were his half-brothers. However, Yinti did not get along with Yongzheng and was aligned with the other princes vying for the throne. At the end of their father's reign, it looked like the two best candidates for the throne were Yongzheng and Yinti. Even to this day, no one really knows if Yongzheng had seized the throne or not.

The Yongzheng Emperor (1722-1736) reigned for only 13 years before dying of unknown causes aged 56.

Answer: 60

The Qianlong Emperor reigned from 1736 to 1796. He abdicated the throne because he did not want to reign longer than his grandfather (Kangxi, who reigned for 61 years). Although he put his 15th son on the throne, Qianlong remained in power until he died in 1799 aged 87.

Qianlong was the first Qing Emperor to meet a British ambassador. King George III sent Lord Macartney to meet with Qianlong in a diplomatic mission, and the two met in 1793. However, the mission was considered unsuccessful for the British as Qianlong rejected all of the British requests for trade.

Answer: Two

Members of his own imperial family had tried to assassinate him in 1803 and again in 1813. He had the culprits executed and exiled their families.

The Jiaqing Emperor ruled from 1796-1820. He died aged 59.

Answer: False

The Daoguang Emperor reigned from 1820 to 1850. He died aged 67.

The First Opium War (1839-1842) was between the British and the Qing empire over the import of opium into China. The Qing government had wanted to ban the import of opium, but the British refused, knowing how much silver was being earned by the sale of opium. The Qing lost the war and ceded Hong Kong to the British in The Treaty of Nanking in 1842.

The Second Opium War (1856-1866) happened during the Xianfeng Emperor's reign, and it was between an Anglo-French army against the Qing Empire, which again lost.

Answer: Never

The Xianfeng Emperor (1851-1861) reigned for 11 years. He died aged 30.

During The Second Opium War, Anglo-French troops ransacked Beijing and burnt down the splendid Old Summer Palace. The Xianfeng Emperor fled Beijing and went north to his summer resort, Jehol. He stayed there until his death in 1861. His two empresses and sole surviving son (Tongzhi) returned to Beijing.

Answer: Smallpox

The Tongzhi Emperor (1856-1875) was only five years old when he came to the throne. His father in his last will gave him eight regents, but Tongzhi's mother, the Dowager Empress Cixi had them all removed, and she became the de facto power behind the throne.

Tongzhi became a reckless youth, preferring the pleasures of the flesh to state affairs. It was well known that he frequented brothels in the city, and he may have died of syphilis instead of the official account which stated he died of smallpox.

Answer: Aunt and nephew

The Tongzhi Emperor had no heirs to succeed him, so his mother, the Dowager Empress Cixi, chose one of his cousins as heir. The Guangxu Emperor was his paternal cousin (their fathers were brothers), so Cixi was Guangxu's aunt.

Guangxu was a sorry figure in Qing history. He was afraid of Cixi, but because Cixi held power there was nothing that Guangxu could do. When he had the one chance to modernise the country in his One Hundred Days' Reform, it was soon ended by Cixi, and Guangxu was put under house arrest for the rest of his reign.

Guangxu reigned from 1871 to 1908. He died aged 37, one day before Cixi's own death. His sudden death led to historians believing that Guangxu was most likely poisoned.

Answer: Reginald Johnston

The Xuantong Emperor (1908-1912), commonly known as Puyi, was 2 years old when he became emperor. He reigned for only 3 years and in 1912 was forced to abdicate by the newly formed Republic of China, thus ending 2000 years of imperial rule.

Reginald Johnston (1874-1938) was a Scottish Sinologist who went to work in colonial Hong Kong in 1898. He later served under Sir James Stewart Lockhart when he was posted to Weihaiwei, a British leased territory in the Shandong peninsula in 1906.

In 1919 he was appointed as Puyi's English tutor, and remained his tutor until Puyi's expulsion from the Forbidden City in 1924.

Peter O'Toole was the actor who played Johnston in the movie "The Last Emperor" (1987), which was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The movie won 9 academy awards including Best Picture and Best Director.