Maybe another word or two is in order about the Qian Long (乾隆) Emperor; for those interested, the Chinese word for "emperor" is Huang (rising tone) Di (falling tone) (皇帝). To start with, I've provided a painting of the emperor (see the picture above). As mentioned in the previous blog post, Qian Long reigned for nearly six during the 18th Century.Despite this long reign, he wasn't the longest ruling monarch in China's history. That honor goes to one of the first Qing Dynasty Emperors, Kang Xi (both characters, 康 and 熙, are a flat tone), who was also Qian Long's grandfather. He reigned from 1661 through 1722. Qian Long revered his grandfather, so during the 60th year of his reign, as his tenure as emperor approached that of Kangxi's with respect to its length, he abdicated the throne. Qian Long did this to honor the memory of grandfather. I suppose it also gave the now retired emperor a lot more time to do painting and calligraphy in his art studio at present-day Beihai Park's north end.
Most historians regard the Kang Xi Emperor as one of feudal China's greatest rulers (his painting is the one below the text). In particular, he was immensely curious and had an insatiable thirst for knowledge about all kinds of things, especially science and mathematics (unlike a certain American President!). Kang Xi also governed moderately and refrained from imposing heavy taxes on the peasantry. China prospered and expanded during Kang Xi's reign and these good times, along with the emperor's political acumen, helped reconcile most Han Chinese people to alien Manchu rule. The Qing, or "pure" dynasty, of course, arose in Northeast China (Zhong [flat tone] Guo [rising tone] Dong [flat tone] Bei [falling/rising tone]; 中国东北). Before the 18th century, this region's population was made up almost entirely of the Manchu--Man (falling/ rising) Zu (rising) Ren (rising) (满族人) in Mandarin--ethnic minority.
Alas, while Qian Long wasn't a terrible emperor and certainly looks good compared to his successors, he most surely failed to measure up to his beloved grandfather. Compared to Kang Xi, he was a fairly indolent individual. And while China remained outwardly strong during this period, the seeds of its 19th Century decline were sown during Qian Long's reign. In particular, the Middle Kingdom's enforced insularity was coming back to haunt it. Thus when Lord Macartney's British delegation were granted an audience with the emperor during their 1794-1796 visit to the Middle Kingdom, Qian Long brusquely told them to piss off, famously insisting that China had nothing to learn from the West.
However, this period of underlying economic and social decline did produce one of the Middle-Kingdom's best known literary masterpieces, Dream of Red Chambers (also known as Story of the Stone), written by Cao (rising tone) Xue (falling/rising tone) Qin (rising tone) (曹雪芹). My very good and extremely literate Chinese friend, Flora Lu (or in Chinese Lu [falling tone] Hong [rising tone] Yan [falling tone]; 路红艳), informs me that the second title derives from Cao's insistence, made early on in the novel, that the story was written in stone.
Both of the novel's English names are literal translations from the Mandarin titles. The second Mandarin name of the novel is consists of a rising tone Shi, a rising tone Tou, and a falling tone Ji (石头记). The characters 石 and 头 together mean "stone," while the character 记 means to mark down or remember and thus appears in the Mandarin word for journalist, 记者. The second character in this word, the falling/rising zhe, is a suffix that is used, like the character 师 (a flat tone shi), to denote a role or job; hence an environmentalist is a 环保者. The first character, a falling "haun" appears in the Chinese character combination for "environment," while the second character, a falling/rising bao, means to protect or guarantee. The novel's more commonly used title in Mandarin is Hong (rising tone) Lou (rising tone) Meng (falling tone) (红楼梦). This literally means "Dream of Red Chambers," although the Mandarin word order is completely different from the English word order: translated word for word it reads, "Red Floor/Chamber Dream." One of the things us Laowai learning Chinese have to get used is that the word order in Mandarin sentences and phrases is often the complete reverse of the English word order for sentences and phrases!
I haven't read this novel, but know a bit about its story from books and other written material about China (I'll do a post soon about the Chinese literature I've read since coming here). According to this material, the novel is all about how Confucian morality and ideals went awry during the Qian Long era. The characters are mainly high government officials and members of wealthy families, principally merchants. Their lecherous behavior and petty bickering leads them, one after another, to hang themselves, plunge headfirst into wells, or swallow golden thread.
The novel's main male characters, 宝玉, or a falling/rising tone Bao and a falling tone Yu--the second character means "jade"--wishes to escape all this and marry his childhood sweetheart. The "Red Mansions" he dreams of represent a longed for better place, free of rottenness and corruption. However, his family has other plans and tricks him into an arranged marriage to a girl from a wealthier and more influential family by using a wedding veil to conceal the other bride's identity. Bao then goes stark raving mad. Certainly not a cheery story, but all my Chinese friends tell me I must read the novel to understand Chinese culture. Perhaps in five years my Mandarin will be at the point where I can read it in the original language!
Last but not least, in thinking about the Qian Long Emperor's reign, I was struck by the parallels between it and the long reign of King Louis XV, the unfortunate Louis XVI's predecessor, who famously declared, "Apre moi, l'deluge" ("After me, the deluge"). The Qian Long Emperor could well have said, "After me, the Chinese deluge/China's deluge", as following his reign, the deluge did come in the form of the two Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, Sino-Japanese War, and Boxer Revolt and other disasters.
Fortunately, these bad Qian Long and feudal Chinese legacies have been largely redressed and their slate wiped clean by the Middle Kingdom's recent and rapid rebirth. At the same time, visitors to Beijing can still enjoy the good fruits of Qian Long's rule, particularly his patronage of the arts, while visiting Beihai Park.
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