Daoguang Emperor Minning — A Stingy Monarch and The Beginning of Modern Chinese History Under His Reign

Daoguang Emperor (1782 — 1850), named Minning or Mianning, revered as Emperor Xuanzong of Qing, was a diligent monarch of the Qing Dynasty who wielded great centralized power.

He had been working hard to flourish the Qing Empire while living a stingy life. However, his great efforts seemed useless because of systematic and political constraints and his relatively ordinary ability.

The Qing Empire encountered significant failures from foreign invaders and started to sign a series of unfair pacts under his reign.

Hence, the Daoguang Emperor’s ruling period was considered the beginning of modern Chinese history.

Portrait of Daoguang Emperor, By Court Artist of the Qing Dynasty — Palace Museum

Brave and Talented Prince Minning

When he was young, Minning was a bright, courageous prince, whose archery skill and braveness were highly appreciated by his grandfather Qianlong Emperor and his father, Jiaqing Emperor.

Once, when his father was visiting another place, hundreds of insurgents, led by some eunuchs, attacked and almost occupied the Forbidden City.

Prince Minning bravely organized imperial guards, defeated them, and shot some invaders on his own.

When he was 38 years old, his father passed away suddenly.

As the oldest, strong-minded, and courageous prince, Minning was supported to ascend to the throne as Daoguang Emperor.

Afterward, the Daoguang Emperor started dealing with continued corruption and endless uprisings, just like his father.

Winter Picture (Jiu Jiu Xiao Han Tu) Written by Daoguang Emperor — Palace Museum
Winter Picture usually contains 9 Chinese Characters, each character has 9 strokes and written in red ink. People would write 1 stroke per day, to spend the coldest 81 days in winter.

The Frugal Daoguang Emperor Who Cared for Civilians

As a monarch of an enormous empire with centralized power, Daoguang Emperor was quite famous for his extreme frugalness, even being stingy sometimes.

He didn't use fancy and expensive furniture and usually asked his servants to buy dinner outside his palace, only because the food in the civilians' market was cheaper.

He wore patched clothes and asked his imperial concubines to learn to make patches for him, so he didn't need to spend money hiring others.

His beloved queen, Empress Xiaoquancheng (1808 — 1840), supported his frugal ideology completely.

Under the queen's command, the Daoguang Emperor's imperial consorts barely wore make-up or fancy clothes. They were mainly vegetarian and only ate well on big holidays or important events.

Daoguang Emperor's Beloved Queen in the Painting "Xuan Gong Chun Ai Tu", Drawn By Court Artist of the Qing Dynasty — Palace Museum

Meanwhile, for products stocked in the Imperial Warehouse that Daoguang won’t be using, he insisted on selling them to his officials for money.

Besides, the Daoguang Emperor kept suggesting his officials live frugal lives as well. He believed the luxurious lifestyle would wear out people’s ambitions and courage.

But for civilians who suffered from natural disasters, Daoguang Emperor was quite generous.

He exempted taxes for poor people countless times and sent a great deal of money to civilians in need.

Though, most of the money he sent to the poor ended up in corrupted officials’ pockets.

Other money that he saved had been spent on defeating endless rebels.

Daoguang Emperor and His Kids in the Painting "Daoguang Xing Le Tu", By Court Artist of the Qing Dynasty — Palace Museum

The Failed First Opium War

During Daoguang's reign, though the Qing Empire banned international trade on the civilian level, the exports of the Qing still surpassed the imports.

Then, Britain started smuggling opium into the Qing and achieved magnificent benefits.

But for civilians, using opium would be a disaster for their health and stable lives.

Daoguang Emperor sent a brave official named Lin Zexu (1785 — 1850) to investigate the smuggling.

Lin Zexu destroyed large numbers of illegally imported opium, expelled British smugglers, and soon cut off international trade with Britain.

Daoguang Emperor's Praising (Red Characters) on Lin Zexu's Report Regarding the Elimination of Opium

Daoguang Emperor's Praising (Red Characters) on Lin Zexu's Report Regarding the Eliminating Activity of Opium — National Museum of China

In the following year, Daoguang Emperor’s beloved queen passed away, and the First Opium War (1840 — 1842), also named the First Anglo-Chinese War, outburst.

After a series of failed battles and negotiations, the Qing Empire’s closed gate was opened by Britain using advanced weapons by signing the unfair Treaty of Nanjing, which included the ceding of Hong Kong, a great deal of indemnity, and the loss of many types of sovereign rights.

Reasons for the Qing Empire’s failure in this war mainly include the backward weapons, chaotic organizations, insufficient information about the enemy, undetermined policies, incapable commands, and so on.

British Fleet During the First Opium War, in the Painting "Second taking of Chusan" by Edward H. Cree — National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

The Beginning of Modern Chinese History

When Daoguang’s grandfather Qianlong Emperor had a luxurious lifestyle and was busy implementing large-scale Literary Inquisitions that executed many well-educated and creative intellectuals and burnt down many brilliant books, Britain started the First Industrial Revolution.

From then on, the Qing Empire started to lag behind the Western world.

In the next few decades, his father and Daoguang’s conservative, reparative policies made Qing lose the last chance to catch up.

Consequently, the First Opium War was between an advanced industrial kingdom and a far-lagged agricultural empire.

After this war, the Qing Empire kept losing on the battlefields and signing unfair treaties with advanced Western countries.

Hence, The First Opium War is considered the beginning of Modern Chinese history.

Red Glaze Bowl Produced During Daoguang Emperor's Reign — Wuhan Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)

The Disheartened Late Years of the Daoguang Emperor

In the last ten years of the Daoguang Emperor’s reign, the Qing Empire kept losing land and sovereignty, which made him widely criticized for being incapable and undetermined.

It was hard to quantify how much responsibility the Daoguang Emperor should take for those huge losses or whether the ending would be different if another great monarch were in charge.

However, what made him an average emperor was that after a series of failures and unequal treaties, Daoguang Emperor did nothing to change the situation, nor at least make some efforts to catch up a little bit.

He was probably too disheartened to remember how brave, vigorous, and ambitious he was when he was young.

This extremely stingy and kind Daoguang Emperor witnessed his empire being invaded and defeated, but he let it rot and left it to his heir to worry.

Daoguang passed the throne to his only son, the Xianfeng Emperor (1831 — 1861).

Xianfeng Emperor's Painting Work — Palace Museum

However, Xianfeng Emperor only reigned for 11 years and passed away at a young age.

Afterward, one of his imperial concubines, later Empress Dowager Ci Xi (1835 — 1908), seized authority and ruled the last half-century of the Qing Dynasty.

Next Story: A Controversial Female Politician — Empress Cixi