The History of China - #305- Qing 40: Heshen Must Die!

Episode Date: September 7, 2025

For nearly a quarter century, Heshen served the Qing Empire - and in the process managed to amass a fortune that nearly rivaled the throne itself. Yet with the death of his patron Qianlong, the once-favored Grand Councilor would find his remaining state tenure as short as the length of silk ultimately left in his cell. Time Period Covered: 1799-1800 CE Major Historical Figures: The Qianlong Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Hongli) [r. 1735–1796, d. 1799] The Jiaqing Emperor (Aisin-Gioro Yongyan) [r. 1796-1820] Heshen, Grand Councilor, Chief Grand Secretary, Minister of the Imperial Household, etc., etc. [1750-1799] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hello and welcome to the history of China Episode 305 Hushan must die The commanders in chief do not seem to be in the least anxious to put down the rebellion since they are able to enrich themselves and wax fat at the expense of the disturbed districts. They report mythical victories and are lost to all sense of shame.

Manchu bodyguardsmen and secretaries are all only too glad to proceed to the seat of trouble, but their zeal is not due to any patriotic motive. Peniless officials come back from service at the front with amply lined pockets. On their return to Beijing, they apply at once for leave to revisit their family tombs, not from a sense of filial respect, but in order to invest their ill-gotten gains in the purchase. of land. All this money comes ultimately from the unfortunate people, plundered to satisfy their insatiable greed. No wonder, then, that more and more recruits join the rebels, and that none can foresee an end to the troubles. Not only are the rebels' numbers as great

as ever, but their ranks are steadily increasing. My late father lost both sleep and appetite because of his anxiety at the spread of the rebellion, and with his last breath he asked whether there was any news of a victory at the front. In his valedictory mandate, he left behind no instructions concerning other matters, presumably because he left me with full authority to deal with them in my discretion. Until these lawless sects have been suppressed, I shall feel myself unfilial towards my late father's memory. If my grand counselors and generals in the field are all disloyal to the throne,

how can I comfort the soul of my father in heaven? Is it the fact that they are indifferent to the fate which is about to visit them, and are content to be disloyal themselves as well as making their emperor unfilial? I cannot allow further leakages of funds to enrich the official class. Taxation cannot be increased, and the government revenues should be ample for all needs. My father, in his extreme old age, became too lenient and bestowed high rewards upon the least report of a success. In the case of a reverse, he would merely administer a mild rebuke and reinstate the offender so soon as he had retrieved his error. During the last few years, Yong Bao alone was sent to prison for cowardice, and even

he was promptly released. It is very certain that Yong Bao is not the only coward in our ranks. Every trifling success is exaggerated, and serious defeats are glossed over. Possibly the idea was to save my father distress, which at his age would have followed upon evil tidings. But in military matters, accuracy is essential. There were always reports of terrible carnage on the rebel's side, but the figures were a tissue of falsehoods.

These abuses cannot be allowed to continue. I insist that I be informed of the true state of affairs. What good can come of representing a disgraceful defeat as a glorious victory? I am Lord of the Empire, and I require the truth above everything. All I care about is peace and plenty, absence of rebellion, and the contentment of my subjects. I shall show no mercy for misconduct in the field. All my commanders will do well, therefore, to purge themselves of error and to clear their mind of Kant. Let them exert themselves to restore the Halcyon days of peace.

Otherwise, they will be dealt with by martial law. My words will be followed up by action. Do not imagine that your new sovereign can be hoodwinked. From the Jaching Emperor, on the day of his coronation, and day after his father's death, February 7, 1799. When the Qianlong Emperor finally died in the winter of 1799, it was though the last shadow of the High Qing had lifted from the stage. For more than six decades, Qianlong had embodied imperial grandeur, the old man of the ten

victories, the cultural patron of the four treasuries, the monarch whose confidence and insecurity had in turn shaped an entire age. Yet even after his formal abdication in 1796, his presence had yet loomed over every decision, constraining his son's authority and shielding the corruption of his favorite, Hachan. But death is the ultimate equalizer. In February 1799, the curtain closed on Chanlong's reign, and with it, the carefully staged illusions of prosperity, control, and abundance dissolved.

What remained was an empire strained by rebellion, drained by corruption, and led now by a son who had long been left waiting in the wing. For the new emperor, Jia Qing, this was a long-awaited moment. And yes, it was all, of course, very ritualistically sad that Dad was dead and all of that, of course. But, on the other hand, now 40 years old, he'd spent three frustrating years as little more than puppet emperor. His edicts overridden, and his decisions ignored. Now, at last, he could act in his own right. His first priority was obvious enough.

The rot that had festered in the heart of the court had a name, and that name was Hushan. Hushan's downfall was swift, almost shockingly so, given the decades that he'd dominated court politics. Within days of Chen Long's funeral, the Jaching Emperor ordered his arrest. The charges levied were sweeping, corruption, abuse of power, dereliction of duty, even treason. Investigators uncovered an astonishing horde of wealth, mansions filled with treasures, warehouses stuffed with silver, jewels, jade, and fine textiles.

Some estimates suggest that Hushan's fortune may have rivaled the annual revenue of the entire empire. Again, from the Jha Ching Emperor, and this is a bit of a long one, but it's worth it, so buckle in. Quote, Hushan received extraordinary favors from his departed majesty. and was promoted from the low position of Imperial Guardsmen to the highest offices, which he has held for nigh on 20 years.

He has been steeped in the lavish bounty of my late father, to an extent unparalleled in the history of the court. The arduous duties of government have now devolved on me by inheritance, and my father's demise finds me sleeping on a straw mat and pillowed on a clod. My thoughts dwell ever on the Confucian precept, for three years after a parent's death, none of his former surroundings should be changed. but all within and without the wide seas realized my late sire's reverence for heaven,

his obedience to ancestral tradition, his diligence in government, and affection for his people. His example stands out as a shining light for my house and dynasty to follow for all time. How, then, should a period of three years suffice for obedience to his behests? I could not find it in my heart to dismiss from office any of my father's ministers, even were they guilty of offenses. I should take into consideration any extenuating circumstances to mitigate their punishment. I am sure that His Sacred Majesty is at this moment fully conscious of my sincerity and concurs with my sentiments. But, as regards Hushan, his crimes are too grave to admit of possible pardon,

for he has been impeached on many counts by the censorate. I therefore placed him under arrest two days ago, and shall now proceed to state his offences, Syriatum for general information. On the third day of the ninth moon of the 60th year of Tianlong, Hushan presented me with a jade scepter, intending thereby to signify that I had been nominated successor to the throne. He thus betrayed a state secret

in the hope that I should consider myself beholden to him for advancing my claims with the late emperor. In the spring of last year, the late emperor was at the summer palace, and summoned Hushan to audience. He actually presumed to ride on horseback through the central gate, past the main Imperial Hall, right up to the entrance of my father's apartments. Could any action equal this in base presumption, as if he had forgotten what was due to his sovereign and father?

Pleading an affection of the leg, he would enter the forbidden city in a chair born by bearers. He was the observed of all observers as he passed calmly in and out of the gate of divine military prowess without the smallest vestige of shame or compunction. He even dared to appropriate to his own use as secondary wives, women who had been employed as handmaidens in the palace. After the outbreak of the Hubei and Sichuan rebellion,

propagated by seditious sects, my father used eagerly to await news from the front, sitting up until late into the night, taking neither food nor sleep. But Hushun deceived him, deliberately suppressing and even falsifying reports from the field, so that the operations have dragged on and on. My father appointed him Comptroller General of the Board of Civil Offices and Punishments,

and at the same time, because of his knowledge of finance, appointed him to supervise and direct the proceedings of the Board of Revenue. The result was the establishment of a one-man power. Soon, none dared oppose him. Last winter, my father's health was bad, so that his handwriting on re-scripts was sometimes illegible. Hashan actually presumed on one occasion to say, Better tear off that re-script and use one that I have written instead.

Last month, Hushan suppressed an official report from Kokonor, concerning robbery under arms by bands of Mohammedans, who had murdered two Tibetan merchants in the employ of the Dalai Lama. He returned the memorial to the sender and made no report to the throne. After my late father's death, I gave orders that any Mongol princes and dukes, who had not had the smallpox should be excused from coming to Beijing. Hushan disregarded these orders

and stopped all Mongol princes from coming whether they had had smallpox or not. In so doing, he violated the throne's policy of showing courtesy to vassals. His motives defy conjecture. The Grand Secretary Sulinga was stone death, far gone in senile dotage. He was, however, the father-in-law of Hulin,

Hushan's brother, and for this reason, the throne was never advised of his utter incapacity. Wu Shenglan, the vice president, and Li Guang Yun, director of the imperial stud, were occasionally tutors at Hushan's private residence, which alone accounts for their extraordinary advancement. In fact, Hushan was a dictator, and he did not hesitate to dismiss secretaries on the Grand Council at his own sweet will.

Hushan's property has just been examined. It appears that he has built himself a mansion of imperialism. Cedar Wood, the use of which constitutes Les Magistay on the part of a subject. The style of architecture is an exact imitation of the late Emperor's Palace of Imperial Longevity in the Forbidden City, whilst the pleasure gardens and pavilions are copied from the scheme of decoration used in the terrace of the fortunate aisles at the Summer Palace. Into his motives in this matter, let us not inquire too closely. Among his jewels and precious stones, he has collected 200 pearl necklaces.

a number greatly exceeding those in the imperial palace. He possesses one particular pearl far superior, both in size and luster, to that worn by me in the imperial hat of state. In his collection, there are jewels which were meant exclusively for the emperor's use, and to which he has no right. The number of his uncut stones is legion, far surpassing those in the imperial household. The inventory of his horde of bullion is incomplete, but the amount is certainly several million ounces. Such a career of venality and corruption may be called unique. Hushan has acknowledged the truth of each separate count of the above indictment, after undergoing a severe examination at the hands of the princes and ministers.

The fact now stands clearly revealed that Hushan is a deep-died traitor, lost to all moral sense, who has betrayed his sovereign and jeopardized the state. as self-constituted dictator he has usurped supreme authority he has lent himself to the most flagrant abuses but his venal greed and insatiable lust for lucre are comparatively light crimes as compared to the depths of his treason to my father who lavished favors upon him he was guilty of the most wanton ingratitude had any of his colleagues impeached him years ago my father in his divine wisdom would surely have decreed his immediate decapitation but not a word was ever breathed against him. My officials may now pretend that their silence was due to a loyal desire to avoid causing distress to my aged father. But I know all too well that the real reason lay in their fear of Hachan's power. That alone kept their lips sealed. Hachan's offenses against my father are innumerable, exceeding in number the hairs of his head.

If I condone them, how can I comfort the soul of my soul of my own? my father in heaven. The necessity for painful measures is forced upon me. I shall be glad to know the opinion of my viceroy's and governors in the matter. My metropolitan officials have already been ordered to advise as to the sentence to be inflicted. Viceroy's and governors are hereby ordered to submit their views, together with any further details of Hushan's crimes that may be within their knowledge." And make no mistake, once it became clear enough that his goose was cooked, Hushan's own confidants, beneficiaries, and co-conspirators were only too quick to throw him on the fire in order to save their own skins.

From the almost but not quite as equally guilty Viceroy of Dili, quote, Husson is bereft of moral sense. He cannot be regarded as a human being. His dastardly treason to the throne and cruel oppression of the people have put him on a level with the rebels in the West. Infatuate in his madness, he knows no law, human or divine. Basely ungrateful, he wallows in crime.

I beg to recommend that he be sentenced to the lingering death. I have also ascertained that in his usurping arrogance, he has built himself a lordly sepulcher at Zhizhou, as magnificent as the imperial tombs. From Hu Jihang,

the viceroy of Zili, who owed all he had to He Shun, memorializing the throne. For the officials who had suffered under his patronage network, Hachan's purge was a moment of catharsis. For the dynasty, it was a matter of survival. By eliminating Hachan, Jachang demonstrated that the old regime of corruption and indulgence was over.

He sent a clear signal. The new emperor was here, and would no longer serve as a passive shadow, but was now an active ruler determined to restore order. Hushan was sentenced to death by slow strangulation, though an act of imperial mercy allowed him the gift of suicide. A length of white silk delivered to his prison cell shortly before his appointed time of execution. Ontario, the wait is over.

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They advised the throne to inflict the lingering death on Hushan and decapitation on Fuchang-an, the former being found guilty of high treason and the latter having been an accomplice before the fact. Hushan's usurpation of supreme power constituted, they declared, a capital offense, excluding him from all hope of mercy at the hands of the law. Jia Qing had now observed the usual, hypocritical decencies, and saved his face in the orthodox manner by placing on his court the nominal responsibility for the official murdering of Hashan and the plundering of his vast estate.

His object being to possess himself of the wretched minister's ill-gotten wealth, he could afford to dispense with the lingering death, so long as death in some form were inflicted. His next decree, therefore, took into gracious consideration, quote, The undesirability of executing the chief minister of state like a common felon in the public square, and, because the court was in mourning, allowed him the privilege of committing suicide as a mark of high favor and out of regard for the dignity of the nation. As to Fu Chang'an, as his property does not amount to a tenth of that illegally amassed by Hushan,

his punishment is commuted to confinement pending decapitation, and quote. As a refinement of the clemency, the emperor ordered that Fuchangan was to be taken under guard to Hachan's place of confinement, and they're compelled, on his knees, to witness his late chief's suicide, after which he was to be escorted back to prison. Hushan met his end with the calm dignity of a brave man and a philosopher. He was commanded to kneel, and listened to Jia Qing's long-winded decree, ordering him to commit suicide. On its conclusion, he said, quote,

His majesty is most gracious, I thank him for his clemency, end quote. Then, after kowtowing in the direction of the palace, he addressed his son and Phu Tongan. To the latter, he said, quote, We two have served our old master together. It is in accordance with ancient. practice that the minister should follow his lord to the nine springs. I shall now attend his sainted majesty as of old and receive his wise counsel. The present emperor has loyal servants about him and is well rid of men such as you and I,

and quote, he then mounted the dais and hanged himself, tying the noose without assistance. His last words were, quote, His late majesty will feel indignant wrath in the halls of hate. This was at 1 p.m. A minute or two later, his life was extinct. When the news of his death was brought in haste to the mean-spirited Jia Jing, they found him kneeling before his father's coffin, offering propitiatory libations of wine.

The capital was in tumult, and the official word went in terror of whole-scale prescription, such as took place when the eunuch Wei Zhongxien held sway at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Jia Qing was urged by his two elder brothers to issue a reassuring decree. Knowing himself to be extremely unpopular and fearful of assassination, he followed this advice. He said, quote, Hushon is dead. Unless the empire's chief cause of evil were pulled up by the roots,

how could my government be purified and officialdom purged of its corroding influence? His case is concluded, but he held at his disposal many of the high, highest posts, and his partisans in Beijing are legion. The provinces swarm with the sycophants who fawned at his gate and bribed their unlawful way into his favor. Should I proceed to investigate every case, I would have to indict at least 70% of the higher officials, which is clearly impracticable, for there would be no means of making the punishment fit the crime. The times are out of joint. So many and great abuses exist in our government that time fails me to recapitulate them. I have mentioned the worst in my decrees regarding Hushan. But if my officials misconstrued my

motives and begin denouncing their private enemies to me on trivial grounds, inventing plausible evidence for the reeking of old grudges, there will be no end to the reign of terror, and no one will be safe. I have no desire to be at the head of a party, nor to allow my government to be divided into opposing groups, each animated by vindictive feelings toward the other. I dealt severely with Hushan, because his uprising ambition jeopardized the safety of the state. His venal corruption and subterraneous trafficking were comparably trivial offenses. After I decided to strike, I struck promptly and without mercy. But if only warning be taken for the future, I am ready to let bygones be bygones.

I trust, therefore, that none of you will harbor nervous fears. Most of you are men of second-rate abilities. But if you will exert yourselves conscientiously in the service of the state, there is no reason why you should not improve in course of time. Some of you, in your haste, have gone astray. You must now cleanse your hearts and purge yourselves of error in the hope of becoming respectable members of society, and not mere wasterels and encumbrances.

Tremblingly obey this, my mandate. Let the wet stone of conscience make you keen to conform to my desire for the dawn of a better day." end quote. In February 1799, the man who had once commanded the empire's fate died in disgrace. His property was confiscated, his network dismantled, his name cursed as the very epitome of late Tianlong corruption. Jachin's decision to move so decisively against Hachun was more than simple vengeance. It was strategy. By removing Hushan immediately and with such force, he not only was.

purged corruption, but also claimed the moral legitimacy and high ground. The empire's crises, the White Lotus Rebellion, piracy in the South, fiscal exhaustion, could now be blamed on Hushan's misrule, allowing Jha Ching to present himself as a restorer, not mere inheritor of imperial authority. With Hushan gone, Jha Qing faced the monumental task of rebuilding a very battered state. He knew he could not simply replicate his father's model of rule. Chin Long's strong emperorship, with its aggressive campaigns, lavish cultural projects and micromanaging edicts,

had driven the empire far into debt and resentment. To survive, Jha Qing would need to pivot, away from unsustainable expansion and toward a more sustainable model of governance. Historians have described this as Jha Qing's reorientation of state craft. It was, at its heart, an embrace of moderation as a principle of rule. Where Qianlong had been flamboyant, Jia Qing was cautious. Where Qianlong demanded spectacle, Jia Qing now emphasized restraint. His guiding principle was Sho Cheng, preserving the dynasty, rather than enlarging it. In practice, this meant pulling back from the pressures his father

had placed on officials and on society. Taxes were adjusted to relieve burdens. Grandiose construction projects were heavily curtailed. Military adventurism was abandoned in favor of containment and retrenchment. Jia Qing sought to align imperial policy with what one historian calls the deteriorating social reality of the early 19th century. This was not reform in the radical Western sense of institutional overhaul, mind you. Rather, it was a recalibration, a delicate balancing act between

reformism and conservatism. Jachang accepted that the empire could no longer afford the grandeur of his father's vision. Instead, he pursued what might be called sustainable politics, governing with enough flexibility to reduce unrest, but not so much innovation as to destabilize the dynasty's foundations. One of the Jia Qing Emperor's most significant tasks was to rebalance the relationship between the court, the bureaucracy, and the people. Under Qianlong, Hushan's patronage network had distorted this balance, rewarding sycophancy and punishing honesty. Now, Jia Qing sought to restore trust in governance itself. He began by relaxing the relentless scrutiny of officials.

where Chen Long had demanded endless reports, memorials, and self-criticisms, Jia Qing now allowed more autonomy. This not only reduced bureaucratic exhaustion, but also signaled that he would not be ruling by terror. At the same time, he cracked down on blatant corruption, making examples of those who continued Hushan's egregious practices. Another area of conspicuous reform was the judicial system. Jia Cheng initiated what scholars call a judicial retreat.

He curtailed excessive punishments, abolished certain forms of collective responsibility, and notably ended the practice of Izai Yin, fines that were self-assessed, a practice which had been long abused by corrupt officials. This shift did not eliminate injustice, but it reduced some of the worst excesses and helped to mitigate long-standing social grievances. By lowering the temperature of official v. society relations,

Jocching hoped to prevent small disputes from escalating into wider and more violent protests. Jachang also confronted the empire's finances. Decades of extravagant spending had drained the treasury, the costs of suppressing the White Lotus Rebellion ever mounted. The emperor, despite his professed omnipotence, could not, in fact, conjure silver out of thin air. and so he instead sought to stabilize revenues by cutting unnecessary expenses, reforming salt taxes, and promoting further frugality at the court. He dismissed the most egregiously wasteful practices of his father,

signaling that the era of imperial indulgence was over. Through all this, Jatching defined himself as a ruler of preservation. His task, as he saw it, was not to rival his father's glories, but to keep the dynasty functional and alive through these difficult times. This identity, emperor as caretaker rather than conqueror, would prove crucial, because, to be quite blunt about it, the Qing could not afford another round of grand campaigning or monumental project building. What it needed was breathing space, time to recover from the many strains that had been

riven across the 18th century. Woodside emphasizes that Ja Qing's moderation was not weakness, but instead prudence. By, quote, pulling back from his father's strong emperorship and aggressive state-making, and quote, he was able to create a more conservative but more sustainable sociopolitical order. It was, in a sense, an acceptance of limitation, a recognition that the empire's resources, both material and human, may be vast, but they were finite. This was not the kind of leadership that inspired grand epic poetry or monumental inscriptions carved into stone, but it was the kind of leadership that could keep the dynasty intact over the long haul. And in that sense, Jia Qing may be one of the most underappreciated

emperors in Chinese history. Such moderation, alas, did not magically solve the Empire's problems. The White Lotus Rebellion raged on into the early 1800s, draining evermore men, money, and material. Piracy continued to menace across the southern coasts. The structural challenges of population growth, silver shortages, and administrative overload remained. But the Jocching Emperor's recalibration did help to prevent these crises from collapsing the dynasty altogether then and there. By avoiding new wars, curbing corruption, and easing the ever-present social tensions, he bought the empire precious decades of survival.

When later emperors faced the far more daunting challenges of Western imperialism in the mid-19th century, they at least did so from a foundation that Jia Qing had helped to preserve. It wasn't great, but it could have been a lot worse, a lot earlier. Across the grand arc of Chinese history, the Qianlong emperor looms as the symbol of imperial splendor. the last emperor of the High Qing era.

Jia Qing, by contrast, is often remembered as a pale successor, presiding over the beginnings of decline. Yet this simplified contrast conceals a crucial truth. Qianlong's brilliance had come at a price, that of imperial exhaustion. Jia Qing's moderation, though less dazzling, was what allowed the dynasty to endure well into the 19th century. Put one way, Jha Ching's middle path, quote, became the hallmark of his 25-year emperorship, and quote.

He embodied the paradox of power during a time of strain. Seemingly ironically, but actually very much in keeping with the old Chinese Taoist philosophy of Wu Wei, by doing less, he actually accomplished more. By scaling back, he preserved what was important. The high drama of Hushan's downfall was the opening act of this new style of rule. It was both a purge and a proclamation. The age of excess was over. The age of survival had begun.

In a sense, the dynasty had transitioned from expansion to maintenance, glory, to endurance. By the dawn of the 19th century, the Qing dynasty had survived its most immediate crises. Hachan was gone, his sprawling network of force. corruption dismantled. The Qianlong emperor, whose long shadow had stifled the court, was dead. Jaching was no longer a mere apprentice, but now the sole sovereign of the empire. Yet the challenges he inherited were not so easily dispelled. China remained the largest polity in the world, vast, populous, and diverse, but it was also strained. The White Lotus Rebellion continued until 1804, its suppression draining the treasury and leaving school.

scars across central China that would endure for generations. Piracy lingered on the southern coast, disrupting trade. The empire's coffers, once swollen with the spoils of conquest, were now perilously empty. But through caution and moderation, the Jia Qing emperor set the Qing on a new course. He did not promise new glories or fresh expansion. Instead, he aimed at something far more modest, but even more necessary. Survival. His legacy, and the legacy of the twilight of Qianlong's reign, would be measured not in dazzling conquests, but in quiet adaptations that allowed the dynasty to endure in spite of the turbulence that the 19th century would bring.

And it will be that plunge into the uncertain waters of the 1800s that we will pick up next time, following the wending course steered by the Jia Qing Emperor as he attempts to navigate his dynasty through the storms already building on the horizons. both within and without. We'll follow his policies out to the frontiers, as martial expansion is transformed into defensive retrenchment, and into the heart of the capital itself, as the new emperor continues to at least try to fix the broken mechanisms of governance within his court. Yet for all his efforts, even he will be unable to foresee the typhoon of commerce, industrialization, and colonial greed, that will soon come sweeping down upon his celestial empire. After all, few ever can. Until then, thanks for listening.

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